Business Roundup

Celanese plans to build a plant in China to make its line of liquid crystal polymers, engineering polymers used in electronics applications. The plant will have 20,000 metric tons per year of capacity when it comes on line in 2024.

Novamont, an Italian biobased plastics company, has purchased BioBag Group, a Norwegian producer of compostable plastic bags with annual sales of about $50 million. Most of BioBag’s bags are made from Novamont’s Mater-Bi resin.

Nalu Bio, a start-up developing synthetic production of cannabidiol (CBD), has raised seed funding from investors. Nalu says it can produce CBD more cheaply and consistently than via hemp extraction or biosynthesis.

Roquette and its biotech partner Brainsay they have wrapped up R&D on a fermentation route to brazzein, a protein found in berries of the African shrub Pentadiplandra brazzeana Baillon. They plan to seek regulatory approval for the sweetener and to scale up output.

Strem has licensed a set of Ni(0)-olefin catalysts from the Max Planck Institute for Kohlenforschung and made them available to customers for R&D work. The catalysts have properties similar to existing Ni(COD)₂ complexes but are stable at room temperature and in air for up to 1 month, Strem says.

Cenate has raised $5 million from Bonheur, Norway’s climate investment fund, and other backers to scale up its nanosilicon materials for battery anodes. The Norwegian firm says its production process lowers battery cost and boosts energy storage.

DSM and Delft University of Technology have formed a partnership to develop artificial intelligence for bioscience innovation. DSM will invest $3 million over 5 years in a lab at the Dutch National Innovation Center for Artificial Intelligence.

Amgen will license Evoq Therapeutics’ autoimmune therapies for up to $240 million. Evoq uses high-density lipoprotein nanodisks to deliver immune-stimulating pieces of protein to the immune system.

Vedanta Biosciences has received a $25 million investment from Pfizer to fund a Phase 2 study of its microbiome-derived bacteria therapy for inflammatory bowel disease. In return, Pfizer will have a right of first negotiation on the therapy.