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December 24, 2007

Year In Review

Amid strong sales and earnings, the industry focused on energy and the environment in 2007.

India In A Rush

Crowds at CPhI India underscore the rapid evolution of the drug manufacturing industry.

Business Concentrates

  • Chemtura Mulls Sale, Other strategic Alternatives — Specialty chemicals maker Chemtura is considering "a wide range of strategic alternatives" for itself, including a sale of the company. Read more

  • Solvay Will Produce Bio-polyvinyl Chloride — Solvay's South American affiliate, Solvay Indupa, plans to spend $135 million building a plant in Santo André, Brazil. Read more

  • Kureha Plans U.S. Polyglycolic Acid — Japan's Kureha Corp. will spend more than $100 million on a plant producing polyglycolic acid (PGA), a new polyester resin targeted for use as a gas barrier layer in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles. Read more

  • Nanosolar To Supply Plant With Solar Cells — Nanosolar and German partner Beck Energy will supply solar systems for a 1-MW municipal power plant. Read more

  • Basell Will Build Plant In Trinidad — Basell has signed a memorandum of understanding to build a polypropylene complex in Trinidad & Tobago with the country's National Gas Co. and National Energy Corp. Read more

  • Merck Serono, Idera Partner On Cancer — Merck Serono and Idera Pharmaceuticals will develop Idera's toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) agonists for the treatment of cancer. Read more

  • Braskem Is Moving On Venezuelan Plants — Braskem, Brazil's largest private chemical maker, and Venezuelan state chemical company Pequiven have hammered out agreements for a pair of projects in Venezuela. Read more

  • Arena Strikes API Deal With Siegfried — Arena Pharmaceuticals has set up a manufacturing arrangement for its antiobesity agent lorcaserin, now in late-stage clinical trials, with the Swiss custom chemical firm Siegfried. Read more

  • Evonik Settles In Western China — Evonik Industries will spend $35 million to build a 30,000-metric-ton-per-year cyanuric chloride plant in Chongqing, in southwest China. Read more

  • <Dow Plans To Host Gasification Plant — Dow Chemical is working with Houston-based Hunton Energy on the construction of a $2.8 billion gasification plant. Read more

  • Pfizer Acquires Peptide Specialist — Pfizer has agreed to acquire CovX, a privately held biopharmaceutical firm with technology for linking peptides to antibody scaffolds. Read more

  • Lilly Seals Two New Drug Pacts — Eli Lilly & Co. will lay out $87 million for access to BioMS Medical's lead multiple sclerosis compound, MBP8298. Read more

  • Business Roundup — Arkema will acquire the polymethyl methacrylate sheet and block business from Spain's Repsol YPF for an undisclosed sum. Also news on PetroChina, DSM, Innophos, Hercules, G24 Innovations, Akzo Nobel, Oxford Catalysts, Rhodia. Read more

December 17, 2007

Patent Anxiety

GlaxoSmithKline's move against changes at the Patent Office highlights a perceived threat to drug research.

Cristal Clear

Titanium dioxide's new number two player gives its view of the market.

Business Concentrates

  • Arsenal Capital Selling Vertellus To Equity Firm — New York City-based private equity firm Arsenal Capital has sold Vertellus Specialties to another private equity player, Wind Point Partners. Read more

  • Lanxess Will get Most Of Petroflex — Lanxess will acquire 70% of the Brazilian synthetic rubber producer Petroflex for about $290 million. Read more

  • Indorama Seeks Eastman Polymer Plants — Thailand's Indorama Polymers wants to acquire Eastman Chemical's polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plants in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Workington, England, for about $95 million. Read more

  • Wacker Acquires Air Products Lines — Wacker Chemie and Air Products & Chemicals have finalized a previously announced deal under which Wacker will buy out its partner in two joint ventures. Read more

  • Nalco moves Into Emissions Reduction — Nalco Holding has acquired an 87.5% interest in Mobotec USA, a provider of combustion optimization and emission reduction equipment for industrial boilers. Read more

  • Johnson Matthey Is Buying Ceramics Maker — Metals and catalysts firm Johnson Matthey has agreed to buy advanced ceramic materials maker Argillon Group. Read more

  • UOP, USC To Develop Methanol From CO2 — UOP has signed an agreement with the University of Southern California's Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute to develop technologies to make clean-burning fuels from carbon dioxide. Read more

  • DSM Targets China's Wind Turbine Market — DSM has launched a new line of unsaturated polyester resins targeting the Chinese wind-energy market. Read more

  • GE And Novavax Team On Flu Vaccine — GE Healthcare and Novavax will develop a pandemic influenza vaccine based on GE's disposable bioprocessing equipment and Novavax' viruslike particle platform for virus manufacturing. Read more

  • Trimeris Will End All Drug Research — The biopharmaceutical company Trimeris will end its research and development efforts as part of a new plan under which it will consider "strategic transactions." Read more

  • GSK Deals Target Infections, Cancer — GlaxoSmithKline and Galapagos have formed a drug discovery partnership under which Galapagos will grant GSK options to license natural product candidates. Read more

  • Invitrogen Licenses Harvard Chemistry — JInvitrogen has taken an exclusive license to cell assays based on "click chemistry" from Harvard University. Read more

  • Business Roundup — Lanxess will spend nearly $15 million to upgrade its rubber chemicals plant in Antwerp, Belgium. Also news on Ferro, China National Chemical Corp., BASF, JSR Micro, Showa Denko, Biogen Idec, DSM, Jubilant Biosys and Gene Logic. Read more

December 10, 2007

Keeping Water Pure

Favored for security reasons, bleach is a rising star in the water treatment market.

A New Wave Of Detectives

Agile instrument firms harness telecommunications technology to make small scientific analyzers.

Business Concentrates

  • China Steps Up Drug Plant Inspections — China's Vice Premier, Wu Yi, has announced that Chinese authorities will inspect chemical plants throughout the country to make sure that they are not producing pharmaceutical ingredients without authorization. Read more

  • Evonik Sells its Rütgers Operation — Süd Evonik Industries has signed an agreement to sell its Rütgers Chemicals unit to the private equity firm Triton for an undisclosed price. Read more

  • Fuel-Cell Start-up Gets Financing — The Southampton, England-based advanced materials firm Bac2 is receiving $4.1 million in funding in a financing round led by the venture capital firms London Seed Capital and London Business Angels. Read more

  • DSM Signs Deal With Arch Pharmalabs — India's Arch Pharmalabs has signed a manufacturing deal with DSM's anti-infectives business unit that will expand DSM's product offerings. Read more

  • Prevost is Named New Cabot CEO — Carbon black and specialty chemical maker Cabot has named Patrick M. Prevost as president and CEO. Read more

  • New Auto Refrigerant in the Works — DuPont and Honeywell presented data on a new fluorochemical refrigerant, hydrofluoroolefin(HFO)-1234yf, for use in next-generation auto air conditioners. Read more

  • Dow Plans Rejigger of U.S. Resin Plants — Dow Chemical will stop selling acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) resins in the Americas for nonautomotive markets. Read more

  • Fragrance Developer Wins Venture Funds — Allylix, a developer of flavors and fragrances made via fermentation, has secured $3.35 million in financing from investors. Read more

  • Chemical Shipments Rise in October — The value of all U.S. chemical shipments in October increased 1.9% from September and 4.7% from a year earlier, according to seasonally adjusted data from the Commerce Department. Read more

  • Europe Fines Five Rubber Producers — The European Commission has imposed a total of about $355 million in fines on five producers of chloroprene rubber for fixing prices. Read more

  • Sonatrach, Total Set Algerian Project — Total and Algerian oil company Sonatrach are advancing plans to build a petrochemical complex in Arzew, Algeria. Read more

  • Johnson Matthey Adds Auto Catalysts — Johnson Matthey will build emission-control catalyst plants by 2009 to serve Europe and North America. Read more

  • Pfizer, Adolor Partner on Pain Management — Pfizer and Adolor are collaborating on the development and commercialization of two novel compounds, ADL5859 and ADL5747, for the treatment of pain. Read more

  • Business Roundup — Solutia says the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has confirmed its reorganization plan. Also news on Georgia Gulf, DSM, AgraQuest, Albemarle, Prosonix, Arrowhead Research, New England Peptide, Maxygen and Hitachi Chemical. Read more

December 3, 2007

Chemical Tango

Petrochemical meeting in Argentina puts alternative feedstocks on the agenda.

Personalized Medicine Pow-wow

Pioneers in genetics-based therapies discuss the evidence for industry's evolution.

Insights: Looking Back

C&EN's resident curmudgeon recalls the fun of mergers and acquisitions.

Cover Story: Pharma Adapts

Firms invent new strategies to deflect generic competition and stem growing safety concerns.

Drug Companies Cut Costs

In the midst of rapidly changing global markets, firms aggressively reduce spending to protect profitability.

Empowering FDA

A new law gives more powers to the regulatory agency and will impact the drug industry for years.

Business Concentrates

  • Two Vaccine Makers Will Build Plants — Merck & Co. and Sanofi-Aventis are separately building new plants outside their home countries to increase global vaccine supplies. Read more

  • Süd Chemie Expands Zeolite Catalysts — Süd Chemie has broken ground for a specialty zeolite plant in Bitterfeld, Germany. Read more

  • Fuel-Cell Start-up Gets Financing — The Southampton, England-based advanced materials firm Bac2 is receiving $4.1 million in funding in a financing round led by the venture capital firms London Seed Capital and London Business Angels. Read more

  • Akzo Plans Sell-off To Clear ICI Deal — Akzo Nobel has filed a commitment package with the European Commission designed to smooth its proposed acquisition of British coatings and chemicals giant ICI. Read more

  • Methanex Secures Natural Gas Supply — Methanex has agreed to "prepay" $40 million to Latin American natural gas producer GeoPark Holdings in a deal intended to secure new gas supplies for its Chilean methanol plants. Read more

  • Clariant To Leave Frankfurt Site — After a three-month study of its operations at Germany's Frankfurt-Griesheim industrial park, Swiss specialty chemicals firm Clariant will close its last plant there, a facility producing dichlorobenzidine. Read more

  • Air Products Sets Another NF3 Hike — Air Products & Chemicals is expanding its capacity to make nitrogen trifluoride, which is used as a chamber-cleaning gas in the manufacture of electronics. Read more

  • Dow Will Boost Polyurethanes R&D — Dow Chemical will spend $20 million to enlarge R&D operations in Correggio, Italy, and make the site its global R&D center for polyurethane systems and formulations. Read more

  • Asahi Boosts Battery Separators — Asahi Kasei Chemicals will spend $93 million to boost capacity in Moriyama, Japan, for its Hipore-brand microporous polyolefin membrane separators used in manufacturing rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. Read more

  • Astellas Pharma Will Buy Agensys — Japan's Astellas Pharma will pay $387 million upfront to acquire Agensys of Santa Monica, Calif. Agensys' shareholders could also receive up to $150 million if certain business milestones are met. Read more

  • Maxygen Consolidates In California — Maxygen, a biotechnology firm specializing in directed evolution techniques, plans to close its European subsidiary in HØrsholm, Denmark, and consolidate in Redwood City, Calif., where it will add 25 employees. Read more

  • Rohm And Haas Gets New Roof — Rohm and Haas has updated the roof on its Philadelphia headquarters building using its own elastomeric coating to reduce energy costs and provide longer life. Read more

  • India's Nirma Buys U.S. Soda Ash Firm — Nirma, an Indian manufacturer of detergents and industrial chemicals, has agreed to acquire Searles Valley Minerals, a producer of soda ash and other inorganic chemicals at three sites in California's Mojave Desert. Read more

  • Covance Acquires Lilly Plant In Virginia — The contract drug development firm Covance will purchase a partially constructed facility in a Prince William County, Va., technology park from Eli Lilly & Co. Read more

  • Business Roundup — Huntsman Corp. will expand urethanes capacity in Osnabrück, Germany, by investing in a new processing unit to make high-performance thermoplastic polyurethane grades. Also news on BASF, Dow Chemical, Texas Petrochemicals, Koppers, Basell, and Ineos Nova. Read more

November 26, 2007

Put A Tree In Your Tank

Thermochemical processes are making headway as a route to cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels.

A Massive Canvas

Artist uses Tyvek to create banner that encircles historic building.

Business Concentrates

  • Bayer Makes A Business Out Of Climate Change — Bayer will invest nearly $1.5 billion over the next three years in climate-related R&D and other projects. Read more

  • Schulman May Be Sold As CEO Retires — A. Schulman Inc., the Akron, Ohio-based polymer compounder, has announced that CEO Terry L. Haines, a 42-year employee, will retire once a new chief is found. Read more

  • Exxon, Partners Plan New Fuel-Cell System — ExxonMobil will work with QuestAir Technologies, Plug Power, and Ben-Gurion University, in Israel, to commercialize an on-vehicle hydrogen production system based on liquid fuels. Read more

  • Linde Keeps Macy's Parade Flying High — For the 13th straight year, Linde Group, formerly BOC Gases, was the sole provider of helium for balloons in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. Read more

  • Celanese And Accsys Alter Supply Pact — Celanese and Accsys Technologies will convert an earlier exclusive partnership into a nonexclusive relationship that they say gives both firms greater flexibility. Read more

  • Invista Signs Lease For Shanghai Plant — Invista has secured land in the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park in Shanghai's Caojing district to build an integrated nylon 6,6 facility. Read more

  • E Ink Kindles Amazon Reader — Internet merchant Amazon has introduced Kindle, a $399 portable electronic book reader capable of wirelessly downloading and storing up to 200 books. Read more

  • Songwon Plans Novel Isobutylene Facility — Songwon Industrial will spend $20 million to build a plant in Maeam, South Korea, for high-purity isobutylene, which the firm uses as a raw material to produce antioxidants. Read more

  • Sasol Again Cuts Surfactants Business — Sasol will indefinitely idle 220,000 metric tons per year of n-paraffins capacity in Augusta, Italy, as part of an ongoing surfactants business restructuring. Read more

  • Chemical Output Slips A Bit — U.S. chemical production slipped in October from both the previous month and the year-earlier month, according to seasonally adjusted data from the Federal Reserve Board. Read more

  • GSK To Buy Reliant — GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to acquire New Jersey-based specialty drug company Reliant Pharmaceuticals for $1.65 billion. Read more

  • PolyPeptide Acquires Isochem Peptides Unit — Peptide specialist PolyPeptide Laboratories has acquired NeoMPS, the peptide subsidiary of Isochem, the fine chemicals division of French state-owned chemical maker SNPE. Read more

  • Pfizer Will Buy Vaccine Specialist — Pfizer has agreed to acquire Coley Pharmaceutical for $164 million. Read more

  • Business Roundup — Business Roundup — Akzo Nobel has completed the sale of its Organon pharmaceutical unit to Schering-Plough for $16.3 billion. Also news on Bayer MaterialScience, Ineos, Hanwha Living & Creative, Albemarle, Rhodia, Avantium Technologies, Hadasit, and Photocure. Read more

November 19, 2007

First The Kingdom, Then The World

With its purchase of GE Plastics, SABIC is on the offensive globally and technologically.

More Growth For Chemical Earnings

With increased prices and steady demand, companies overcome economic turmoil.

Pharma's Tough Balancing Act

Weaker third-quarter earning at the major drug companies reflect drug withdrawals and generic competition.

Biotech Challenges

Earnings drop in third quarter at both Amgen and Biogen but increase 22% at Genentech.

Business Concentrates

  • U.K. Government Earmarks $200 Million For R&D — The British government's Department for Innovation, Universities & Skills (DIUS) is making about $200 million available to bankroll industry-academic R&D projects in new technology. Read more

  • BASF Opens European Electronics Center — BASF has opened its Electronic Materials Center Europe at company headquarters in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Read more

  • SABIC Will Sell Polymer Venture Stake To BASF — SABIC Innovative Plastics, the former GE Plastics, is selling its 50% interest in a polybutylene terephthalate joint venture in Schwarzheide, Germany, to its partner BASF. Read more

  • ADM Forms A New Chemicals Group — Archer Daniels Midland, the big agricultural processor, has formed an industrial chemicals group charged with commercializing chemicals from renewable feedstocks. Read more

  • Sterling Leaves Styrene Business — As expected, Sterling Chemicals will exit the styrene business to pursue "other strategic initiatives." Read more

  • Eastman Plans Air Emissions Reduction — Eastman Chemical plans to spend $200 million to install pollution control equipment on industrial boilers at its Kingsport, Tenn., facility. Read more

  • InnoCentive Winner Solves Oil Problem — The Oil Spill Recovery Institute has awarded $20,000 to John Davis, an oil industry outsider, for solving a problem in oil-spill recovery. Read more

  • PotashCorp Plans Another Expansion — Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, the world's largest producer of the fertilizer potash, plans to spend $1.8 billion to build a 2 million-metric-ton-per-year potash mine at its Rocanville, Saskatchewan, site. Read more

  • Chemical Prices Climb Again — Prices for U.S.-produced chemicals continued to increase in October, according to data from the Labor Department. Read more

  • Millennium To Close French TiO2 Facility — Millennium Inorganic Chemicals will close its titanium dioxide plant in Le Havre, France, with the loss of 287 jobs. Read more

  • Pfizer, Nektar Make Peace Over Exubera — Nektar Therapeutics will receive a one-time $135 million payment from Pfizer to settle the companies' differences over the inhaled insulin product Exubera. Read more

  • Cambridge Major Buys Dutch Contractor — Contract chemistry research firm Cambridge Major Laboratories has acquired ChemShop. Read more

  • Lead Therapeutics Draws Investors — San Francisco Bay Area-based Lead Therapeutics, a small-molecule drug discovery firm that plans to conduct most of its research in China. Read more

  • Business Roundup — Dow Chemical will take full ownership of Pacific Plastics (Thailand) Ltd. Also news on Cambrex, Cognis, Solvay, PolyOne, Dow Chemical, Ventana Medical Systems, Direvo, and Sanofi-Aventis. Read more

November 12, 2007

Carbon Nanotubes By The Metric Ton

Anticipating new commercial applications, producers increase capacity.

New Horizons

Former Bayer chemists find a haven within the walls of biotech companies.

Business Concentrates

  • Alumina Maker Almatis Changes Hands Again — The specialty alumina maker Almatis has been sold by its owners, Rhône Capital and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, to Dubai International Capital. Read more

  • Wacker To Expand Biotech And Polymers — Wacker Chemie will invest more than $22 million in its biopharmaceutical operations in Jena, Germany. Read more

  • Germany Invests In Battery Technology — Chemical makers Evonik Industries and BASF are participating with other German companies in a German-government-backed initiative to develop lithium-ion batteries and battery components. Read more

  • Start-up Novomer Gets Venture Funding — Ithaca, N.Y.-based Novomer has raised $6.6 million in funding from a consortium led by the venture capital firms Physic Ventures and Flagship Ventures. Read more

  • Venture Set For Cellulosic Biofuels — U.S. venture capital firm Khosla Ventures and the Netherlands-based start-up firm BIOeCON have formed a joint venture. Read more

  • Eliokem To Acquire Indian Polymer Unit — rench specialty polymers producer Eliokem is acquiring Apar Industries' polymer business for $27.5 million. Read more

  • Shell And Codexis Extend Enzymes Pact — Royal Dutch Shell and the biotech firm Codexis have expanded a collaboration to develop enzymes that convert biomass into fuel. Read more

  • Dow Will Close Polypropylene Plant — Dow Chemical will end polypropylene production at its St. Charles Operations in Hahnville, La., by the end of the year. Read more

  • Employment Drops In October — U.S. chemical employment declined by 3,500 jobs in October from the previous month to 872,200. Read more

  • Ferro To Close Ceramic Frit Plant — SFerro will stop producing frits, used to enamel porcelain, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, by summer 2008 and consolidate production at other European sites. Read more

  • Nanosphere Has First Stock Offering — Nanosphere, a molecular diagnostics company, has conducted its initial public offering, selling about 8 million shares at $14 each. Read more

  • Merck Takes Stake In Biotech Firm GTx — Merck & Co. and Memphis, Tenn.-based GTx have established a collaboration around the discovery and development of selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs). Read more

  • Partnerships Link Firms, Nonprofits — The ALS Association has awarded Cambria Biosciences a $3.5 million contract to develop drugs blocking a mutant protein that, when misfolded, aggregates in the motor neurons of people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Read more

  • Business Roundup — Bayer MaterialScience has purchased UCSC, a Phoenix-based maker of rigid polyurethane spray foam roofing and wall insulation. Also news on DSM, Israel Chemicals Ltd., Sigma-Aldrich, BASF, Kyowa Hakko, Akzo Nobel, Direvo Biotech, and Inion. Read more

November 5, 2007

Medical Polymers Renaissance

Despite potential liabilities, new suppliers of medical device polymers enter the market.

Cover Story: Job Market Dynamics

More recruiters on campus are a sign that 2008 will be a good year for new chemistry graduates

Job Market Gathers Strength

Company growth plus retirements are fueling increased hiring, especially for chemical engineers

Cultural Chameleons

For foreign-born job seekers, cultural awareness is the first step toward a successful career

From Bench To Management

Knowing what might lie ahead can ease the transition from the lab to the corporate ladder

Making The Industry-To-Academia Shift

Successful candidates tout their distinctive skill sets

Chairs Of Academic Search Committees Weigh In On Industrial Scientists' Prospects

When recruiting to fill academic positions, industrial scientists are not only considered, they are frequently hired

C&EN Talks With: Christopher Lipinski

Originator of 'The Rule of Five' reflects on 10 years of drug development under its influence.

Business Concentrates

  • Novartis Puts More Into Singapore — Novartis is expanding its already ambitious investment program in Singapore. Read more

  • Air Products Divests An Electronics Line — Air Products & Chemicals will sell its business in high-purity process chemicals to KMG Chemicals for $74.6 million. Read more

  • Solvay Refocuses Its Fluorochemicals — Solvay is realigning its fluorochemicals operation on high-value-added specialties and downsizing its production of commodities, including refrigerant gases. Read more

  • Dow Will Set Up Indian R&D Center — Dow Chemical has signed a memorandum of understanding with the state government of Maharashtra to set up an R&D center in Chakan, Pune, India.

    Read more

  • DuPont Will Develop Metal-Polymer Hybrids — DuPont has partnered with three nanomaterial developers—Canadian companies Morph Technologies and Integran Technologies and U.S.-based PowerMetal Technologies—to develop nanocrystalline metal-polymer hybrids. Read more

  • Evonik Consolidates Engineered Carbons ... — Evonik Industries has bought out its partner, Engineered Carbons Inc., in their 50-50 carbon black joint venture, Degussa Engineered Carbons, for an undisclosed sum. Read more

  • ... And Debuts A Luminescent Foil — Evonik Industries will introduce electroluminescent (EL) foils as a safety appliqué for children's book bags. Read more

  • Westlake Expanding PVC Production — Westlake Chemical will spend $90 million on polyvinyl chloride-related investments at its Calvert City, Ky., plant. Read more

  • Green Rock, Eastman Will Gasify Twice — Green Rock Energy, a company formed by D. E. Shaw and Goldman, Sachs & Co. to invest in new energy sources. Read more

  • Sanaria Readies New Malaria Vaccine — Sanaria and the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) have opened a plant in Rockville, Md., to manufacture the first vaccine using a weakened malaria parasite. Read more

  • Chinese Research Group Lands Financing — ShangPharma, a Shanghai-based contract research organization (CRO) whose subsidiary, Shanghai ChemExplorer, has a major contract with Eli Lilly & Co. Read more

  • GSK Launches An Operations Revamp — Facing generic competition and a drop in sales of its diabetes drug Avandia, GlaxoSmithKline has launched a $3.1 billion operational cost reduction program that is expected to result in annual pretax savings of up to $1.5 billion by 2010. Read more

  • Lilly Licenses A Drug From Glenmark — Eli Lilly & Co. will pay Glenmark Pharmaceuticals $45 million up front and a possible $215 million more in milestones for a portfolio of molecules called transient receptor potential vanilloid subfamily 1 (TRPV1) antagonists. Read more

  • Business Roundup — Bayer Material Science is selling its Hennecke subsidiary, which makes urethane-processing machinery, to Vienna-based investment group Adcuram for an undisclosed sum. Also news on Chemtura, Rhodia, Perstorp, Israel Chemicals, Kemira, Hercules, Basell, Pfizer, and Merck. Read more

October 29, 2007

ChIna's Cancer Villages

Their water contaminated by industry, farmers in dozens of villages in China die prematurely.

In The Pink

Seemingly lucrative fish-coloring business proves hard for newcomers to crack.

Business Concentrates

  • ACC Debuts New TV Ads — The American Chemistry Council launched the next phase of its two-year-old education program last week, debuting two television advertisements. Read more

  • Sumitomo Boosts Liquid Crystals — Sumitomo Chemical will increase its capacity for liquid-crystal polymers (LCPs) by more than 30% to 9,200 metric tons per year. Read more

  • CambridgeSoft Eyes Stock Market Offer — CambridgeSoft, a supplier of chemical and biological software to scientists, plans to sell shares on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investments Market. Read more

  • Fertilizer Projects Assessed For Peru — Two American fertilizer makers are bidding on natural gas supply contracts in Peru.

    Read more

  • Wellman Sues Eastman Over Polyester — Polyester maker Wellman is suing Eastman Chemical for patent infringement. Read more

  • Solvay Works With Rahu Catalytics — Solvay has formed a long-term technical collaboration with Rahu Catalytics, a London-based catalyst developer spun off from Unilever in 2006. Read more

  • Syngenta In Biofuels Research Partnership — Syngenta; Queensland University of Technology, in Brisbane, Australia; and the Australian agbiotech firm Farmacule BioIndustries have formed the Syngenta Center for Sugarcane Biofuel Development, in Brisbane. Read more

  • Fuel-Cell Company Wins Funding — Allied Minds, a private equity firm specializing in university spin-offs, is committing $500,000 to SiEnergy Systems. Read more

  • Chemical Output Rises Again — U.S. chemical production in September increased for the eighth straight month, according to seasonally adjusted data from the Federal Reserve Board. Read more

  • Ranbaxy To Spin Off Drug Discovery Arm — Ranbaxy Laboratories has taken the first steps to spinning off its drug discovery unit. Read more

  • Galenica Will Buy Canada's Aspreva — Switzerland's Galenica Group will pay $915 million to acquire Canada's Aspreva Pharmaceuticals. Read more

  • GSK, Tolerx Sign Antibody Agreement — GlaxoSmithKline and Tolerx have formed an alliance to develop and commercialize otelixizumab, a monoclonal antibody discovered by the Cambridge, Mass., biotech firm. Read more

  • Castor Oil Plastics Featured At K Show — Three chemical companies exhibiting at the K 2007 plastics trade fair in Düsseldorf, Germany, this week will feature polymers made from the renewable raw material castor oil. Read more

  • Business Roundup — Air Products & Chemicals has acquired all outstanding shares in Air Products Shanfeng, making the Chinese joint venture a wholly owned subsidiary. Also news on Konarka Technologies, PCAS, BASF, Rohm and Haas, Chemizon, Novartis, Pfizer, King Pharmaceuticals, and Avant Immunotherapeutics. Read more

October 22, 2007

In Hot Pursuit

Dow's R&D leadership directs a global army pursuing lower raw material and energy costs.

Web Exclusive

A rational approach to energy.

Optimism Prevails For Fine Chemicals

Increased product outsourcing and busier plants make custom manufacturers feel more prosperous at CPhI.

Lilly Works The World

Major U.S. drug firm seeks alliances with talented partners.

Business Concentrates

  • Perstorp to Buy Solvay Caprolactone Unit — Swedish specialty chemicals maker Perstorp is buying Solvay's caprolactones unit for about $285 million. Read more

  • Fired Exec Wants JPMorgan Named in Dow Suit — Former Dow Chemical executive Romeo Kreinberg has filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Michigan against JPMorgan over its role in his dismissal from the company in April. Read more

  • Olin To Sell Metals Business — Olin has signed a definitive agreement to sell its metals business to a subsidiary of investment firm KPS Capital Partners for $400 million in cash. Read more

  • Frutarom Buys Gewurzmuller — Frutarom Industries, the acquisitive Israel-based flavors firm, has signed an agreement to buy Gewurzmuller Group for $67 million.

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  • Air Products, Matheson Form Helium Venture — Air Products & Chemicals and Matheson Tri-Gas, a subsidiary of Japan's Taiyo Nippon Sanso, plan to jointly build and operate a liquid helium production plant near Big Piney, Wyo. Read more

  • Pfizer Leads R&D Spending — Of the 2,000 companies compared by the European Commission in its annual scorecard for global industrial R&D investment, Pfizer spent the most last year. Read more

  • Cray Valley Opens Lab — Cray Valley, a specialty resins unit of French petroleum and petrochemicals maker Total, has opened a 900-sq-ft hydrocarbon resins lab in Exton, Pa. Read more

  • Basell Closing Canadian Plant — Basell says it will close its Varennes, Quebec, polypropylene plant by next April. Read more

  • Teijin Boosts Carbon Fiber — Teijin's subsidiary Toho Tenax will build a new carbon fiber production line in Wuppertal, Germany. Read more

  • Genencor Unveils Cellulose Enzyme — Genencor is launching what it calls the first commercially available enzyme for cellulosic ethanol production. Read more

  • Chemical Prices Rise In September — U.S. chemical prices increased in September, according to data from the Labor Department. Read more

  • Technology Incubator Launches Biopolymer Venture — Emergence, a Berkeley, Calif.-based life sciences technology development firm, and ExThera, a technology transfer partner of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, have formed a joint venture, ExThera Medical, to develop and market polymers for medical devices based on biologically active carbohydrates that remove pathogenic microorganisms, proteins, and cells from blood. Read more

  • BASF and G24i Develop Solar Cells — BASF will partner with G24 Innovations of Cardiff, Wales, to jointly develop ionic liquids and formulations for use in solar cells. Read more

  • Arkema Cuts Jobs, Expands Plant — To improve the productivity of its Marseille Saint-Menet facility in France, Arkema will cut about 49 jobs at the site while increasing production capacity by 10%. Read more

  • Business Roundup — Novomer, a start-up firm developing biodegradable polymers that incorporate carbon dioxide, has raised $6.6 million in venture funding. Also news on AarhusKarlshamn, Ciba Specialty Chemicals, China Petroleum & Chemical, PPG Industries, Coatings Research Corp., Total Petrochemicals, Samsung Group, and Huntsman Corp. Read more

October 15, 2007

Chemical Stocks Outperform Again

Index of 25 chemical companies continues to beat other industry sectors.

Optimism In Europe

Despite challenges, studies predict the European chemical industry will remain a global leader.

Business Concentrates

  • Rockwood Electronic Chemicals Go To OMG — Rockwood Holdings will sell its electronic chemicals business to OM Group for $315 million. Read more

  • PQ Will Combine With Ineos Silicas — PQ Corp. and Ineos Silicas will combine to create a new producer of silicates and other inorganic chemicals with annual sales in excess of $1 billion. Read more

  • Agion, PPG Team Up For Antimicrobials — Agion Technologies, a provider of silver-based antimicrobials, will work with coatings maker PPG Industries to develop antimicrobial coatings for use on laptop computers. Read more

  • Solvay Mulls More Chinese Investment —A Solvay plant for polytetrafluoroethylene powder, currently under construction in China, will begin operations in first-quarter 2008.

    Read more

  • Chevron Forms Coal Research Alliance — Chevron has formed a research alliance with the Penn State Institutes of Energy & the Environment to research clean coal and coal-to-liquid technologies. Read more

  • Executive Endows MIT Cancer Center — MIT has received a $100 million gift from Koch Industries executive and MIT alumnus David H. Koch for the establishment of a new cancer research center. Read more

  • Mitsubishi Expands m-xylene In Japan — Mitsubishi Gas Chemical will build a 70,000-metric-ton-per-year m-xylene plant at its Mizushima site in Japan's Okayama prefecture. Read more

  • DSM Boosts Output Of Ultrastrong Fiber — DSM will expand capacity in Greenville, N.C., for its Dyneema UniDirectional bullet-resistant sheet. Read more

  • Employment Slips In September — U.S. chemical industry employment fell slightly in September from the previous month. Read more

  • GSK Enters Drug Development Pacts — GlaxoSmithKline has formed two drug discovery partnerships and named a successor to its CEO. Read more

  • AMRI To Research Cystic Fibrosis — Albany Molecular Research Inc. has formed a four-year research agreement with Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics. Read more

  • QLT Will Purchase Drug Delivery Firm — QLT will acquire ForSight Newco, owner of an ocular drug delivery system, for $42 million plus possible future milestone payments. Read more

  • P&G Divests Its PHA Biopolymer Technology — Procter & Gamble has sold its polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) technology to Bainbridge, Ga.-based start-up Meredian. Read more

  • Business Roundup — Reliance Industries plans to set up a research center in Navi Mumbai, a planned city on the outskirts of the Mumbai region. Also news on H.B. Fuller, Asahi Glass, Ineos Nova, Clariant, Avecia Biologics and Siegfried. Read more

October 8, 2007

Liquid Gold Mine

Scientists in Norway are plumbing the seas for the next blockbuster medicine.

DuPont Finds Itself

Company says it has completed a transformation from chemical maker to science firm.

Why Helium Is In Short Supply

Maintenance disruptions, new project delays mean shortages for at least two more years.

Arkema Looks Ahead

At first investors' day, 'young' French company charts road map through 2010.

Business Concentrates

  • Teijin Buys Stake In Cargill's NatureWorks — Japan's Teijin has agreed to buy a 50% stake in NatureWorks, a Cargill subsidiary that produces plastics from corn sugar. Read more

  • Asahi Glass Shuts New Jersey Plant — In an effort to improve earnings, Asahi Glass will close its fluorochemicals plant in Bayonne, N.J., at the end of the year. Read more

  • Mascoma To Produce Switchgrass Ethanol — Biofuels start-up Mascoma is joining with the University of Tennessee to build what it says will be the first U.S. plant to make ethanol out of switchgrass. Read more

  • ConocoPhillips, ADM Strike Biofuels Deal —ConocoPhillips and Archer Daniels Midland will collaborate on research aimed at developing biocrude.

    Read more

  • Chemical Companies Supply Boeing 787 — Two chemical companies are shipping materials to Boeing for use in the new 787 Dreamliner. Read more

  • Akzo Sees Synergies In ICI Acquisition — Akzo Nobel managers estimate that operating cost savings and other synergies from their acquisition of ICI's paints business will total nearly $3.5 billion, after implementation costs. Read more

  • Bayer, Lanxess Sort Out Antwerp Site — Bayer and Lanxess, the industrial chemicals unit that Bayer spun off several years ago, are realigning their operations in Antwerp, Belgium. Read more

  • Pfizer Names Mackay To Head Research — Pfizer has named Martin Mackay as president of Pfizer Global Research & Development. Read more

  • BASF, Linde, RWE Pursue Clean Coal — BASF, Linde, and RWE Power plan to cooperate on a project to develop clean-coal technologies. Read more

  • Sony To Launch First OLED Television — On Dec. 1, electronics maker Sony plans to launch the XEL-1, a television it claims will be the world's first that is based on organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Read more

  • GE, Lilly Pursue Cancer Diagnostics — GE Global Research and GE Healthcare will work with Eli Lilly & Co. to discover in vitro diagnostic assays that may predict patient response to certain cancer therapies. Read more

  • Air Liquide Acquires Two Specialty Firms — Air Liquide has reached agreements to acquire two specialty gases companies. Read more

  • Business Roundup — Dow Chemical will work with WaterHealth International to provide $30 million worth of loan guarantees to support the financing of up to 2,000 community water systems in India. Also news on Eastman Chemical, S??d-Chemie, Konarka, Kemira, Asahi Kasei, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Wyeth, Thermo Fisher Scientific and PDL BioPharma. Read more

October 1, 2007

Cover Story: The Big Picture

A new study finds that U.K. citizens may be exposed to more BDE-209 via dust than North Americans.

The Semantic Web

Pharma Researchers Adopt An Orphan Internet Standard.

Target Practice

Software and database vendors aim to supply researchers with tools to extract quality from quantity.

Electronic Lab Notebooks

A Collaborative Tool Settles Into Drug Research.

An Agchem Rebound

Sales in developing countries soar amid concerns about the food-biofuels balance.

C&EN Talks With Ma Jun

Tireless environmental activist seeks to nurture China's environmental conscience.

Business Concentrates

  • DSM Steps Up Reshaping — A mid-term evaluation of its Vision 2010 strategic plan has led DSM to accelerate its shift toward life sciences products and performance materials. Read more

  • Motiva Will Build Refining Capacity — Motiva Enterprises, a 50-50 joint venture between Shell Oil and Saudi Aramco, is expanding capacity at its Port Arthur, Texas, refinery by 325,000 barrels per day. Read more

  • Sinopec And DuPont Team Up For Resin — China Petroleum & Chemical (Sinopec) and DuPont have formed a joint venture to build and operate a plant producing ethylene vinyl acetate resins. Read more

  • Dow Invests In Gasification Firm — Dow Chemical and Citi Alternative Investments were the leaders in a recent $100 million round of financing for GreatPoint Energy.

    Read more

  • Solutia Sees End To Its Bankruptcy —Solutia says it is poised to emerge from bankruptcy by the end of the year. Read more

  • Syrgis Acquires Norac's Peroxides — Syrgis Performance Products has acquired Norac's organic peroxides business and renamed it Syrgis Performance Initiators. Read more

  • Total Chooses Bioplastics Partner — Total Petrochemicals and lactic acid maker Galactic have agreed to form a joint venture, Futerro, that will develop polylactic acid-based plastics. Read more

  • AmbioPharm Opens Peptide Facility — AmbioPharm, a newly formed pharmaceutical-grade peptide manufacturer, has opened in North Augusta, S.C., at a site acquired last year from UCB Bioproducts. Read more

  • ChemDiv Partners With Russia, U.S. — ChemDiv's Chemical Diversity Research Institute is joining with the Blokhin Russian Oncology Center, the Department of Energy, and the National Cancer Institute to develop small-molecule therapies for prostate cancer. Read more

  • Chemical Prices Fall In August — Overall U.S. chemical prices declined in August from the previous month, according to data from the Labor Department. Read more

  • Celgene Links With Array BioPharma — Celgene has linked up with Array BioPharma to discover and develop anticancer and anti-inflammation drugs. Read more

  • Bayer Will Add Polyols In Antwerp — Bayer MaterialScience plans to build a $56 million plant in Antwerp, Belgium, that can make up to 60,000 metric tons per year of polymer-filled polyether polyols. Read more

  • Sigma-Aldrich Hikes Fermentation Capacity — Sigma-Aldrich's SAFC fine chemicals business will spend $29 million to expand capacity at its fermentation facility in Jerusalem. Read more

  • Business Roundup — Lonza is selling its purified isophthalic acid plant in Singapore to the Swedish company Perstorp for $138 million. Also news on The European Commission, Bayer MaterialScience, Dow Chemical, Solvin, Tronox, Twin Rivers Technologies, Polymer Technology Group and Ablynx. Read more

September 24, 2007

Higher Technology

The rebounding custom pharmaceutical chemical business pushes the high-tech envelope.

Oxford's Knack For Spinning Gold

Offshoots from university's chemistry department make their mark in the world of commerce.

Betting On Industrial Gases

Linde's acquisition of BOC bolsters other companies; outlook is positive.

An Aids Drug Feud

Indian generic pharmaceutical manufacturer CIPLA is under attack for its prices in India.

Evonik Debuts

RAG's corporate identity change means the demise of the Degussa name.

Business Concentrates

  • Dutch Government Invests In Biomedical Materials — The Dutch government has committed $63 million to support the BioMedical Materials program. Read more

  • Evonik Enters New Silicon Agreement — Evonik Industries' chemical division, formerly Degussa, is joining with Dutch company The Silicon Mine (TSM) to build a solar silicon facility at DSM's chemical complex in Sittard-Geleen, the Netherlands. Read more

  • Sigma-Aldrich Plans A Facility In China — Sigma-Aldrich will spend $25 million to acquire land and build the first phase of a new manufacturing facility in Wuxi, an industrial city west of Shanghai. Read more

  • DuPont slates Big Kevlar Investment — DuPont plans to spend more than $500 million to increase worldwide production capacity for its Kevlar p-aramid fiber.

    Read more

  • Clariant Targets Nanotech Textiles — Clariant has formed a pact with Schoeller Technologies to develop Schoeller's nanotechnology-based NanoSphere textile finish. Read more

  • Enzymes Companies Pursue Bioethanol — Genencor and Novozymes, the world's two leading enzymes producers, have formed separate collaborations to advance technology for making ethanol from biomass. Read more

  • Chemical Output Continues Upward — Total U.S. chemical production continued to rise in August, although it was still down slightly from its year-earlier level, according to seasonally adjusted data from the Federal Reserve Board. Read more

  • Novasep Snaps Up Fine Chemicals Firm — The French fine chemicals and separations equipment firm Novasep has agreed to acquire Bahamas-based PharmaChem Technologies for an undisclosed sum. Read more

  • Xerox Opens Novel Toner Facility — Xerox has opened its first U.S. plant for emulsion aggregation toners. Read more

  • Two Firms Partner For Clean Coal — Praxair and Foster Wheeler have formed an alliance to demonstrate clean coal technologies for electricity-generating plants. Read more

  • Rhode Island Moves On Lead Cleanup — Rhode Island officials are seeking court approval of a plan that would require three former manufacturers of lead-based paint that lost a lawsuit last year to pay an estimated $2.4 billion to fund the cleanup of hundreds of thousands of contaminated homes throughout the state. Read more

  • Evotec To Acquire Drug Firm Renovis — The German drug discovery firm Evotec has agreed to acquire Renovis, a South San Francisco biotech company focused on pain and inflammatory disease drugs. Read more

  • GSK Wins U.S. Antibiotic Contract — GlaxoSmithKline has scored a Department of Defense contract worth up to $41 million over five years to develop a new class of antibiotics. Read more

  • Forest Licenses A Microbia Drug — Forest Laboratories will pay up to $330 million for access to linaclotide, a first-in-class compound being developed by Microbia for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome. Read more

  • Business Roundup — Praxair plans to build a specialty gases facility in China's Nanjing Science Park that will produce calibration gases and ultra-high-purity gases for the electronics industry. Also news on Lanxess, Air Products & Chemicals, Innophos Holdings, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Merck & Co., and Dow Chemical. Read more

September 17, 2007

Big-Time Painting

The market demands paints and resins that durably protect the infrastructure yet are easy to use.

Foiling Corrosion Involves Outsmarting Metals' Nature

As soon as we are old enough to leave a bicycle out in the rain, we become familiar with the process of rusting.

Private equity targets China

Despite China's poor record of innovation, investors are excited about its potential for research breakthroughs.

C&EN Talks With Anne Noonan

The head of Chemtura's new polymer additives business embraces change-and makes a few changes of her own.

Business Concentrates

  • Aptuit Will Acquire Evotec Development Arm — Continuing its buildup of a pharmaceutical development services business, Aptuit has agreed to acquire Evotec's chemical and pharmaceutical development operations for $64 million. Read more

  • DuPont Urges Faster Phaseout Of HCFCs — DuPont is urging nations to speed up the phaseout of hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) refrigerants both to protect Earth's upper atmosphere and to reduce emission of global-warming gases. Read more

  • Borealis Forms Research Firm — Polyolefins maker Borealis has formed Norner Innovation, a research consultancy operating out of Borealis' former R&D center in Bamble, Norway. Read more

  • Konarka Signs Solar Power Deal — Konarka Technologies and Japan's Toppan Forms have signed an agreement to develop Konarka's polymer-based solar power cells for consumer and electronic applications.

    Read more

  • Dow Pushes Into Epoxy Systems — Dow Chemical has signed agreements to acquire three companies that formulate epoxy systems. Read more

  • Shin-Etsu Expands Methylcellulose — Shin-Etsu Chemical will spend $260 million to build additional capacity for pharmaceutical-grade methylcellulose in Wiesbaden, Germany, and Joetsu City, Japan. Read more

  • Evonik Is New Name For RAG, Degussa — RAG, the German conglomerate that acquired the specialty chemicals maker Degussa last year, has rebranded itself as Evonik Industries in advance of a stock offering expected during the first half of 2008. Read more

  • DSM Rearranges Assets In Shanghai — DSM will close its Gonglu location in Shanghai and instead expand manufacturing in Xinghuo, another part of Shanghai. About 200 people are employed in Gonglu. Read more

  • Bayer May Build European MDI Plant — Bayer MaterialScience is mulling a 400,000-metric-ton-per-year plant to make the polyurethane component methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) somewhere in Europe by 2012. Read more

  • Employment Jumps In August — U.S. chemical industry employment rose in August, according to seasonally adjusted data from the Labor Department, spurred by an increase in production workers. Read more

  • Pfizer To Cease output In Sandwich — Pfizer will end all active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing at its site in Sandwich, England. The decision, which will result in the loss of about 420 jobs over the next two years, follows the 2005 announcement of a manufacturing scale-back at the site that affected some 400 jobs. Read more

  • Sigma-Aldrich Boosts Pharma Chemicals — Sigma-Alrich's SAFC fine chemicals business will spend $10 million to expand production capacity in Arklow, Ireland, and Buchs, Switzerland. Read more

  • Drugmakers Form Delivery Alliances — Wyeth has entered a development and license agreement with Flamel Technologies to apply Flamel's Medusa drug delivery technology to a currently marketed protein drug. Read more

  • Boehringer, Ablynx Sign Antibody Pact — Boehringer Ingelheim and the biopharmaceutical company Ablynx will collaborate on the discovery and development of as many as 10 therapeutics based on Ablynx's Nanobody technology. Read more

  • Business Roundup — Arkema has started up a $45 million hydrofluorocarbon-32 plant in Calvert City, Ky. Also news on Ineos-Nova, Dow Chemical, Rhodia, Sasol, Arch Chemicals, Nabi Biopharmaceuticals, and Albany Molecular Research. Read more

September 10, 2007

Research With A Commercial Edge

RTI International takes a business approach to solving societal and science problems.

China Reforms Drug Oversight

Changes are aimed at improving safety of pharmaceuticals and encouraging innovation.

C&EN Talks With Herbert Boyer

Modest innovator laid the groundwork for the biotechnology industry.

Business Concentrates

  • Companies Invest In Nanotubes — Metabolic Explorer and Institut Français du Pétrole, which specializes in alternative energy research, will collaborate on scaling up MetEx's biotech route for making 1,3-propanediol out of glycerin. Read more

  • Partners Target Propanediol Output — Solvay and four venture capital firms have injected a total of $20.6 million into Plextronics. Read more

  • Polymer Technology Boosts Biomaterials — Polymer Technology Group has tripled its R&D and manufacturing capacity in the Temescal Business Park in Berkeley, Calif. Read more

  • Lubrizol To Acquire Refrigerant Lubes — Lubrizol has agreed to buy Croda's refrigeration lubricants business for $125 million.

    Read more

  • Cognis Weighs Pulcra Options — Cognis has invited mergers-and-acquisitions specialist Lincoln International to conduct a review of the strategic options for its Pulcra Chemicals subsidiary. Read more

  • OM Buys Borchers — OM Group will acquire Lanxess' Borchers unit, a coatings additive supplier based in Langenfeld, Germany. Read more

  • Germany Will Launch Drug Discovery Hub — The German city of Hamburg is establishing European ScreeningPort, a drug discovery service hub designed to provide the missing link in Europe between academic research and the pharmaceutical industry. Read more

  • Novozymes Launches Acrylamide Fighter — Danish enzymes producer Novozymes has launched an enzyme, dubbed Acrylaway. Read more

  • Exxon Commits To Singapore Complex — ExxonMobil Chemical is going ahead with its second petrochemical complex in Singapore. Read more

  • Lanxess Will Produce Ion Resins In India — Lanxess will spend $40 million to build an ion-exchange resins plant in northeast India. Read more

  • Coca-Cola To Build PET Recycling Plant — Coca-Cola will spend more than $60 million on recycling efforts that include what it claims will be the world's largest polyethylene terephthalate bottle recycling plant. Read more

  • Rohm And Haas Opens Facilities In Asia — Rohm and Haas has opened a $12 million acrylic emulsions facility at Chennai in southern India that will supply local producers of water-based paints and adhesives. Read more

  • Chemical Shipments Are Mixed In July — The value of U.S. chemical shipments in July totaled $53.3 billion, up 0.7% from the previous month, but down 1.0% from the comparable month last year. Read more

  • BUSINESS ROUNDUP — Rohm and Haas will take an after-tax restructuring charge of $15 million against third-quarter earnings. Also news on DuPont, DSM, Olin, Covance, Nicholas Piramal, Bayer, and Lectus Therapeutics. Read more

September 3, 2007

Efforts To Clean The Huai Fail Again

Running through poor regions of China, the river suffers as short-term economic concerns take precedence.

Insights: Seeing The Forest At Pfizer

A radical knowledge-sharing initiative takes hold at the world's largest drugmaker.

Business Concentrates

  • FDA Proposes Sunscreen Rating System — FDA has proposed a long-awaited UV-A sunscreen effectiveness rating system and testing protocol. Read more

  • Solvay Invests In Plextronics — Solvay and four venture capital firms have injected a total of $20.6 million into Plextronics. Read more

  • Venture To Cut Maritime NOx — Fertilizer maker Yara International is forming a joint venture with fellow Norwegian firm Wilhelmsen Maritime Services. Read more

  • BASF Expands Asian Auto Catalysts — BASF will expand capacity for automotive catalysts at its plants in India and China by early 2009.

    Read more

  • Chinese Firm Plans Olefin — China's Datang International Power Generation plans to build an olefins plant in the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia that will use locally produced coal as raw material. Read more

  • Nanotube Company Will Expand Plant — SouthWest Nanotechnologies has begun a $3.9 million expansion of its single-walled nanotube plant in Norman, Okla. Read more

  • DSM Invest In Food Freshness Firm — A European syndicate led by DSM Venturing and Swiss-based Inventages Venture Capital has pumped $5.6 million into Food Quality Sensor International. Read more

  • NPIL Mulls Drug Discovery Spin-Off — Mumbai-based Nicholas Piramal India Ltd. is considering whether to turn its drug discovery research unit into a separate entity. Read more

  • June Trade Balance Turns To Black — The U.S. chemical trade balance in June rose to a surplus, despite month-to-month declines in both exports and imports. Read more

  • Job Cuts Planned At Biotech Firms — Three biotechnology companies are cutting jobs as part of restructuring plans. Read more

  • Novartis Expands Swiss Drug Capacity — Novartis is investing roughly $250 million to increase manufacturing capacity in Schweizerhalle, Switzerland, for its portfolio of blood pressure medications, including Diovan, Exforge, and Tekturna. Read more

  • Gene Logic Signs Two New Partners — Gene Logic has snared two new customers for its drug repositioning program, which explores new applications for drug candidates that were safe but ineffective in clinical trials. Read more

  • InnoCentive Gives Prize4Life Awards — InnoCentive, a website aimed at researchers who can offer solutions to scientific problems, has awarded five prizes in the first phase of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Prize4Life Biomarker Challenge. Read more

  • BUSINESS ROUNDUP — Sigma-Aldrich's SAFC fine chemicals business will invest $4.5 million in its Madison, Wis., plant. Also news on Hercules, Kemira, Bayer MaterialScience, Pfizer, Codexis, Aesica Pharmaceuticals, and Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Read more

August 20, 2007

Soy Rebounds

Soybeans are once again garnering attention as a renewable raw material for polymers.

Chemical Earnings Show Increase

Aggregate rise in earnings among 25 chemical firms was 11.3% in the second quarter, with 18 companies seeing higher results.

Pharma's Mixed bag

Setbacks for blockbuster drugs sideswipe several drug firms' second-quarter results.

Biotechs Rely On Old Products

Second-quarter financial results reflect aging portfolios at big biotech companies.

Business Concentrates

  • Symyx Will Acquire MDL — Lab instrumentation and software developer Symyx Technologies will pay $123 million to purchase much of MDL Information Systems from Elsevier. Read more

  • Rohm And Haas Boosts Display Materials — Rohm and Haas will spend $190 million to acquire a 51% stake in the display materials business of SKC. Read more

  • Brazil Consolidates Petrochemicals — Brazilian national oil company Petrobras is in negotiations with local firm Unipar to merge their petrochemical holdings in southeastern Brazil. Read more

  • Investors Back Cellulosic Ethanol — University of Massachusetts spin-off SunEthanol has attracted investments from ethanol maker VeraSun Energy and a number of venture capitalists.

    Read more

  • GM, A123Systems Join For Batteries — General Motors and A123Systems have agreed to work together to develop A123's lithium-ion batteries for use in planned GM electric plug-in and fuel-cell vehicles. Read more

  • Celanese Sells Pampa Facility — Babcock & Brown has purchased Celanese's Pampa, Texas, acetic acid and acetic anhydride production facility for an undisclosed sum. Read more

  • New Lab For Cargill — Cargill has opened a 19,000-sq-ft lab in Plymouth, Minn., for its BiOH polyols. Read more

  • Erco Plans Switch To Membrane Process — Erco Worldwide will convert its Port Edwards, Wis., chlor-alkali plant from mercury-based technology to membrane technology at a cost of $95 million. Read more

  • Chemical Output Up And Down In July — Total U.S. chemical production rose in July from the previous month but fell from July 2006, while output of basic chemicals went in the opposite directions. Read more

  • Sinopec And Partners Mull China Project — China Petroleum & Chemicals (Sinopec) and Kuwait Petroleum are considering a refinery and petrochemical complex in Nansha. Read more

  • FoldRx Gets Funds From Fibrosis Group — Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics, an affiliate of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, will invest $22 million in FoldRx Pharmaceuticals. Read more

  • Pfizer And Icagen Form Pain Pact — Icagen and Pfizer will collaborate to discover and develop compounds targeting three ion channels that are critical to the generation of electrical signals in nerve fibers that modulate pain. Read more

  • Amgen Will Cut Jobs — Amgen, the world's largest biotechnology company, will reduce staffing by 12-14% in response to lower sales of Aranesp. Read more

  • BUSINESS ROUNDUP — ICI is acquiring San Diego-based Advanced Applied Adhesives. Also news on Süd-Chemie, Ineos, Chemtura, Mitsubishi Rayon, Kemira, Degussa, Tate & Lyle, ImClone Systems, and Dow Chemical. Read more

August 13, 2007

Tool Time

Instrument makers harness technology to pursue budding applications for their tools.

New Regulatory Era In Europe Begins

European Chemicals Agency opens doors as companies prepare for new regulations.

Business Concentrates

  • Petrobras To Buy Brazil's Suzano For $1.4 Billion — Brazilian state oil company Petrobras is making another big consolidation move in that country's petrochemical sector through the purchase of Suzano Petroqu??mica for $1.4 billion. Read more

  • EU Launches Antitrust Probe — The European Commission, a branch of the European Union, has sent a "statement of objection" to several firms inquiring about alleged efforts to fix prices of sodium chlorate. Read more

  • Bayer, Nektar Join For Inhaled Drug — Bayer HealthCare and Nektar Therapeutics will develop an inhalable version of the aminoglycoside antibiotic amikacin, using Nektar's drug delivery technology. Read more

  • Lonza Adds Two For Biotech — Lonza has made two additions to its product capabilities to support biotech research.

    Read more

  • More Propionic Acid For BASF — BASF is increasing its annual capacity for propionic acid at its sites in Ludwigshafen and Nanjing. Read more

  • Concept Car Dons Bayer Polycarbonate — When the Lincoln MKR concept car was unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit earlier this year, it sported the auto industry's first light-emitting diode (LED) adaptive headlamps. Read more

  • Monsanto And Novartis In Dispute — Monsanto has filed a $100 million arbitration claim against the Sandoz subsidiary of Novartis for failure to supply all contracted doses of recombinant bovine somatotropin between 2004 and 2006. Read more

  • Employment Eases In July — Employment in the U.S. chemical industry decreased slightly in July, but was still ahead of year-earlier figures. Read more

  • BASF And Partner Look Into Heat-Exchange Fluids — BASF and CogniTek Management Systems have signed an agreement to develop high-efficiency heat-exchange fluids by combining ionic liquids and supercritical carbon dioxide. Read more

  • BP, Chinese Academy Form Partnership — BP and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have signed a memorandum of understanding to form the Clean Energy Commercialization Centre. Read more

  • Distributor Buys Into Fertilizers — British distributor Chance & Hunt has signed an agreement to acquire the process chemicals business formed through a new U.K.-based fertilizers joint venture. Read more

  • BUSINESS ROUNDUP — Dupont is establishing a plant in Baddi, India, to make disinfectants, cleaners, and sanitizers for animal health and hospital use. Also news on JohnsonDiversey, Celanese, The European Commission, Huntsman Corp., 3M, Merck, ExxonMobil Chemical, DuPont, and Chemtura. Read more

August 6, 2007

Cover Story: Centering On Chirality

Chemists are finding asymmetric synthesis increasingly handy for making pharmaceutical compounds at large scale.

Cleaning Up In Electronics

Chemical companies work to upgrade cleaners for next-generation computer chips.

Getting Past Bhopal

Documents show that Dow Chemical has been pressing India to disassociate the firm from the 1984 tragedy.

'Top 50' Correction

BASF was tops in 2006, edging out Dow Chemical.

Nix Quarterly Guidance

Business think tank says earnings projections put too much emphasis on short term.

Business Concentrates

  • BASF Joins Firms Leaving New York Stock Exchange — BASF has joined a growing list of foreign companies that have decided to voluntarily file for delisting of their American Depositary Shares (ADS) from the New York Stock Exchange. Read more

  • Sumitomo Pledges to Buy Display Firm CDT — Sumitomo Chemical plans to acquire Cambridge Display Technology, a Cambridge, England-based developer of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Read more

  • Sun Will Shutter Staten Island Plant — Sun Chemical is closing a pigments facility in Staten Island, N.Y., that employs 94 workers. Read more

  • Ashland Invests in Two China Projects — Ashland will invest nearly $80 million in Chinese expansion projects. In northern China, the company is planning a $35 million unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) facility.

    Read more

  • Nalco and Keystone Form Nanotech Pact — Nalco, a water treatment specialist, and the start-up company Keystone Nano have formed NanoSpecialties, a joint venture that will create nano-featured products for industrial markets. Read more

  • Ticona Picks New Home in Germany — Celanese's engineering polymers arm, Ticona, will relocate its Kelsterbach, Germany, operations to nearby Frankfurt-Hoechst Industrial Park by mid-2011. Read more

  • Basell to Buy Shell Refinery in France — Basell has agreed to purchase Royal Dutch Shell's refinery at the Berre-l'Etang petrochemical complex near Marseille, France. Read more

  • Chemical Makers Close U.K. Sites — Two firms are closing plants in England to reduce operating costs. Read more

  • SF-Chem and CABB Combine in Europe — German specialty chemical maker CABB has acquired Swiss rival SF-Chem for an undisclosed sum. Read more

  • Grace Opens Lab in Poland — W.R. Grace has opened an innovation center in Poznań, Poland. Read more

  • GSK Inks Pain Pact... — GlaxoSmithKline and Targacept have entered a development pact centered around small-molecule drugs targeting neuronal nicotinic receptors (NNRs). Read more

  • ... and Gets FDA Backing for Avandia — By a vote of 22-1, an FDA advisory panel voted last week to keep GlaxoSmithKline's diabetes treatment Avandia on the U.S. market. Read more

  • Dow and Partners Advance Thai Plans — Dow Chemical and Solvay are joining forces to build a hydrogen peroxide plant in Thailand. Read more

  • BUSINESS ROUNDUP — Rohm and Haas is exploring strategic options for its salt business. Also news on Intertek Group, NSF International, Israel Chemicals, CSBP, Lubrizol, Pfizer, Momentive Performance Materials and Wacker Chemie. Read more

July 30, 2007

Confidence Man

Albemarle Chief Executive Mark Rohr is sure his company's good times can continue.

Women In Industry

In the boardroom and executive suite, women's participation is still minuscule.

AstraZeneca Leaves Manufacturing

British firm looks to China for its pharmaceutical chemical production needs.

Dow Sees The Light

With a little government help, the firm hopes to bolster solar power use in homes and businesses.

Business Concentrates

  • China Shuts Down Controversial Factories — China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection & Quarantine has closed two plants that supplied substandard pet food ingredients to the U.S. Read more

  • Eastman Acquires Option For Terra Unit — Terra Industries has given Eastman Chemical an option to purchase its ammonia and methanol facility in Beaumont, Texas. Read more

  • Solvin Expands In Polyvinyl Chloride — SolVin, the European polyvinyl chloride joint venture of Solvay and BASF, will expand its plant in Belgium to 475,000 metric tons of annual PVC capacity by 2009, up from 400,000 metric tons today. Read more

  • AstraZeneca, BMS Plan Job Cuts — AstraZeneca has announced another round of job eliminations to complement the cut of 3,000 manufacturing jobs it announced earlier this year.

    Read more

  • Dow Adds Cellulosics — Dow Chemical's new Dow Wolff Cellulosics business is expanding. The business, formed following Dow's recent acquisition of Bayer's Wolff Walsrode unit. Read more

  • Nova Will Extract Ethane From Oil Sand — Nova Chemicals has signed a letter of intent with the energy company Williams to evaluate extracting ethane originating from the oil sands in northern Alberta. Read more

  • M&G Plans Big U.S. PET Plant — Italy's Mossi & Ghisolfi Group says it will build a polyethylene terephthalate plant at a yet-to-be-specified U.S. site. Read more

  • PotashCorp Plans New Brunswick Project — PotashCorp will invest $1.6 billion in a new potash mine and an expanded potash mill in New Brunswick, Canada. Read more

  • Chemical Prices Increase Again — U.S. chemical prices rose in June for the fifth straight month, according to data from the Labor Department. Read more

  • Shenhua Selects Unipol — Virgin's Branson Buys Into Biofuels — British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson has made an undisclosed investment in Gevo. Read more

  • Thermo Fisher Buys Indian Lab Supplier — Thermo Fisher Scientific will acquire Qualigens Fine Chemicals, an Indian division of GlaxoSmithKline. Read more

  • Tate & Lyle Invests In Marine Biotech — Tate & Lyle Ventures, a fund of the food and industrial ingredients manufacturer, is a member of a consortium investing in Aquapharm Biodiscovery. Read more

  • Merck Buys Heart Disease Company — Merck & Co. will shell out $350 million to acquire NovaCardia, a privately held firm focused on heart disease drugs. Read more

  • BUSINESS ROUNDUP — BASF has begun construction on a $13 million crystallizer at its caprolactam plant in Freeport, Texas. Also news on Huntsman Corp., Cabot, Degussa, BioLineRx, Summit, Shin-Etsu Chemical, Solutia, Eastman Chemical, and BioXell. Read more

July 23, 2007

Meet The Italians

FIS rebounds from a big slump with a newfound direction in marketing.

Costs Rise In China

Reduced export subsidies and stricter environmental standards are making life difficult for companies.

Business Concentrates

  • Dow to Make Polyethylene From Sugar in Brazil — Dow Chemical and Brazilian sugar and ethanol maker Crystalsev plan to build a commercial-scale facility in Brazil. Read more

  • <Brazil Plane Crash Claims Executives — Several Brazilian chemical executives were among those that perished on TAM Linhas Aéreas Flight JJ3054. Read more

  • Train Sports Polycarbonate Windows — Next-generation high-speed bullet trains with windows made of Teijin Chemical's polycarbonate started operating in Japan earlier this month. Read more

  • Hercules and Heartland in Soy Adhesive Venture — Earlier this month, Hercules and partners won a Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award.

    Read more

  • Novozymes Buys India's Biocon — Denmark-based Novozymes has agreed to acquire the enzyme activities of Biocon, of Bangalore, India, for $115 million. Read more

  • Codexis Acquires Biocatalytics — Codexis, a privately held biotechnology company that develops specialty enzyme biocatalysts, announced that it has acquired BioCatalytics. Read more

  • Rohm and Haas Plans Russian Plant — Rohm and Haas will build a manufacturing facility in the Moscow region to produce polymer emulsions for a number of markets. Read more

  • BASF Considers Divesting Styrenics — BASF is evaluating strategic options for selected parts of its styrenics business. Read more

  • Open-Access Biotech Unit Unveiled — The U.K.'s first open-access trial and development center, the $24 million National Industrial Biotechnology Facility. Read more

  • Shenhua Selects Unipol — Shenhua Baotou Coal Chemical, a unit of China's Shenhua Group, will license the Unipol process from Univation Technologies. Read more

  • ICI Buys Back a Paint Business — ICI is to pay just under $105 million to South African chemical company AECI for its Dulux paint operations. Read more

  • Encysive Goes on Sale — Encysive Pharmaceuticals has enlisted investment bank Morgan Stanley to help find a suitor after a series of setbacks for its lead product candidate. Read more

  • Rosetta Expands Lab in Israel — Rosetta Genomics has expanded its Israeli research facility to support its microRNA-based diagnostic program. Read more

  • Chemical Output Rises in June — Total U.S. chemical production increased in June from the previous month but was down from June last year. Read more

  • BUSINESS ROUNDUP — Akzo Nobel's Organon business unit is teaming up with Dyax. Also news on Penwest Pharmaceuticals, Evotec, Huntsman, and the Japan Chemical Industry Association. Read more

July 9, 2007

Thirst For Power

Investors bet on advances in battery technology for electronics and cars.

Bracing For 'K'

Producers, suppliers ready wares for triennial plastics showcase.

Insights: Sweet Chemistry

Trial pitting Splenda against Equal brings science to the courtroom.

Business Concentrates

  • Daicel and Novasep Link for Chromatography Services — Japan's Daicel Chemical Industries and Groupe Novasep of France will work together to provide pharmaceutical industry customers with large-scale chromatographic methods for producing chiral intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients. Read more

  • Huntsman to Buy Dyes, Intermediates Business — Huntsman Corp., which is weighing takeover offers from Basell and Hexion Specialty Chemicals, has agreed to buy the Baroda division of India's MetroChem Industries for $46.5 million. Read more

  • DSM Nutrition Unit Cuts Costs ... — DSM has launched a cost-cutting plan at its nutritional products business aimed at delivering $130 million in annual savings. Read more

  • ... And Purchases Cosmetics Firm — DSM's nutritional products unit will acquire privately owned Basel, Switzerland-based Pentapharm Holding for an undisclosed sum. Read more

  • Sasol Will Idle Two Detergent Plants — South African oil and chemicals firm Sasol will indefinitely idle linear alkylbenzene (LAB) plants in Baltimore and in Porto Torres, Italy. Read more

  • Arkema Will Acquire Polymer Firm Coatex — Arkema has agreed to acquire Coatex, a subsidiary of the Omya Group, for an undisclosed sum. Read more

  • HTE Expands Its Heidelberg Offices — High-throughput experimentation company HTE has opened new facilities at its site in Heidelberg, Germany. Read more

  • Rhodia Is Fined By Stock Regulators — French securities regulators imposed a $1 million fine on Rhodia for violating financial disclosure rules between 2001 and 2003. Read more

  • Chemical Shipments Show Little Change — The value of U.S. chemical shipments, according to seasonally adjusted data from the Commerce Department, was up slightly in May from year-earlier levels, but down from the previous month. Read more

  • Bayer Completes A Sale And Purchase — Following regulatory clearances, Bayer has completed the sale of its Wolff Walsrode cellulosics business to Dow Chemical for about $725 million. Read more

  • BioVectra Awarded SyntheMed Contract — BioVectra, a Canadian custom manufacturer, has won a long-term contract to supply Iselin, N.J.-based SyntheMed with raw materials for the production of its bioresorbable adhesion barrier film, Repel-CV. Read more

  • Biogen Idec Licenses Heart Failure Drug — Biogen Idec will pay up to $220 million for access to Cardiokine's lixivaptan, a treatment for hyponatremia, an imbalance of water and sodium that occurs in heart failure patients. Read more

  • Sanofi-Aventis Pulls Drug Application — Sanofi-Aventis has withdrawn its application for FDA approval of its antiobesity drug rimonabant. It is the first in a new class of drugs that selectively block receptors in the body's endocannabinoid system.Read more

  • BUSINESS ROUNDUP — W.R. Grace has acquired parts of Grupo Sistiaga, a Spanish supplier of coatings for aluminum containers. Also news on GlaxoSmithKline, Rohm and Haas, Hybrid Plastics, International Specialty Products, Carbogen Amcis, DuPont, Unipar, ExxonMobil Chemical, and Kemira.Read more

June 25, 2007

Cover Story: Biofuel Bonanza

Brazil has become a model and an ally for the U.S. in the pursuit of sustainable bioethanol, biodiesel, and bioelectricity.

Agents of Change

A look at three managers who are pulling the drug industry into the industrial mainstream with initiatives resembling 1990s-style reengineering.

Big Pharma Chases Dogs and Cats

Products developed for pets boost bottom line and may benefit human health, too.

Upward Movement

A new leader and a new focus contribute to revitalization of the American Chemistry Council.

A Living Plant

DuPont says propanediol is only the beginning of its industrial biotechnology offering.

Business Concentrates

  • Roche Will Acquire NimbleGen — Roche will purchase NimbleGen Systems for $273 million in an attempt to build its position in the genomics research market. Read more

  • FMC Will Close Baltimore Plant — FMC will close its agricultural chemicals facility in Baltimore by March 2008. Read more

  • Rohm And Haas Helps Guide Atlantis Home — If the space shuttle Atlantis landed at Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral, Fla., last week as planned, it was guided by runway stripes that contain a Rohm and Haas resin. Read more

  • Eni Will Install UOP Biofuel Process — Italian oil company Eni will be the first to use the Ecofining biobased diesel technology that it developed with UOP. Read more

  • DuPont And Nonprofit Launch Nanotech Tool — DuPont and the activist group Environmental Defense have launched a tool for evaluating the risks of nanoscale materials. Read more

  • Chemical Output Dipped Slightly In May — Total U.S. chemical production showed little movement in May. Read more

  • Rhodia Will Acquire Grace Catalyst Unit — Rhodia has agreed to acquire W.R. Grace's business in alumina wash coats for about $20 million. Read more

  • Bayer Launches Polyol Technology — Bayer MaterialScience plans to construct a 60,000-metric-ton-per-year plant for polymer-filled polyether polyols. Read more

  • Sigma-Aldrich, Reaxa Launch ChemDose — Sigma-Aldrich and development partner Reaxa are offering preweighed reagents and catalysts in tablet form. Read more

  • Lexicon Gets Drug Development Funds — Texas-based Lexicon Pharmaceuticals has received a sizable infusion of cash. Read more

  • Shire Licenses Renovo Biologic — Shire has licensed the right to develop and commercialize the scar reduction drug Juvista from fellow British firm Renovo. Read more

  • SNPE Sells Business In Lockport, N.Y. — Groupe SNPE, the French state-owned chemical company, has sold its U.S. fine chemicals subsidiary, Isochem Inc. Read more

  • DSM Seeks Partners For Antibiotics — DSM has completed a strategic review of its anti-infectives business by concluding that it needs partners with operations in low-cost countries.Read more

  • Court Upholds Patent For Plavix — TThe U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has upheld the validity of Sanofi-Aventis' patent. Read more

  • BUSINESS ROUNDUP — ExxonMobil Chemical will build a market development facility in Pensacola, Fla. Also in Business Roundup: Braskem, DuPont, Degussa, Solvay Solexis, Altana, Bayer, Bachem, Nabi Biopharmaceuticals.Read more

June 18, 2007

Cover Story: Solid-State Services

Specialized companies help drug developers find crystalline forms with the right properties.

Trusting Medicine From China

Close FDA scrutiny of Chinese pharmaceutical ingredients extends only to those for prescription drugs.

A Fresh Start

Merck Serono looks to establish itself as the pharma partner of choice.

Counting On Electrochemistry

New company focuses on developing processes that compete with biotechnology.

Business Concentrates

  • Archemix Strikes Deals In Field Of Aptamers — The Cambridge, Mass., biotech company Archemix has signed deals with Merck Serono and Takeda Pharmaceutical. Read more

  • Cabot Will Close Carbon Black Plant — Cabot will cease making the rubber reinforcing agent carbon black at a 60,000-ton-per-year plant. Read more

  • Wacker Expands Polysilicon Again — Roaring demand for hyperpure polycrystalline silicon used to make solar power cells has prompted Wacker to announce another polysilicon expansion. Read more

  • Dow Aids Program On Iron Deficiency — Dow Chemical will work with the Micronutrient Initiative, a Canadian nonprofit organization. Read more

  • Toray Will Boost Membranes For Water — Toray Industries is investing about $57 million in plants in Japan and the U.S. to almost double capacity. Read more

  • Changing Of Guard At Momentive — Wayne Hewett is resigning as president and CEO of Momentive Performance Materials. Read more

  • China Will Assess Xiamen's Plans — China's State Environmental Protection Agency will conduct an environmental assessment of Xiamen. Read more

  • Dow Builds Rubber Plant In Germany — Dow Chemical has begun construction of a 60,000-metric-ton-per-year solution styrene butadiene rubber plant. Read more

  • BASF Realigns Nylon Raw Material Supply — In a new raw material supply arrangement for its British nylon business, BASF will purchase adiponitrile from the global network of Invista. Read more

  • Coley Will Acquire 3M Drug Candidates — Coley Pharmaceuticals will pay $20 million over three years for the majority of 3M's cancer drugs targeting proteins. Read more

  • Lilly Will Launch Tuberculosis Center — Eli Lilly & Co. is creating a public-private partnership to conduct early-phase research on tuberculosis medicines. Read more

  • Chemical Prices Jump In May —Prices for U.S. chemicals took a leap in May, according to Labor Department data. Read more

  • Yale Buys Bayer Site In Connecticut — Yale University plans to acquire Bayer's West Haven, Conn., research campus.Read more

  • Lonza Plans Hike In Potent Compounds — The Swiss contract manufacturer Lonza will invest more than $64 million to construct a plant in Visp, Switzerland. Read more

  • BUSINESS ROUNDUP — Solvay will expand capacity for ultra-pure soda ash at its site in Dombasle, France. Also in Business Roundup: Dynea, Evotec, Sasol, SGL Group, Actavis, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Brunner Mond, Delphi.Read more

June 11, 2007

Millipore,The Enabler

Four acquisitions have taken the firm beyond filtration and deep into life sciences services.

Business Concentrates

  • Environmental Protests Stop Chinese Plant Construction ??? Bowing to public pressure, the municipal government of the Chinese coastal city of Xiamen has ordered that work stop on the construction of a $1.4 billion p-xylene plant.Read more

  • Mitsui Chemicals Boosts Cycloolefins — Mitsui Chemicals will invest $50 million to build a 3,000-metric-ton-per-year plant.Read more

  • Ineos Will Buy Norwegian Units — The chemical giant Ineos is acquiring the Norwegian petrochemical business of Borealis for roughly $380 million.Read more

  • Nova Details Layoffs And Venture Savings — Nova Chemicals is eliminating 90 positions in the U.S. and Europe as part of a cost-reduction effort. Read more

  • Electronic Market Buys ChemConnect — IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), an electronic energy marketplace based in Atlanta, will buy the commodity trading business of Houston-based ChemConnect.Read more

  • Solar Race Entry Wears BASF Coatings —BASF's coatings division supplied the paint applied to Germany's entry in the World Solar Challenge.Read more

  • Chemtura Will Cut Jobs, Close Plants — Chemtura plans to close its polymer antioxidant facilities in Pedrengo and Ravenna, Italy.Read more

  • Wellman Sells Resin Business In Europe — Polyester resin and fiber producer Wellman has sold its European polyethylene terephthalate resins business to Sun European Partners.Read more

  • Employment Declines Again In May — U.S. chemical employment fell for the third straight month in May.Read more

  • Kemira, Thermphos Sign Phosphate Pact — Kemira GrowHow and Thermphos have set up a joint venture company, Crystalis, that will produce purified phosphoric acid.Read more

  • China To Revamp Food And Drug Regulations — China said it will launch a five-year plan to revise food and drug safety regulations. Read more

  • PQ Sold To Another Private Equity Firm — J.P. Morgan Partners, the private equity division of bankers JPMorgan Chase, has sold PQ Corp.Read more

  • Qiagen Acquires Diagnostics Firm — Qiagen, a Dutch supplier of samples and assays for biotechnology research, will acquire Maryland-based Digene.Read more

  • AstraZeneca to buy DSM biologics plant — AstraZeneca will acquire DSM's biologics manufacturing facility in Montreal for an undisclosed sum.Read more

  • BUSINESS ROUNDUP — Bayer CropScience has agreed to buy Monsanto's Stoneville Pedigreed Seed for $310 million. Also in Business Roundup: Shell Chemicals, Arch Chemicals, Frutarom Industries, Shandong Dongyue Chemical, Degussa, Genzyme Corp, Wacker Chemie, BASF.Read more

June 4, 2007

Plastics Revolution In Bioprocessing

With disposable equipment, Drug and vaccine makers are seeing advantages in cost and time to market.

Refueling A Biotech Growth Engine

As a key product stumbles at Amgen, the focus turns to the company's pipeline.

Oleochemical Makers Fear Oil Tax Break

Manufacturers claim loophole favors big oil companies, threatens tallow supply.

C&EN Talks With: Chris Lawson And Andrew Hacking

After two decades as execs, Dextra owners look forward to being scientists again.

Business Concentrates

  • Shin-Etsu Boosts Vinyl Intermediates ??? Shin-Etsu Chemical, the world's largest producer of polyvinyl chloride, is firming up plans to build plants in Texas.Read more

  • Sweden's Perstorp Enters New Markets — Swedish specialty chemical maker Perstorp will build a plant that has capacity to make 150,000 metric tons per year of valeric aldehyde.Read more

  • Coal Firm Buys Into Novel Fuel Plant — Coal producer Peabody Energy has agreed to provide $10 million to fund engineering and development of the Rentech coal-to-liquids facility.Read more

  • Chevron, Texas A&M To Develop Biofuels — Chevron has entered a four-year agreement with Texas A&M University to study ways of converting specially grown nonfood crops into ethanol and other biofuels.Read more

  • Hexion To Acquire Arkema Resins Line — Hexion Specialty Chemicals will buy Arkema's formaldehyde-based resins business.Read more

  • SOCMA Assists Nanotech Firms —The Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association has formed a new advocacy and information-sharing group.Read more

  • Energy-Efficient House from BASF — BASF has opened what it is billing as a "zero heating cost" house in Ludwigshafen, Germany.Read more

  • Schering-Plough In Cancer Drug Deal — Schering-Plough has licensed the prostate cancer treatment Asentar from the South San Francisco-based biotech firm Novacea.Read more

  • MedImmune Warned On U.K. Vaccine Plant — FDA says MedImmune had not adequately addressed manufacturing issues at a plant in Liverpool, England.Read more

  • GSK Will Build Shanghai R&D Center — GlaxoSmithKline says it will build a drug discovery center in Shanghai that within a decade will rank as one of its largest such facilities worldwide.Read more

  • Genzyme To Acquire Partner Bioenvision — Genzyme has agreed to pay $345 million for Bioenvision. Read more

  • Biotechs Cut Staff After Drug Setbacks — VaxGen is shedding 25% of its workforce, or 20 employees, after discontinuing further development of its recombinant anthrax vaccine.Read more

  • Ranbaxy Wins Case, Signs For Two Deals — A court in Oslo, Norway, ruled last week that four of Pfizer's patents covering Lipitor are either invalid or not infringed by a proposed generic atorvastatin product.Read more

  • BUSINESS ROUNDUP — Kemira is evaluating strategic alternatives, including a sale, for its businesses in titanium dioxide pigments. Also in Business Roundup: Nalco Holding, Merck KGaA, Roche, Teijin, Symrise, Degussa, BASF.Read more

May 28, 2007

Total Bucks The Trend

French refiner promotes petrochemical integration while maintaining specialty chemical portfolio.

A Two-In-One Reactor

Basell is placing a big bet on its new polypropylene technology.

Business Concentrates

  • Olin Will Acquire Chlor-Alkali Rival Pioneer ??? Access Industries, an investment firm that owns the polyolefins producer Basell, has entered an agreement.Read more

  • Succession Plan At Air Products — John E. McGlade, president and chief operating officer of Air Products & Chemicals, will succeed John P. Jones III as CEO.Read more

  • Borden Resin Blamed For Fatal Accident — A jury in the Circuit Court of Laurel County, Ky., has found Borden Chemicals liable.Read more

  • AMRI Buys Two Indian Drug Plants — Albany Molecular Research Inc. is globalizing its manufacturing operations through the purchase of two sites in India.Read more

  • Nano-Terra, 3M Form Development Alliance — 3M and Nano-Terra, in Cambridge, Mass., have set up a multiyear collaboration.Read more

  • Akzo Expands In Brazilian Paper — Eka Chemicals, the pulp and paper chemicals business of Akzo Nobel, is investing about $67 million.Read more

  • Ohio Promotes Nanocomposites — The University of Dayton Research Institute has opened the Center for Multifunctional Polymer Nanocomposites & Devices.Read more

  • Yara Bids For Fertilizer Company — Yara International has acquired 30% of fellow Nordic fertilizer company Kemira GrowHow.Read more

  • Chemical Output Rose In April — Total U.S. chemical production in April rose from both the previous month.Read more

  • Lilly TB treatment Goes To Chao Center — Eli Lilly & Co. has granted exclusive U.S. rights to the tuberculosis drug cycloserine.Read more

  • Investors Launch New Cancer Prize — A group of hedge fund managers and scientists has created the Gotham Prize. Read more

  • SAFC Gets License To Oligo Process — Sigma-Aldrich's SAFC custom manufacturing business has received a license to Beckman Coulter's fast deprotection chemistry.Read more

  • India's Sun Buying Israel's Taro Pharma — Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, a generic drugs maker in India, has agreed to acquire Israel-based Taro Pharmaceutical Industries.Read more

  • BUSINESS ROUNDUP — Shin-Etsu Chemical will partially restart operations at its methyl cellulose complex. Also in Business Roundup: Lanxess, Celanese, Air Products, BioFocus, Merck, Evotec, Organon, Akzo Nobel.Read more

May 21, 2007

Cover Story: The Indian Advantage

Major drug companies in the West are expanding their research programs in India.

Degussa in North America

Local concerns trump corporate restructuring at German firm's U.S. plants.

Chemical Earnings

U.S. chemical industry slow down's in first-quarter 2007.

Industry on the Mend

Drug companies' first-quarter results show early signs of healthier product portfolios.

A Steady Start

Big biotech firms offer stable results despite maturing portfolios.

Business Concentrates

  • Basell's Owner Acquires Right To Stake In Lyondell ??? Access Industries, an investment firm that owns the polyolefins producer Basell, has entered an agreement.Read more

  • Semiconductor Group Heads For Albany ??? Sematech, a semiconductor industry technology consortium, says it will move its headquarters from Austin, Texas, to Albany, N.Y.Read more

  • Bayer Readies A 'Media Facade' ??? Bayer's former high-rise headquarters in Leverkusen, Germany, will not be demolished as originally planned.Read more

  • Dow Joins Chinese Energy Partnership ??? Dow Chemical, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the Chinese Energy Research Institute have formed a joint partnership.Read more

  • Solutia Sees An End To Bankruptcy ??? Solutia has filed an amended reorganization plan with the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.Read more

  • Elementis Sheds Pigments Business ??? Elementis has agreed to sell its global pigments business,.Read more

  • RAG Advances Stock Offering ??? Following approval by a German government coalition, energy and chemical company RAG is set to list on the stock market next spring.Read more

  • BASF Expands Refinery Catalysts ??? BASF is expanding capacity for refinery fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalysts at its plants in Savannah and Attapulgus, Ga.Read more

  • Dow Licenses Protein Expression ... ??? Dowpharma has signed two licensing deals for Pfenex, its Pseudomonas-based protein expression technology.Read more

  • ... As Avecia Enters The Field ??? Meanwhile, Avecia has launched a new microbial protein production platform called pAVEway.Read more

  • Chemical Prices Rise In April ??? Prices for U.S. chemicals increased in April, according to data from the Labor Department. Read more

  • Albemarle Shifts Pharma Manufacturing ??? Albemarle is shifting a portion of its current Good Manufacturing Practices-compliant manufacturing from Dayton, Ohio.Read more

  • Avecia Doubles RNA Production ??? Avecia's OligoMedicines business is expanding production of short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) at its Milford, Mass., facility.Read more

  • Lonza Reorganizes Microbial Production ??? Lonza is consolidating its U.S. microbial biopharmaceutical manufacturing activities at its Hopkinton, Mass., site.Read more

  • Business Roundup ??? Nitto Denko and Mitsubishi Rayon will set up an equally owned venture. Also in Business Roundup: Hexion Specialty Chemicals, BASF, McNeil Nutritionals, Corning, Arsenal Capital Partners, Blackstone Capital Partners.Read more

May 14, 2007

Cover Story: Ushering Cosmetics to the Right Spots

Ingredient makers are developing sophisticated encapsulation systems to deliver their actives to skin and hair.

Top 50 Chemical Producers

U.S. chemical results are still strong, but growth in 2006 was slow compared with previous years.

A Great Time To Make Fertilizers

Demand for corn-derived ethanol is spurring growth for nutrients industry.

Business Concentrates

  • Clariant Exits Custom Chemicals ??? Swiss specialty chemicals producer Clariant is selling, for an undisclosed sum, its custom manufacturing business to International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG), formed in 2004 by a team led by Achim Riemann.Read more

  • NYU Sells Part of its Remicade Royalty ??? New York University has sold a portion of its royalty interest in the arthritis drug Remicade to Royalty Pharma, a New York City-based firm that buys revenue-producing intellectual property.Read more

  • Excelsyn Lines Up Outside Investors ??? Excelsyn, a British pharmaceutical services company, has received a combined $9.8 million investment from Endless, a private equity firm.Read more

  • Degussa Signs Photovoltaics Deal ??? Degussa has signed a 10-year agreement to supply chlorosilanes to PV Silicon, which is building a photovoltaic polysilicon plant in eastern Germany's Bitterfeld chemical park.Read more

  • Air Liquide Inks Asian Contracts ??? Air Liquide has signed a contract to supply oxygen and nitrogen to a new Shell ethylene cracker and ethylene glycol plant in Singapore.Read more

  • Wockhardt Acquires French Generics Firm ??? The Indian drug company Wockhardt has agreed to pay $265 million for Negma Laboratories, a French maker of generic drugs.Read more

  • Ashland And Cargill Plan Biobased Chemical Partnership ??? Ashland and Cargill are forming a 50-50 joint venture to develop and produce bio-based chemicals.Read more

  • Lonza Plans Output of Conjugate Drugs ??? Custom manufacturer Lonza plans to start large-scale production of antibody-drug conjugates, a targeted therapy in which an antibody is coupled to a highly active chemical substance.Read more

  • Hemlock Goes Home for More Polysilicon ??? Polysilicon manufacturer Hemlock Semiconductor will spend $1 billion over the next four years to expand its main plant in Hemlock, Mich.Read more

  • Bristol-Myers, Isis Form Antisense Pact ??? Bristol-Myers Squibb and Isis Pharmaceuticals have formed a collaboration to develop antisense drugs targeting proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin 9 for the prevention of cardiovascular disease.Read more

  • SAFC Acquires Drug Delivery Company ??? SAFC, the fine chemicals business of Sigma-Aldrich, has acquired Molecular Medicine BioServices.Read more

  • Chemical Jobs Grow in April ??? Employment in the U.S. chemical industry in April climbed from both the previous month and from April 2006.Read more

  • Business Roundup ??? Chemtura has signed a definitive agreement to sell its organic peroxides business to Germany's Pergan. Also in Business Roundup: Nanocomp, BASF, Danisco, Alnylam, Twin Rivers, InformexUSA, Actavis.Read more

May 7, 2007

Momentive's Moment

Silicones producer sets out from its former home under General Electric's wing.

Lipton To Receive Palladium Medal

Nova Chemicals CEO is cited for contributions to the chemical industry and his company.

Technology Transfer

Report claims universities focus on revenue generation in licensing stifles innovation.

Safety And The Industry's Image

Globalizing chemicals and ensuring safety are big goals that may conflict.

Business Concentrates

  • Agrium and Potash Corp. Will Expand Fertilizer Capacity ??? Two Canadian fertilizer companies are embarking on major expansions.Read more

  • Water Treatment Boosted in Asia ??? Süd-Chemie has taken a 55% stake in Chemindus, a Malaysian firm that focuses on potable water and wastewater treatment, and will acquire coagulant and flocculant technology from the firm.Read more

  • VWR Changes Hands ??? The lab supply company VWR International has been sold by its owner, the private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.Read more

  • DuPont Launches Fuel-Saving Building Panel ??? DuPont has launched a new building panel called Energain that it says can reduce room temperature peaks by as much as 12 °F.Read more

  • Arkema Amines Business Goes to Taminco ??? Arkema has sold its specialty amines business in North America to Taminco, based in Gent, Belgium.Read more

  • Dow's Angus Unit Will Build New Lab ??? Dow Chemical's Angus Chemical subsidiary is spending $10 million to build a research and development facility.Read more

  • Rhodia Sets Projects in Brazil and China ??? Rhodia will spend $40 million to expand capacity for polymer intermediates at its plant in Paulinia, Brazil, by the end of 2008.Read more

  • Lonza Adds to Nutrition Portfolio ??? Lonza has acquired the assets of the Quebec firm SAM Electron Technologies, founded in 2000 to develop a cerium-based oxidation technology that it now uses to make vitamin K-3.Read more

  • Segetis Gets Funds From Khosla Ventures ??? The green chemistry start-up company Segetis has secured $15 million in funding from Khosla Ventures.Read more

  • Total Petrochemical Resolves Violations ??? Total Petrochemical USA has agreed to spend nearly $40 million to upgrade air pollution controls at its Port Arthur, Texas.Read more

  • Pharmaceutical Firms Add Transparency ??? Eli Lilly & Co. is launching a website to publicize all educational grant funding and other contributions it makes to U.S.-based organizations.Read more

  • Chemical Shipments Plateau in March ??? The total value of U.S. chemical shipments in March was unchanged from February.Read more

  • Albany Molecular Rebrands as AMRI ??? Albany Molecular Research Inc., the Albany, N.Y.-based contract pharmaceutical services firm, is rebranding itself as AMRI.Read more

  • Peroxide Powers Soyuz into Space ??? Degussa will supply Russia with concentrated hydrogen peroxide for Soyuz rockets.Read more

  • Business Roundup ??? Chemtrade Logistics has acquired Olin's liquid sodium hydrosulfite business for $7.3 million. Also in Business Roundup: Bachem and Immatics, Rohm and Haas, Stepan, ICI, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories.Read more

April 30, 2007

A Helping Hand For Emerging Pharma

European Medicines Agency helps small pharmaceutical companies.

Shakeup At Dow

Takeover speculation leaves two casualties in chemical company's management.

Business Concentrates

  • Biotech Garners Largest Share Of Venture Capital ??? Venture capitalists invested $1.5 billion in 102 deals to fund biotechnology companies during the first quarter of 2007.Read more

  • Ashland Regains Plastics Distribution ??? Ashland will distribute four new lines of plastics to customers to replace business lost when Dow Chemical chose to drop Ashland as a North American distributor on March 1.Read more

  • Coating Features BASF Nanotechnology ??? Akzo Nobel's Herbol subsidiary has launched what it describes as the first professional exterior coating based on BASF's COL.9 nanobinder.Read more

  • Momentive plans siloxanes in China ??? A subsidiary of Momentive Performance Materials plans to build a siloxane plant in Jiande, Zhejiang province, China.Read more

  • Jubilant To Acquire U.S. Contract Firm ??? India's Jubilant Organosys will spend $122 million to acquire Hollister-Stiers Laboratories.Read more

  • Yara Forming Libya Fertilizer Venture ??? Norwegian fertilizer maker Yara is forming a joint venture with Libya's National Oil Corp.Read more

  • Basell Will Restart Texas Polypropylene ??? Basell Polyolefins will restart a 220,000-metric-ton-per-year polypropylene plant in Bayport, Texas.Read more

  • Rohm And Haas To Buy Kodak Unit ??? Rohm and Haas will acquire Eastman Kodak's business in light-management films, used to improve the brightness and efficiency of liquid-crystal displays.Read more

  • Avantium Collaborates With Rahu Catalytics ??? Avantium Technologies, Amsterdam, and London-based catalyst designer Rahu Catalytics have begun what they hope will be a long-term partnership to advance oxidation and peroxidation chemistry.Read more

  • Equity Fund Targets Nippon Fine Chemical ??? The Los Angeles private equity fund Dalton Investments has offered to buy Nippon Fine Chemical.Read more

  • J&J expands research ??? Johnson & Johnson is expanding its Spring House, Pa., pharmaceutical R&D facility with the addition of new lab, clinical development, and office space.Read more

  • Bristol-Myers, Pfizer Develop Anticoagulant ??? Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer are joining to develop apixaban, an anticoagulant discovered by BMS.Read more

  • Cytos licenses vaccine to Novartis ??? Cytos Biotechnology has licensed CYT002-NicQb, a therapeutic vaccine in Phase II development for the treatment of nicotine addiction.Read more

  • March output rose from prior month ??? Total U.S. chemical production in March increased 0.6% from February.Read more

  • Business Roundup ??? Akzo Nobel will spend $340 million at its site in Ningbo, China. Also in Business Roundup: BP, Dow Chemical, Qapco, Roche, Bristol-Myers Squibb, PPG Industries.Read more

April 23, 2007

Business Concentrates

Refining Chemicals

Petrochemical makers are looking beyond the ethylene steam cracker as a source of olefins.

Shareholders Target Toxics

A spate of annual meeting resolutions challenges companies on product liability.

Business Concentrates

  • ConocoPhillips, Tyson To Make Fuel From Fat ??? Oil major ConocoPhillips and meat processor Tyson Foods are joining forces to create a new type of diesel fuel.Read more

  • Dow Chemical Plans Libyan Project ... ??? In the first investment for a major chemical company inside Libya, Dow Chemical and Libya's National Oil Corp. are forming a joint venture.Read more

  • ... And Joins Climate Action Group ??? Dow Chemical has joined the United States Climate Action Partnership.Read more

  • Avantium And Sasol Collaborate On Fuels ??? Sasol Technology, part of South African oil and gas producer Sasol, and Avantium Technologies have begun collaborating.Read more

  • Evergreen Slates New Solar Facility ??? Evergreen Solar plans to build a $150 million solar power products facility.Read more

  • Braskem, Pequiven Detail Projects ??? Brazil's Braskem and Venezuelan state chemical company Pequiven have signed a letter of intent.Read more

  • Ciba Enters Market For Conductive Inks ??? Ciba Specialty Chemicals has started marketing a range of conductive inks.Read more

  • Galapagos Signs With EPA And Ono ??? Galapagos' BioFocus DPI service division has agreed to procure and manage small-molecule compounds.Read more

  • Lonza Adds More Biopharmaceuticals ??? Lonza has finalized groundbreaking plans for the $300 million expansion of its Portsmouth, N.H., mammalian biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility.Read more

  • VioQuest Will Sell Chiral Quest Unit ??? VioQuest Pharmaceuticals will sell its Chiral Quest asymmetric chemistry subsidiary.Read more

  • Chemical Prices Advance In March ??? U.S. chemical prices rose in March from both the previous month and year-earlier levels.Read more

  • New Polyol Plant Uses Canola Oil ??? Urethane chemicals specialist IFS Chemicals has opened a new plant to produce polyols from canola oil.Read more

  • Biotechs Trim Staff ??? Vaccine developer Avant Immunotherapeutics is cutting 30% of its staff and shuttering its St. Louis research facility.Read more

  • Business Roundup ??? BASF has agreed to sell its Wibarco subsidiary to Zurich-based Hansa Chemie International. Also in Business Roundup: Honeywell, Celanese, Affymetrix, pSivida, Siegfried, Honeywell.Read more

April 16, 2007

Business Concentrates

Pharmaceutical Diaspora

Highly experienced Bayer chemists encounter challenging job market.

Chemical Stocks Do Well Overall

Meanwhile, Shares of drug firms rose modestly in the first quarter, and biotech companies fell slightly.

Business Concentrates

  • Abbott Drops AIDS Drug Price ??? Abbott Laboratories will drop its price for Kaletra, a protease inhibitor used to treat AIDS.Read more

  • Chemtura Gets New Financial Officer ??? Chemtura has hired Stephen C. Forsyth as executive vice president and chief financial officer.Read more

  • Nanomaterials Advance To Market ??? Texas-based Zyvex has created a new company, Zyvex Performance Materials.Read more

  • DSM Picks Nova For Rubber Process ??? SDSM will start producing ethylene propylene diene rubber (EPDM) next year.Read more

  • ConocoPhillips Funds Biofuels Research ??? ConocoPhillips will fund an eight-year, $22.5 million research program at Iowa State University.Read more

  • Lanxess To Spin Off Technical Services ??? Lanxess is advancing a plan announced last year to spin off its maintenance and technical services division on July 1.Read more

  • Indian Petrochemical Project Moves Ahead ??? Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh attended a ceremony last week.Read more

  • Chemical Jobs Rise Slightly ??? The Department of Labor reports the U.S. chemical industry had 873,000 employees.Read more

  • Pfizer Seeks New Uses For Drugs ??? Pfizer has signed two pacts aimed at finding new markets for drugs in its pipeline.Read more

  • MedImmune Is On The Block ??? MedImmune's directors have authorized management to find out if third parties have an interest.Read more

  • Roche, Transgene Sign Vaccine Pact ??? Roche and French biotechnology company Transgene will collaborate to develop products.Read more

  • Abbott, Wyeth Make Puerto Rican Moves ??? Abbott Laboratories has opened a new biologics plant in Barceloneta, P.R.Read more

  • Business Roundup ??? Shell will build a 155,000-metric-ton-per-year butadiene extraction unit. Also in Business Roundup: Sasol, SolVin, Cambrex, Repligen, Plextronics, Lubrizol, Pfizer.Read more

April 9, 2007

Texas Hold 'Em

Petrochemical producers sat down in Texas to discuss how a global marketplace is upping the ante.

Gilead Builds For Speed

Biopharmaceutical firm takes the next step in securing an early-stage manufacturing base.

An Investor For All Seasons

Unlike other private equity groups, International Chemical Investors buys for the long term.

Business Concentrates

  • Sasol will keep surfactants line ??? Failing to receive what it considers a fair offer, South Africa's Sasol has ended an 18-month effort. Read more

  • Chemtura cuts 620 jobs and regroups ??? Chemtura plans to cut about 10% of its workforce or 620 people, including several senior managers. Read more

  • Lanxess opens lab in Pakistan ??? Lanxess has inaugurated its first leather chemicals application lab in Pakistan. Read more

  • Ohio sues lead paint makers ??? Ohio has become the second state to sue former lead paint makers. Read more

  • Agrium invests in Chinese fertilizers ??? Canadian fertilizer producer Agrium has acquired a 19.6% stake in the Chinese specialty fertilizer company.Read more

  • Akzo Nobel wraps up restructuring ??? Akzo Nobel has completed a multiyear chemicals divestment program with the sale of its European business.Read more

  • Kemira will buy Tri-K Industries ??? Finnish chemical maker Kemira plans to acquire Tri-K Industries.Read more

  • Roche goes on a buying spree ??? Roche is acquiring two companies in diagnostics and one in antibodies.Read more

  • Givaudan plans perfume center ??? Flavor and fragrance company Givaudan is planning a new North American creative center for consumer products.Read more

  • BASF to close lysine plant ??? BASF will stop producing lysine, an amino acid used in animal feed that the company makes at a 100,000-metric-ton-per-year facility.Read more

  • Sports gear gets an edge from nanotubes ??? Bayer MaterialScience and Nanoledge, working with two sports equipment makers.Read more

  • In Ireland, Glaxo goes, Amgen stops ??? GlaxoSmithKline will invest $335 million in its production site at Currabinny, County Cork, Ireland.Read more

  • Nycomed slashes jobs ??? Nycomed is cutting roughly 10% of its workforce, or 1,250 employees, following its acquisition of Altana Pharma. Read more

  • Air Liquide has deals in India, Trinidad ??? Air Liquide has signed an agreement to supply all gases, gas and chemical distribution systems. Read more

  • Business Roundup ??? Lanxess plans to increase its annual capacity for ethylene propylene-diene rubber. Also in Business Roundup: Solutia, Digital Specialty Chemicals, Solvay, Broin, Dalton Pharma Services, Lubrizol, Codexis.Read more

April 2, 2007

Cover Story: Pharma Outsourcing

Three case studies demonstrate the increasingly complex relationships between drug companies and custom manufacturers.

High Tech In The Glens

Scotland starts to reap success from nano- and biotechnology.

A Debut With Elan

Wacker makes a splash with its first annual results after its launch on the stock exchange.

Reining In Diabetes

Novo Nordisk alters its strategy for stemming an epidemic.

Say No To Drugs

To make data more meaningful, the government should separate drugs and chemicals.

Business Concentrates

  • Biotech Deals On The Rise ??? Global biotechnology merger and acquisition activity increased in 2006 both in value and number. Read more

  • Celanese Invests In Wood Technology Firm ??? Celanese will invest $29.5 million in Accsys Technologies and its Titan Wood subsidiary. Read more

  • Givaudan Tastes And Sniffs ??? Givaudan has entered two projects for fragrance and flavor technologies. Read more

  • Biomass-based Runway Deicer Debuts ??? Cryotech Deicing Technology will market corn-derived propanediol to deice airport runways. Read more

  • PotashCorp Expands Fertilizer In Canada ??? Canadian fertilizer producer Agrium has acquired a 19.6% stake in the Chinese specialty fertilizer company.Read more

  • Akzo Nobel wraps up restructuring ??? Akzo Nobel has completed a multiyear chemicals divestment program with the sale of its European business.Read more

  • Kemira will buy Tri-K Industries ??? Finnish chemical maker Kemira plans to acquire Tri-K Industries.Read more

  • Roche goes on a buying spree ??? Roche is acquiring two companies in diagnostics and one in antibodies.Read more

  • Givaudan plans perfume center ??? Flavor and fragrance company Givaudan is planning a new North American creative center for consumer products.Read more

  • BASF to close lysine plant ??? BASF will stop producing lysine, an amino acid used in animal feed that the company makes at a 100,000-metric-ton-per-year facility.Read more

  • Sports gear gets an edge from nanotubes ??? Bayer MaterialScience and Nanoledge, working with two sports equipment makers.Read more

  • In Ireland, Glaxo goes, Amgen stops ??? GlaxoSmithKline will invest $335 million in its production site at Currabinny, County Cork, Ireland.Read more

  • Nycomed slashes jobs ??? Nycomed is cutting roughly 10% of its workforce, or 1,250 employees, following its acquisition of Altana Pharma. Read more

  • Air Liquide has deals in India, Trinidad ??? Air Liquide has signed an agreement to supply all gases, gas and chemical distribution systems. Read more

  • Business Roundup ??? Lanxess plans to increase its annual capacity for ethylene propylene-diene rubber. Also in Business Roundup: Solutia, Digital Specialty Chemicals, Solvay, Broin, Dalton Pharma Services, Lubrizol, Codexis.Read more

March 26, 2007

Business Concentrates

Petrochemicals: Good Times For Now

North American olefins producers are still enjoying prosperity but are wary of a looming downturn.

March 19, 2007

Business Concentrates

'The Chemical Company'

Riding on record profits, BASF fits recent acquisitions into its expansive 'Verbund' business model.

Troubled Partnership

In the long tradition of U.S. industry-academic research collaborations, money could change everything.

A New Kind of Clean

Seventh Generation seeks out environmentally friendly detergent ingredients.

March 12, 2007

Bayer Details Job Cuts

Opportunity Knocks

Sigma-Aldrich finds success in its measured move into custom manufacturing.

Shaping Up

Commodity chemical divestments leave Huntsman a more specialized firm.

Klaus Engel

New Degussa Chairman is hunting for growth opportunities.

March 05, 2007

Business Concentrates

Upswing Ahead

An emerging biotech bonanza riveted contract manufacturers at Informex.

A Slimmer Akzo

Dutch company will focus on coatings and chemicals following pharmaceutical spin-off.

Raj Gupta to Receive SCI Medal

Despite difficulties, Rohm and Haas CEO says opportunities abound for chemical makers.

Is Nothing Sacred?

If GE can leave plastics behind, anybody can.

February 26, 2007

Business Concentrates

Brushing Up On Plant Riches

Phytochemicals get boost from advanced chemical analysis, synthesis.

Chemical Earnings Show Strong Rise

Acquisitions of basic chemical businesses fell as those of specialty chemical businesses rose.

Pharma Takes Action

Restructuring in the face of disappointing financial results obscures improving pipelines.

Biotech Milestones

Product successes in 2006 translate into growing sales and profits for biopharmaceutical firms.

February 19, 2007

Business Concentrates

Ferro Moves Forward

With legacy financial issues mostly resolved, firm focuses on growing businesses.

It's An Old Story: Productivity Rises

Output of chemicals per hour increased in 2006, and unit labor costs fell.

February 12, 2007

Business Concentrates

New Life For Old Plants

Biodiesel has joined the mix of products that the chemical industry makes.

Chemical Mergers Intensified In 2006

Acquisitions of basic chemical businesses fell as those of specialty chemical businesses rose

February 5, 2007

Business Concentrates

An Offer Rejected

Prominent U.S. company gets nowhere with its offer to clean up Bhopal.

William A. Haseltine

The genetics pioneer has strong words for the drug industry

January 29, 2007

Business Concentrates

Testing Its Metal

To DuPont, titanium dioxide is becoming more than just white pigment.

India Mulls Stricter Patents

Influential committee recommends broader range of patent protections for pharmaceuticals

January 22, 2007

Business Concentrates

New Zealand Plays To Its Strengths

Country's biotech efforts build on natural resources.

Nano Goes Big Time

New York and other states dole out big bucks to boost nanotechnology.

January 15, 2007

Business Concentrates

Chemical Stocks Beat The Rest

Shares of chemical firms outdid those of drug and biotech companies in the fourth quarter.

Back To Basics

Under new owner Danisco, Genencor drops health care strategy and focuses on enzymes.

January 8, 2007

Business Concentrates

Treating A Diabetes Epidemic

New treatments for type 2 diabetes are seen as boon to patients and drugmakers.

Lonza Grows Roots In South China

Swiss company is setting up the largest foreign-owned drug ingredients plant in China.

January 1, 2007

Business Concentrates

Island Dreams

Puerto Rico has designs on becoming the next hub for both biotech manufacturing and research.

Anìbal Acevedo-Vilì

Puerto Rico's governor makes the biotech industry a priority.

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