Business Roundup

OCI, a European ammonia and methanol maker, intends to enter the business of green and low-carbon ammonia and methanol. As part of this effort, OCI says it aims to reduce its CO₂ emission intensity by 20% by 2030 and be carbon neutral by 2050.

Colquímica Adhesives will open a $12 million plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, this month. The Portuguese firm, which also has a factory in Poland, says the new plant will help it better compete in the US, Canada, and Latin America.

Clariant has renamed its Chemberry beauty-ingredient search platform Covalo and spun it off as an independent company. The new firm plans to expand its remit to include connecting ingredient makers and brands with contract manufacturing, formulation and testing, and packaging providers.

Future Fields, an Alberta-based start-up, has raised $2.2 million in seed funding to develop protein growth factors for cellular meat production. The firm says its product is cheaper and easier to scale than current proteins, which are derived from bovine fetuses or made via microbial fermentation.

Snapdragon Chemistry will build a 4,700 m² facility near its headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts, to expand its ability to make pharmaceutical chemicals for its customers’ clinical trials. The firm says the project will add at least 50 jobs.

Seqens, a pharmaceutical chemical maker, will work with the French hot-melt extrusion firm Rondol on making finished drugs with extrusion technology. The firms say extrusion can increase drug solubility and lower production costs.

Dewpoint Therapeutics, a start-up focused on biomolecular condensates, is partnering with the cancer drug start-up Volastra Therapeutics. The pair will look for compounds that block the formation of proinflammatory condensates in cancer cells.

Ventyx Biosciences has raised $114 million to develop drugs—including an NLRP3 inhibitor, an S1P1R modulator, and a TYK2 inhibitor—for multiple immune system targets. The company is also interested in targeting gasdermin-D, which another start-up, Quench Bio, recently deemed undruggable.