Business briefing

BP aims to sell German petrochemical unit

BP is following other petrochemical makers that are downsizing operations in Europe by putting its Ruhr Oel unit, which operates a refinery and petrochemical complex in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, up for sale. The refinery has 12 million metric tons (t) per year of crude oil processing capacity. The site also includes a cracker with a capacity of 1.1 million t of ethylene per year, according to the trade group Petrochemicals Europe; the cracker supplies feedstock to polyethylene and polypropylene plants that Sabic operates on the site. BP employs more than 2,000 people there. “BP needs to continually manage its global portfolio as we position to grow as a simpler, more focused, higher-value company,” Emma Delaney, the firm’s executive vice president of customers and products, says in a statement. Over the past year, many chemical firms have announced plans to sell, shutter, or review European petrochemical operations, including ExxonMobil, Sabic, LyondellBasell Industries, and Eni.—ALEX TULLO

Woodside pauses green H₂ project

The natural gas firm Woodside Energy has put a 200 MW green hydrogen project in Oklahoma on hold. The plant, called H2OK, would be able to produce up to 60 metric tons of H₂ per day using electrolysis powered by renewable energy. Woodside completed engineering and design of the plant in 2022 and selected Nel and Air Liquide to provide electrolyzers and liquefaction equipment, respectively. Woodside says it may proceed with the project later if it can secure binding offtake agreements and improve the plant’s projected profit margins. The firm says it will prioritize a low-carbon ammonia plant under construction in Beaumont, Texas, that it bought from OCI Global last year for $2.4 billion.—CRAIG BETTENHAUSEN

France offers $500 million to recyclers

The French government plans to offer more than $500 million in incentives to support the recycling of items, such as trays, films, nonbeverage bottles, and textiles, that contain polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Direct grants will cover as much as 40% of the cost of recycling investments. Weighing in on the plan, the European Commission says the incentives are necessary, “as the beneficiaries would not carry out the relevant investments without the public support.” Two firms, Carbios and Eastman Chemical, plan recycling plants in France that will depolymerize PET. Carbios recently delayed its project because of difficulty obtaining financing.—ALEX TULLO

Firms join for hair care proteins

The specialty chemical maker Syensqo has signed a 5-year partnership with the synthetic biology firm Bota Bio to develop biomimetic ingredients for hair and scalp care products. The companies say the deal aligns Bota’s custom protein fermentation technology with Syensqo’s increasing emphasis on scalp care, part of an industry-wide trend toward integrating scalp care into hair care regimens. A press release announcing the agreement cites hair repair and enhanced hair growth as target functions for the ingredients.—CRAIG BETTENHAUSEN

Liberation Labs raises cash for fermentation

Liberation Labs has raised $32 million to finish building a biomanufacturing plant in Richmond, Indiana. The facility will have 600,000 L of fermentation capacity and related downstream processing equipment. Liberation plans to offer the facility on a contract basis to customers seeking to produce a variety of biobased materials. The company also received a US Department of Defense award to explore the feasibility of a 4 million L contract fermentation facility at the same site.—MATT BLOIS

Novonesis to take over feed venture

The Danish biotechnology firm Novonesis will spend $1.6 billion to buy DSM-Firmenich’s share of an animal feed enzyme joint venture they created more than 25 years ago. The firms say DSM-Firmenich’s strategy involves moving away from animal feed ingredients, while Novonesis is focusing on those products. DSM-Firmenich’s portion of the venture reported sales of $311 million last year. The firm announced plans to separate and sell its overall animal nutrition business in February 2024 and is now looking for buyers.—MATT BLOIS

Fujifilm to add CMP slurries in Belgium

Fujifilm says it will spend about $25 million to build a facility in Antwerp, Belgium, that produces chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) slurries used to smooth chip features during semiconductor production. Fujifilm expects a 13% annual growth rate for the slurries. The Japanese company says the project, which also includes investment in photolithography- related materials, is part of a $1.1 billion program to boost output of materials used to fabricate computer chips. It’s already expanding photoresist production in Japan and South Korea and CMP slurry output in Japan.—MICHAEL MCCOY

Axplora to boost weight-loss drug output

Axplora, a German drug services firm, plans a $50 million investment at its site in Mourenx, France, to make glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonists—peptide-based weight-loss drugs sold by Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly and Company, and others. Axplora, which has 10 drug ingredient plants globally, was created in 2022 through the merger of Novasep and PharmaZell. The investment will be used to construct new peptide manufacturing and purification facilities at the French site. Axplora says it expects GLP-1 supplies from the plant in 2026.—AAYUSHI PRATAP

Partnership targets enzymatic catalysis

The chemical technology provider Thyssenkrupp and the enzyme producer Novonesis have launched a technology package for companies looking to conduct esterification reactions using enzyme catalysts rather than traditional chemical catalysts. Esterification is often used to convert natural fatty acids into the corresponding esters. The partners say the approach can save substantial amounts of energy, minimize side reactions, and reduce waste.—MICHAEL MCCOY

Novartis will buy Anthos for $925 million

The Swiss drug firm Novartis has agreed to acquire a company it cofounded. Novartis will buy Anthos Therapeutics, a Boston-based biotech focused on cardiac conditions, for an up front payment of $925 million. Anthos was founded in 2019 by Novartis and the private equity firm Blackstone Life Sciences. Its most advanced drug candidate, abelacimab, is a monoclonal antibody designed to prevent strokes and blood clot–related conditions. As part of the deal, Novartis will also pay Anthos up to $2.15 billion in regulatory and sales milestones.—AAYUSHI PRATAP

Maxona launches with pain drug candidate

Maxona Pharmaceuticals has launched from stealth after completing a Phase 1 clinical trial for its nonopioid pain drug candidate, MAX-001, whose active ingredient is nefopam. The compound is approved to treat pain in some countries, including the UK and France, but it has not been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration or the European Medicines Agency. The Pennsylvania-based company has not disclosed how much funding it has gathered, only that it closed a series A round in 2021 and a series B round “recently.”—SARAH BRANER

Roche sells InterMune for undisclosed sum

A decade after purchasing the rare disease biotech InterMune for $8.3 billion, Roche has sold it to Legacy Pharma, a specialty pharmaceutical company, for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition comes after sales of InterMune’s idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis drug, Esbriet, cratered due to a generic competitor that launched in 2022. Esbriet sales were about $221 million in 2023, down from about $1.1 billion 2 years earlier, according to Roche’s annual financial reports.—ROWAN WALRATH

Business Roundup

Greenlight Biosciences, a biobased pesticide company, has received a $36 million loan from the European Investment Bank. The company will use the loan to develop RNA interference pesticides for crops in Europe.

Svante will get up to $1.5 million from the US Department of Energy for a first-of-its-kind, commercial-scale carbon capture facility to be installed at a pulp mill in Ashdown, Arkansas. The cost-sharing grant will support engineering and design work.

BiocSol a Belgian biobased pesticide company, has secured about $4.4 million in funding, increasing its total fundraising to about $10 million. BiocSol, a 2023 spinoff from UCLouvain, says it will use the cash for R&D and to demonstrate proof of concept for its first two biofungicide products.

Lotte Chemical and Syzygy Plasmonics have completed installation and testing of an electric ammonia cracking system in Ulsan, South Korea. The unit achieved 290 kg per day of hydrogen production, thus demonstrating the efficacy of ammonia as a hydrogen carrier.

Cummins will supply a 100 MW electrolyzer system to BP for a green hydrogen project in Germany. The site is expected to produce 11,000 metric tons of hydrogen per year when it starts up in 2027.

Biogen will get up to $250 million from Royalty Pharma for R&D on the lupus drug candidate litifilimab in exchange for regulatory milestones and royalties on sales if litifilimab is approved. Litifilimab is in Phase 3 clinical trials for treating two forms of lupus.

Johnson Matthey is collaborating with the automotive component supplier Bosch on future projects. As part of the partnership, Matthey’s catalyst-coated membranes will be used in Bosch’s fuel cell modules for long-distance commercial vehicles.

Pfizer and Alloy Therapeutics have formed a new pact to develop technology for discovering antibodies that could drug hard-to-reach targets. Alloy says Pfizer has used its antibody discovery technology for many years.