Business Roundup

Chemours has completed the sale of its sodium cyanide business to the Czech Republic firm Draslovka Holding for $521 million. However, antitrust authorities in South Africa have blocked Sasol’s plan to sell its cyanide business to Draslovka.

HotSpot Therapeutics has raised $100 million in series C financing, bringing its total funding to $190 million. The biotech firm is targeting regulatory sites on proteins that it calls “natural hotspots”for allosteric drugs.

Ineos Styrolution and Recycling Technologies will build a pilot plant in Swindon, England, to test Recycling’s polystyrene depolymerization process. It uses a fluidized bed reactor, which the partners say is easily scalable for larger plants.

Evonik Industries is investing in Revivo BioSystems, a Singapore-based developer of alternatives to animal tests for skin-care products. The start-up uses microfluidics to make organ-on-a-chip systems that model live skin with cultured human skin or human skin samples.

Bridgestone will close three of its nine chemical plants in Japan next year and in 2023. Bridgestone, which is increasing its focus on tire-centric businesses, says it expects to place all 83 affected employees in other jobs within the company.

CordenPharma will invest $11 million in clinical-scale development and manufacturing of solid-dose drugs at its plant in Plankstadt, Germany. The new assets, due on line next year, will facilitate blending, granulation, compression, and coating for batches of up to 50 kg.

Bruker has expanded its preclinical imaging portfolio with the purchase of Molecubes. The 6-year-old Belgian firm makes benchtop systems that visualize biomarkers in live rodents.

Allorion Therapeutics has raised $40 million in series A financing to develop small-molecule drugs for cancer and autoimmune diseases. Boston-based Allorion says its molecules include “covalent and allosteric inhibitors of well-validated targets.”