Business Roundup

Mitsui & Co. has signed an agreement to develop a polypropylene recycling plant in Japan that will use PureCycle Technologies’ solvent-based purification process. PureCycle recently signed a similar agreement with SK Geo Centric for a plant in South Korea.

Lycia Therapeutics has raised $70 million in series B financing to develop lysosomal targeting chimeras, or LYTACS, to promote the degradation of disease-causing proteins. The funding comes shortly after an agreement between Lycia and Eli Lilly and Company to develop LYTACS.

Calysta, a producer of high-protein fish food made by feeding single-cell microbes with natural gas, has raised $39 million in series D funding, including $10 million from BP’s investment arm. Calysta will use the cash to build its second manufacturing plant.

Mitsui Chemicals has agreed to acquire the agrochemical business of Japan’s Meiji Seika Pharma for an undisclosed sum. The business employs about 110 people and develops specialty pesticides, including the fungicide probenazole.

Hydrogenious LOHC Technologies has raised about $59 million in funding to develop its method of using benzyltoluene as a carrier to safely transport hydrogen. The firm is building a plant in Dormagen, Germany.

Rome Therapeutics has raised $77 million in series B financing to develop small-molecule therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases. The start-up is based on research that suggests repetitive genetic code, once called junk DNA, is linked to innate immune activation and disease.

CEM and AmbioPharm have formed a partnership to make pharmaceutical-grade peptides using CEM’s large-scale microwave peptide synthesizers. AmbioPharm has installed the technology at its peptide plant in North Augusta, South Carolina.

Boehringer Ingelheim has agreed to use antibody libraries from Twist Bioscience to search for therapeutic antibodies. The deal is worth up to $710 million, with Twist earning an up-front payment for each candidate.