The latest business digest for C&I Issue 10 2023 with all the latest mergers and acquisitions in the chemical industry.
The UK’s Centre for Process Innovation, part of the UK Government’s High Value Manufacturing Catapult, has opened its RNA Centre of Excellence to develop cutting-edge vaccines and therapeutics in Darlington, UK. The £26.4m facility will form a UK hub with the capability to develop and manufacture treatments for incurable or hard-to-treat illnesses. It will have the capacity to deliver 100m vaccine doses in the event of a future health emergency. It will also supply material for clinical trials, working on treatments against infectious and non-infectious diseases – a critical step in getting new, more effective drugs to patients.
Belgian specialty materials and chemicals company Solvay has developed an automated system to calculate product carbon footprint (PCF), a measurement that takes into account all greenhouse gas emissions generated by a product from raw material extraction to when it leaves the Solvay factory (cradle to gate). The digital tool is being rolled out across the Group’s Novecare business, which offers solutions across the agro, home and personal care, coatings and industrial markets.
US pharma and medical technologies subsidiary Johnson & Johnson International (Singapore) has announced a collaboration with the Singapore Economic Development Board to unlock innovation potential in Singapore’s life sciences ecosystem. Under this collaboration, Johnson innovation labs (JLABS) will support early-stage companies with a base in Singapore to help accelerate early-stage discoveries into innovative medicines, medical technologies and healthcare solutions. JLABS will also collaborate with local incubators and other strategic partners in venture and talent development.
The University of Birmingham is to be the UK lead for a new £6.2m clean energy centre, funded by UK Research and Innovation. The Global Centre for Clean Energy and Equitable Transportation Solutions, will focus on reducing emissions from road transport, using three regions as case studies: the West Midlands and South Wales in the UK, and the Great Lakes megaregion of the US. The University of Birmingham, which has received £3.2m in funding for the Centre, is joined by Cardiff University as a UK project partner. The Discovery Partners Institute, part of the University of Illinois System, will be leading the project in the US with a $5m award from the US National Science Foundation.
The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), London, UK, and German science and technology company Merck have renewed their strategic alliance in the discovery and development of new cancer drugs. Scientists in the Centre for Cancer Drug Discovery at the ICR will work with researchers at Merck on a range of related projects, each of which aims to discover and develop new small-molecule inhibitors of a new class of cancer targets. Merck will fund nine full-time research posts at the ICR.
Swiss pharma Novartis has completed its divestment of ‘front of eye’ ophthalmology assets to US-Canadian eye health products company Bausch + Lomb. The transaction, which is valued up to $2.5bn, consists of $1.75bn in upfront cash, plus potential additional milestone payments.
US solar technology company First Solar has broken ground on a manufacturing facility in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, US. The site represents an investment of approximately $1.1bn in expanding America’s capacity to produce photovoltaic solar panels. It is expected to start commercial shipments by H1 2026, and the facility is forecast to grow the company’s manufacturing capacity by 3.5GW to reach approximately 14GW in the US and 25GW globally in 2026.
The Danish Novo Nordisk Foundation has committed up to DKK 950m (€127m) to establish a facility for the final development steps and upscaling of cell therapies for testing in humans. The Novo Nordisk Foundation Cellerator will fill a gap in the Danish cell therapy ecosystem, helping to translate breakthroughs in cell therapy research into real-world treatments for people with diseases such as chronic heart failure, Parkinson’s, kidney disease, type 1 diabetes and several forms of cancer.
Swiss life sciences reagents, custom synthesis and manufacturing services company, Biosynth has acquired Pepceuticals, a UK producer of synthetic peptides with multi-kilogram GMP facilities and fill-finish capabilities designed to support customers from clinical trials to commercial supply.
German drug discovery and development company, Evotec has opened a new biology research facility at the Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Campus technology and science park in Oxfordshire, UK
€330m
Japanese manufacturer Astellas Pharma plans to build a new €330m state-of-the-art facility in Tralee, Ireland. This investment will expand Astella’s capacity and capabilities for aseptic drug products and accelerate the development and commercialisation of innovative antibody drugs and other new products. The facility will be based on the Industrial Development Authority’s greenfield site in the Kerry Technology Park.
300kt/yr
UK chemicals company INEOS and Chinese oil and gas enterprise SINOPEC (China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation) have signed a shareholder agreement for the formation of a 50:50 joint venture to build a new 300,000t/year ABS plant in Tianjin. The plant will be based on INEOS’ Terluran ABS technology and is planned to come on stream in April 2025.
30,000t
French energy and petroleum company TotalEnergies has announced the building of a new mechanical recycling unit for plastic waste at its Grandpuits site southeast of Paris. The unit should enter service in 2026 and produce 30,000 t/year of high value-added compounds containing up to 50% recycled plastic material.
0.0006%
The Fluoropolymers Product Group, which represents fluoropolymer manufacturers, has launched a new programme for European manufacturing sites. This industry-led initiative goes further than the current EU requirements, effectively setting the highest standards for fluoropolymer manufacturing worldwide. It includes a commitment to minimise emissions of non-polymeric PFAS residues from polymerisation aids to the environment from fluoropolymer manufacturing, thereby achieving average emissions factors of 0.009% to air and 0.001% to water by end-2024, and 0.003% to air and 0.0006% to water by end-2030.
Charnwood Molecular, the UK drug discovery CRO that specialises in complex drug discovery, is rebranding as Charnwood Discovery.
German chemical company, Wacker Chemie is expanding its specialty silicone manufacturing capacities in China. At its Zhangjiagang site in Jiangsu it has started construction of several new production lines, where it will manufacture functional silicone fluids, silicone emulsions and silicone elastomer gels. The €150m expansion project is scheduled to come on stream in H2 2025.
US pharma Charles River Laboratories International has opened a RightSource facility, the first in the UK, which will provide services to the Stevenage advanced therapies biocluster. RightSource provides clients with enhanced turnaround times by bringing testing closer to manufacturing facilities without delays caused by shipping samples.
UK oil and gas company, Shell UK has signed an agreement to purchase MIDEL and MIVOLT, two lines of business currently owned by Manchester-based M&I Materials. The acquisition boosts Shell’s global lubricants portfolio, enabling Shell to complement its differentiated position in transformer oils used for power distribution, offshore wind parks, utility companies and traction power systems.
Italian pharma Alfasigma and US biopharma Intercept Pharmaceuticals, which works in rare and serious liver diseases, have announced their intention to merge. Alfasigma has agreed to acquire Intercept for $19/share in cash. The transaction will expand Alfasigma’s gastrointestinal and hepatology portfolio, and its presence in the US market.
UK consulting and engineering company, Wood has signed a collaboration agreement with Austrian integrated oil, gas and petrochemical company, OMV, for the commercial licensing of OMV’s plastic recycling technology, ReOil. This agreement will support advances in chemical-based plastic recycling, helping to build a circular economy solution for end-of-life plastics that would otherwise be sent to landfill or waste incineration. ReOil technology converts plastic waste into pyrolysis oil, a valuable resource primarily used to produce high-performing and sustainable plastics. This will support the growth of plastic recycling – it is estimated that around 60% of plastics production will come from recycled feedstock by 2050.
US biotech Ginkgo Bioworks has announced a collaboration with US pharma and biotech Pfizer focused on the discovery of RNA-based drug candidates. In the collaboration, Pfizer will leverage Ginkgo’s proprietary RNA technology to advance the discovery and development of novel RNA molecules across priority research areas. Ginkgo will receive an upfront payment and is eligible to receive research fees and development and commercial milestone payments of up to $331m across three programmes.
UK chemical company INEOS Enterprises has announced the acquisition of Eramet Titanium & Iron (ETI) from French multinational mining and metallurgy company Eramet for $245m. ETI consists of an ilmenite transformation plant in Norway that produces titanium slag, which is used in the pigments industry. It also produces high-purity pig iron sold to European foundries. The business will be known as INEOS Tyssedal.
US biotech Ionis Pharmaceuticals has entered an agreement with Swiss healthcare company Roche for two early-stage programmes for RNA-targeting investigational medicines for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and Huntington’s disease. Roche will be responsible for clinical development, manufacturing, and commercialisation of the medicines. The companies will leverage Ionis’ expertise discovering medicines that target the root cause of central nervous system diseases and Roche’s experience developing and commercialising therapies for nervous system disorders.
German chemicals and ingredients distribution company, Brenntag has announced a sole distribution agreement for Europe with UPM Biochemicals for UPM BioPura, its sustainable bio mono-ethylene glycol (Bio-MEG). Applications for Bio-MEG include polymers, coolants, textiles and a broad range of other use-cases.
Researchers at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh have developed an ingredient with the potential to replace palm oil. It has 25% less fat and 88% less saturated fat, and allows food, such as cakes and biscuits, to maintain their texture, flavour and colour. The replacement, PALM-ALT, is a by-product from the linseed industry, can be produced locally at global scale and is cost-competitive. If adopted, it has the potential to significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the impact of food miles and deforestation.
Sabic can now supply bio-based versions of all its Noryl, Noryl GTX and Noryl PPX resin grades. They are formulated with polyphenylene ether (PPE) feedstocks certified under International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) Plus. Various levels of bio-based content are available.
Natural antimicrobial glycolipid preservative Nagardo, produced by Lanxess and based on the orange fungus Dacryopinax spathhularia, has received Just Drinks Excellence Awards in two categories: Innovation and Product Launches, from the online publication Just Drinks. Nagardo, which received EU approval in 2022, is suitable for a range of beverages including carbonated and still soft drinks, ready-to-drink teas, kombucha and non-alcoholic beers.
Croda has introduced new bioprocessing aids under the Virodex brand to replace the detergent Triton X-100, which is banned in Europe. The Virodex products are said to be sustainable and Reach and cGMP compliant.
Solvay has entered a strategic partnership to use its Duradex polyphenyl sulfone (PPSU) in Singapore-based Hegen’s Press-to-Close, Twist-to-Open baby feeding bottles. Duradex is an amorphous, naturally amber-transparent polymer, which is scratch and stain resistant as well as being free of artificial pigments, phthalates and bisphenols. Its circular, non-fossil feedstock content is third-party mass balance certified.
Perstorp has unveiled two new drop-in replacements for carboxylic acids, Valeric Acid Pro 100 and 2-Ethylhexanoic Acid Pro 100, for the production of polyol esters. The two new grades are 100% renewable, have traceable mass balanced content and are said to offer the market’s lowest product carbon footprint.
