Business Roundup

DSM says it is in exclusive discussions to acquire Aland Nutraceutical, a Chinese manufacturer of vitamin C with sales last year of about $90 million. DSM says Aland would complement its vitamin C operations in Dalry, Scotland.

Rivertop Renewables has raised $26 million in funding from Cargill, First Green Partners, and existing investors. Rivertop, based in Missoula, Mont., says it will use the funds to produce market development quantities of glucaric acid via glucose oxidation.

Yara International, a Norwegian fertilizer producer, is buying Green Tech Marine, which supplies sulfur oxide scrubber technology to the marine industry. Yara is already involved in nitrogen oxide abatement. New rules require ships to control SO_x emissions beginning next year.

Evonik Industries has started up two of its so-called project houses to research biomaterials and polymers for medical devices. One will be in Birmingham, Ala., and the other in Hanau, Germany. A major focus of the effort, Evonik says, will be implantable medical devices.

Thomas Swan, a specialty chemical firm based near Consett, England, is collaborating with chemists at England’s Durham University to develop functional additives for synthetic rubber. A researcher from Thomas Swan will work temporarily in the university’s labs.

Amyris, a biobased chemicals company, will use its strain engineering technology to develop a microorganism capable of producing a molecule for BASF. The companies say they also expect to work on subsequent renewable chemical projects.

Roche has entered an antibiotics collaboration with Cambridge, Mass.-based Spero Therapeutics. Roche is providing R&D funding to Spero and will have the option to acquire Spero’s lead compound when it is ready for clinical trials.

Merck & Co. and Switzerland’s Ferring Pharmaceuticals are helping the World Health Organization develop a formulation of carbetocin that is stable in hot climates. The drug is used to prevent excessive bleeding in women after childbirth. WHO will conduct a 12-country clinical trial.

Millennium Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceuticals, will pay an undisclosed fee to use Mersana Therapeutics’ antibody-drug conjugate technology. Mersana will create ADCs that combine Takeda antibodies and Mersana’s cytotoxic payload using the latter’s linker technology.