Business Roundup

Cepsa has named Paloma Alonso, a 23-year Dow veteran, head of its chemical business. Alonso is part of a new team of managers hired to internationalize the Spanish oil company.

Celanese has filed a petition with the European Commission seeking antidumping duties on imports of ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene from Korea Petrochemical. Celanese was successful in filing a similar petition in the US.

Agilyx has signed a pact with municipalities in Oregon to pilot a program for collecting polystyrene foam. Agilyx will preprocess the collected foam and ship it to Regenyx, its recycling joint venture with Americas Styrenics in Tigard, Oregon.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems has raised $84 million in an A2 funding round, bringing its total fundraising to more than $200 million. The firm is developing high-temperature superconducting magnets for fusion nuclear power technology.

Air Products has extended the contract of its chairman and CEO, Seifi Ghasemi, through 2025. Ghasemi, 75, has led Air Products since 2014.

Quartic.ai and Bright Path Laboratories have agreed to design an artificial intelligence (AI)–powered continuous-manufacturing platform for pharmaceutical chemicals. Quartic.ai will apply its AI-enhanced production technique to Bright Path’s continuous-flow reactors.

AGC Biologics will make the plasmid DNA intermediate for a COVID-19 vaccine to be produced by Takara Bio. The vaccine is based on technology developed by Osaka University and AnGes. Clinical trials are scheduled to begin later this year.

Novasep will manufacture LYS-GM101, a potential treatment for GM1 gangliosidosis, a lysosomal storage disorder, for the gene therapy firm Lysogene. Novasep already produces the French firm’s lead gene therapy product, LYS-SAF302.