Business digest

Imperial College London and Germany’s Technical University of Munich (TUM) are launching a joint research centre to tackle particle pollution. The Imperial-TUM Centre for Health Resilience in a Changing Planet will bring together European scientists, industry experts and policymakers to reveal the health impacts from particle pollution and support a major shift in industrial design, focusing on developing sustainable, pollution-minimising technologies. The work programme will span engineering, materials science and AI, and medicine and life sciences. It will focus on detecting and understanding the health impacts of plastic micro and nanoparticles and will then work with industry, governments and health agencies to mitigate the impact through engineering design innovation, new materials and policy change.

Cosette Pharmaceuticals, a US-based, pharma, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all the outstanding shares of Mayne Pharma Group, an Australian CDMO specialising in novel oral and topical dose forms providing pharmaceutical development, analytical testing and commercial manufacturing.

US pharma Incyte and US AI-focused biotech Genesis Therapeutics have formed a strategic collaboration focused on the research, discovery and development of novel small molecule medicines, with an initial focus on collaboration targets selected by Incyte. Genesis will use generative and predictive AI technologies to help create therapeutics for challenging targets.

German chemicals company BASF has announced the construction of a new alcoholates plant at its site in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The plant will produce sodium methylate and potassium methylate, two important chemicals used in the production of biodiesel and for pharmaceutical and agricultural applications. The new plant will replace the existing production facility in Ludwigshafen and is expected to start up in the second half of 2027.

Swedish seaweed company Nordic Seafarm, an InnoEnergy portfolio company, and FutureLab & Partners, a Swedish accelerator of new technologies and circular systems, have joined forces to establish Manatee Biomaterials, a joint venture dedicated to developing sustainable biomaterials from seaweed. Manatee Biomaterials will integrate advanced aquaculture and biomaterial science to create renewable materials, exploring durable plastic alternatives, sustainable packaging and eco-friendly furniture components.

Axplora, a German API small molecule and ADC manufacturer, has announced a €50m investment in its Mourenx site in Southwest France. Specialising in large-scale API industrial chemistry and chromatography, this expansion will enhance Mourenx’s position in peptide purification in a biologics environment and support the development of next-generation therapies, including GLP-1 drugs that target diabetes and obesity.

US pharma AbbVie and Xilio Therapeutics, a US clinical-stage biotech discovering and developing tumour-activated immuno-oncology therapies for people living with cancer, have announced a collaboration. The option-to-license agreement to develop novel tumour-activated, antibody-based immunotherapies, including masked T-cell engagers will leverage Xilio’s proprietary technology, a clinically validated platform for tumour-activated biologics.

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, a foundation for researching vaccines against emerging infectious diseases headquartered in Oslo, Norway, has announced a $5m funding award to Ethris, a German clinical-stage biotech developing next-generation RNA therapeutics and vaccines. The funding will support proof-of-concept research to develop spray-dried RNA vaccines that remain stable at room temperature and are suitable for mucosal delivery. The approach could make RNA vaccines more accessible and help to end future disease outbreaks faster.

The UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has awarded £6.1m to the Aston Institute for Membrane Excellence (Aston University, Birmingham, UK), with a further £7.1m in co-funding from partners. The money will fund the MEMetic project, which will develop nature-inspired (biomimetic) polymer membranes for water filtration. Separating molecules from water is a fundamental challenge across sectors from wastewater treatment to blood dialysis. Current filtration technologies rely on sequential separation steps based on the properties of the molecules. However, biology has evolved a solution to this, developing proteins that sit within membranes to selectively transport a specific molecule across it. MEMetic aims to mimic this to create bioinspired membranes capable of selectively removing a specific molecule, such as antibiotics, heavy metals and nutrients, from water in a single step.

Bio X Cell, a US provider of functional antibodies for translational research, is strengthening its global distribution network with the opening of a new distribution centre in Beijing, China.

Swiss pharma Novartis has entered into an agreement to acquire Anthos Therapeutics, a US privately held, clinical-stage biopharma with abelacimab, a late-stage medicine in development for the prevention of stroke and systemic embolism in patients with atrial fibrillation.

AdvanCell, an Australian clinical-stage radiopharmaceutical company specialising in targeted alpha therapies, has expanded the scope and breadth of its strategic collaboration with US pharma Eli Lilly and Company to research and develop innovative treatments for various cancers. Under the new agreement, the parties will leverage AdvanCell’s proprietary Pb-212 production technology and radionuclide development infrastructure and Lilly’s drug candidate programs and extensive expertise in drug development to facilitate the development and accelerate the clinical advancement of an expanded portfolio of targeted alpha therapies.

Bain Capital, a US private investment firm, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Japanese pharma Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma from Mitsubishi Chemical Group for approximately $3.3bn.

Jabil, a US engineering, manufacturing and supply chain company, has acquired Pharmaceutics International, a CDMO specialising in early-stage, clinical, and commercial volume aseptic filling, lyophilisation and oral solid dose manufacturing.

Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, has launched a new graphite R&D grant opportunity to accelerate the growth of the domestic battery industry and open export opportunities, especially to the US. Under the grant opportunity, successful mining and manufacturing SMEs will be offered up to AU$50,000/project and gain access to CSIRO’s cutting-edge research facilities and expertise to undertake collaborative graphite R&D projects. The AU$400,000 initiative aims to help companies improve the quality, efficiency and sustainability of graphite for Australia’s growing battery industry.

German specialty chemicals company Evonik has signed an agreement with Dutch company VoltH2 to advance green hydrogen production at the Delfzijl chemical park. According to the agreement, VoltH2 will construct a 50MW electrolyser near Evonik’s hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) plant. Evonik will then source a significant portion of its hydrogen demand from the electrolyser, which will start operations at the end of 2027.

British-Swedish pharma and biotech AstraZeneca has announced a C$820m (US$570m) investment in Canada, creating more than 700 high-skilled jobs, across all areas of the business. The investment will support the move to a larger, state-of-the-art office facility in the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario.

US biopharma Gilead Sciences and Danish dermatology medicines company LEO Pharma have announced a strategic partnership to accelerate the development and commercialisation of LEO Pharma’s small molecule oral STAT6 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 6) programs for the potential treatment of patients with inflammatory diseases.

US pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical technologies corporation Johnson & Johnson and Intra-Cellular Therapies have entered into a definitive agreement under which Johnson & Johnson will acquire all outstanding shares of Intra-Cellular Therapies, a US biopharma focused on the development and commercialisation of therapeutics for central nervous system disorders, for $132/share in cash for a total equity value of approximately $14.6bn.

City Therapeutics, a privately held US biopharma developing RNA interference (RNAi)-based medicine, has entered into a strategic agreement with global eye health company Bausch + Lomb. The collaboration will be focused on the development of a novel therapy for the treatment of retinal diseases including geographic atrophy, an advanced form of age-related macular degeneration that causes irreversible vision loss. City Therapeutics will leverage its RNAi engineering technologies to develop a novel RNAi clinical candidate toward a specific disease target for intravitreal administration.

UK speciality chemicals and sustainable technologies company Johnson Matthey and Bosch, a German supplier to the automotive industry, have today agreed terms to accelerate future joint projects, including intentions to develop and produce catalyst-coated membranes (CCM) for use in fuel cell stacks. JM’s high performance CCMs will be used in Bosch’s integrated, compact and scalable fuel cell power module for commercial vehicles, designed for longer distances.

Pall, a US provider of filtration, separation and purification technologies, and MTR Carbon Capture, a US company specialising in membrane technologies for point source carbon capture, have formed a collaboration focused on providing carbon capture solutions. The partnership aims to promote a modular, scalable and cost-effective integrated solution leveraging MTR’s Polaris membrane system for carbon capture and Pall’s filtration technologies for flue gas pre-treatment as well as innovative coalescer and filter technologies that safeguard critical assets throughout the carbon capture workflow.

Thermo Fisher Scientific, a US supplier of analytical instruments, clinical development solutions, specialty diagnostics, and laboratory, pharmaceutical and biotechnology services, is acquiring Solventum’s Purification & Filtration business for $4.1bn to enable the company to complement its biologics activities.

Thermo Fisher Scientific has also introduced its Invitrogen EVOS S1000 Spatial Imaging System, which addresses the limitations of current fluorescent microscopy technologies. The imaging system is designed to enable researchers to generate a multiplexed high-quality image for multiple samples within several hours, thereby lowering the barrier to entry into spatial tissue proteomics.

Indian pharma company Granules India is acquiring Swiss CDMO Senn Chemicals thereby expanding into peptide-based therapeutics, including GLP-1 based APIs that have been developed in collaboration with Senn, and building its CDMO expansion into Europe.

Pulpex, a UK sustainable packaging technology company specialising in fibre-based bottles, has secured backing from the UK Government’s National Wealth Fund (NWF) and the Scottish National Investment Bank under a £62m funding round. The investment is set to finance the construction of Pulpex’s first commercial-scale manufacturing facility near Glasgow. The patented technology enables the production of recyclable and biodegradable bottles that are made from wood pulp.

ATOME, a developed of international green fertiliser projects, has signed a Heads of Terms with Hy24’s Clean Hydrogen Infrastructures Fund, the low-carbon hydrogen asset manager. Hy24 will become the anchor high equity investor for ATOME’s flagship 26,000t/year green fertiliser project in Villeta, Paraguay. The final investment decision on the project is set for H1 2025.

Global agribusiness Syngenta has acquired the Novartis repository of natural compounds and genetic strains for the agricultural use to expand its biologicals R&D capabilities. This follows the startup of Syngenta’s new first world-scale production facility for agricultural biologicals in Orangeburg, South Carolina, US. Syngenta will also lease the Novartis fermentation pilot plant and laboratories in Basel, Switzerland. Novartis retains the rights to the repository for pharmaceutical use.

US pharma major Eli Lilly is to more than double its US manufacturing investment since 2020 by building four new US pharmaceutical sites. Three of the sites will focus on manufacturing active pharmaceutical ingredient’s (APIs), re-shoring critical capabilities in small molecule synthesis and strengthening the organisation’s supply chain. The fourth location will extend Lilly’s global parenteral manufacturing network for future therapies. No details have been revealed.

Healthcare company sanofi is investing up to $150m in Enveda, a biotech using AI-powered drug discovery tools to identify and characterise molecules produced by living organisms to create a database of chemical diversity that can be used to develop novel therapeutics for treating chronic diseases. Enveda has recently entered ENV-294, a first-in-class oral therapy for atopic dermatitis and asthma, into clinical trials.

German headquartered specialty chemicals producer Evonik is building a pilot plant in Marl, Germany, to produce its high-performance anion exchange membrane, Duraion, for the production of green hydrogen. When it comes on stream at the end of 2025 it will produce sufficient membrane to provide 2.5GW pf electrolysis capacity. It will also produce reinforced membranes to address increasing customer demand.

California, US, based small molecule drug developer BridGene Biosciences has signed a strategic collaboration and licensing agreement with Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceuticals to utilise BridGene’s chemoproteonomics IMTAC discovery platform for immunology and neurology therapeutics. BridGene will receive $46m in upfront and potential preclinical milestone payments, with additional clinical and commercial milestone payments that could total up to $770m.

Global logistics provider Hoyer Group, has acquired Chile’s Inter-Tank, based in Santiago de Chile, and has also opened a new office in Colombia focusing on ISO tank business and trucking services.