Business Roundup

Dow and Shell will receive $4.2 million in funding from the Dutch government toward their work in electrically heated ethylene steam-cracking furnaces. The companies say they are evaluating the construction of a pilot plant by 2025, “subject to investment support.”

Tosoh will spend $90 million to renovate and expand its Tokyo Research Center in Ayase, Japan. The firm says the project, set for completion in 2026, will include a building for advanced organic materials research.

Johnson Matthey, Thomas Swan, and the UK technology agency CPI are investigating ways to increase the performance of Johnson Matthey’s lithium-ion battery materials using carbon nanotubes and graphene nanoplatelets. The project will receive funding from the UK government’s Faraday Battery Challenge.

Invista plans to build a nylon 6,6 technology application center in Shanghai at a cost of $15 million. The center will undertake analytical and mechanical testing of engineering polymers for markets including automotive and electronics.

Yara International and other are investing $4 million in Boomitra, a Silicon Valley start-up with a method for monitoring carbon levels in the soil without the need for physical soil samples. The technique is meant to help small-scale farmers access carbon-credit markets.

Lonza will help Select­immune Pharma develop a process for manufacturing its immunotherapy protein NlpD. Lonza has also agreed to make ValenzaBio’s anti-insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor antibody to treat thyroid eye disease and other inflammatory disorders.

Viiv Healthcare is paying $40 million to Halozyme Therapeutics for exclusive use of Halozyme drug delivery technology based on human hyaluronidase PH20 enzyme. The goal is injectable HIV treatments that last longer than 3 months.

Veralox Therapeutics has raised $16.6 million in series A financing to develop small-molecule inhibitors of the enzyme 12-lipoxygenase. The start-up plans to test the compounds on a blood clot disorder called heparin-induced thrombocytopenia.