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December 21, 2009

Year In Review (Member Content)

(December 21, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 51 | pp. 24-29)

Although one of the worst years in memory for the chemical industry, 2009 had a few bright spots.

New International Energy Program

(December 21, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 51 | p. 7)

Technology Transfer: Some $350 million set aside to encourage renewable energy deployment in developing world.

Reorganization Complications

(December 21, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 51 | p. 9)

Bankruptcy: LyondellBasell and Tronox work with creditors while possible buyers look on.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(December 21, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 51 | pp. 22-23)
  • Two Companies Eye Renewable Polymers
  • Two firms are taking steps to add new materials to the renewable polymers lexicon...
  • Evonik To Jettison Nonchemical Holdings
  • Evonik Industries says it will transition itself into an all-chemical company by spinning off its energy and real estate holdings...
  • Mitsubishi Freezes Thai Plant Expansion
  • Mitsubishi Rayon says it has suspended a 90,000-metric-ton-per-year methyl methacrylate expansion in Thailand because of regulatory uncertainties...
  • Sensient Opens New Facilities
  • Flavor and fragrance maker Sensient Technologies has opened new operations in China and Costa Rica to develop products for local markets...
  • Lanxess Scales Back On Assets …
  • Lanxess has sold its 55% stake in a hydrazine hydrate plant in Weifang Industry Park, in Shandong province, China, to its partner, Weifang Yaxing Group...
  • … But Lenzing Is Beefing Up
  • Austria-based cellulosic fiber maker Lenzing plans to spend $175 million next year to increase production at its European and Asian sites...
  • Ashland Sells Rosins And Terpenes
  • Specialty chemical firm Ashland will sell Hercules Specialty Resins to Canadian private equity firm TorQuest Partners for $75 million...
  • Solvay Seeks Rest Of Thailand’s Vinythai
  • Solvay has launched a tender offer worth roughly $110 million for the 50% of Vinythai that it doesn’t already own...
  • Cubist Seeks Calixa In Antibiotic Push
  • Cubist Pharmaceuticals has agreed to acquire privately held Calixa Therapeutics for $92.5 million in cash plus potential payments of up to $310 million...
  • Merck Makes Moves In Protein Production
  • Merck & Co. has agreed to acquire Avecia’s biologics business for an undisclosed sum...
  • Amgen Licenses Diabetes Drugs
  • Amgen and Array BioPharma will jointly develop Array’s portfolio of glucokinase activators, including ARRY-403...
  • Seattle Genetics, Millennium In Pact
  • Millennium, the cancer drug arm of Takeda Pharmaceuticals, will pay Seattle Genetics $60 million up front for access to brentuximab vedotin...
  • Solutia Gets Wind Turbine
  • Electricity generator Wind Direct has installed two wind turbines at Solutia’s Newport, Wales, site...
  • Business Roundup
  • RTI International Metals, Huntsman Corp. and Saudi Arabia’s Zamil Group, Sumitomo Chemical, Chemtura, Borealis, Abbott Laboratories, Unitaid, Lonza, ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals...

December 14, 2009

Big Plans For Succinic Acid (Member Content)

(December 14, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 50 | pp. 23-25)

Against the odds, five ventures are pursuing the biobased chemical across the globe.

Latching On To A Growth Market (Member Content)

(December 14, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 50 | pp. 26-27)

Custom chemical manufacturers that can make antibody-drug conjugates see promising business.

Business At Copenhagen

(December 14, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 50 | p. 7)

Firms are on-site supporting climate-change action, showcasing green products.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(December 14, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 50 | pp. 20-21)
  • Dow Corning CEO Burns Calls For Green Jobs
  • Dow Corning CEO Stephanie A. Burns was one of about 130 businesspeople, economists, and politicians invited to the White House jobs summit...
  • Eastman Drops Gasification Project
  • Eastman Chemical is discontinuing its industrial gasification project in Beaumont, Texas...
  • Koppers To Buy Cindu Chemicals
  • Koppers has signed a letter of intent to acquire Cindu Chemicals, which operates a 140,000-metric-ton-per-year coal tar distillation plant...
  • SolviCore Helps Power Yacht’s Fuel Cell
  • SolviCore will supply key components for the fuel cell that powers an auxiliary electric engine in Zero CO2...
  • Dow And Bayer Sign Biodiesel License
  • Dow Water & Process Solutions and Bayer Technology Services have signed a licensing agreement that allows Dow to market Bayer’s BayFAME biodiesel production technology...
  • Dow Spins Off Pfenex Business
  • Dow Chemical has shed the last of its former Dowpharma operations with the spin-off of its Pfenex business as an independent company...
  • Amyris Buys Stake In Brazilian Plant
  • Amyris Biotechnologies will acquire 40% of a sugar-based ethanol plant in Brazil for close to $80 million...
  • Nalco Opens Asian Technical Center
  • Water treatment specialist Nalco has opened a technical center in Shanghai that will serve the Asia-Pacific region...
  • Tranzyme And BMS Sign Discovery Deal
  • Tranzyme Pharma will work to discover macrocyclic compounds directed against targets that are of interest to Bristol-Myers Squibb...
  • Big Drug Firms Exit Biotech Partnerships
  • Three big pharma firms are ending biotech partnerships as they reassess their drug pipelines...
  • Celgene Will Acquire Drug Firm Gloucester
  • Celgene has agreed to pay up to $640 million for Gloucester Pharmaceuticals, a Cambridge, Mass.-based firm that buys clinical-stage cancer drug candidates for further development...
  • Ranbaxy Ends Pact With Japanese Partner
  • Ranbaxy Laboratories has agreed to sell partner Nihon Chemiphar its 50% stake in their Japanese joint venture, Nihon Pharmaceutical Industry...
  • ZymoGenetics Licenses Antibody, Cuts Staff
  • ZymoGenetics has signed a licensing agreement under which Novo Nordisk will gain worldwide rights to IL-21 mAb, a fully human monoclonal antibody being developed as a treatment for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases...
  • Business Roundup
  • Tessenderlo, CF Industries, W.R. Grace, Air Liquide, Symyx and the Royal Society of Chemistry, International ­Flavors & Fragrances, Biogen Idec, La Jolla Pharmaceutical and Adamis Pharmaceuticals...

December 7, 2009

Timely Transformation

(December 7, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 49 | pp. 13-21)

Drug firms implement new business strategies to deflect mounting market pressures and accelerate into new geographies.

Branded Drug Firms Expand Into Generics

(December 7, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 49 | pp. 16-17)

The New Dow (Member Content)

(December 7, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 49 | pp. 25-26)

After a painful year, company says it has the portfolio it needs for unprecedented expansion of its business.

Closed For Business (Member Content)

(December 7, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 49 | pp. 28-29)

Scavenging shuttered chemical plants can be profitable, but not in this economy.

Nanosyn Acts Fast (Member Content)

(December 7, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 49 | pp. 30-31)

Within months, the contract research firm entered a manufacturing joint venture and bought a plant.

ACC Bulks Up

(December 7, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 49 | p. 8)

Membership Drive: Trade group seeks smaller members as chemical industry's fortunes improve.

HIV Drugs

(December 7, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 49 | p. 9)

Indian manufacturers will adjust to new WHO guidelines.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(December 7, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 49 | pp. 22-23)

November 30, 2009

Thinking Big, Acting Small (Member Content)

(November 30, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 48 | pp. 20-21)

GSK banks on small science teams that act entrepreneurially.

Reality Check (Member Content)

(November 30, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 48 | pp. 22)

Meeting looks at science, regulatory, and health care hurdles to personalized medicine.

There's Money In Safer Food

(November 30, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 48 | p. 15-17)

As concern grows over food recalls, instrument makers eye a growing market for test equipment.

Drug R&D Heats Up In Beijing

(November 30, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 48 | p. 10)

Globalization: PPD buys Bioduro, Merck Serono builds new lab in Chinese capital.

Reliance Bids For LyondellBasell

(November 30, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 48 | p. 10)

Megamerger: Sale would make Indian conglomerate one of top five chemical companies worldwide .

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(November 30, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 48 | pp. 18-19)
  • CF Wins Terra Board Seats
  • Shareholders of fertilizer maker Terra Industries have elected three new directors nominated by rival firm CF Industries...
  • Vietnam Project Moves Along
  • Thailand’s Siam Cement has signed an agreement with Qatar Petroleum to build a $4 billion petrochemical complex on Long Son Island, in southern Vietnam...
  • Clariant To Cut 570 Jobs
  • Specialty chemical maker Clariant will cut 570 jobs as part of the next phase of its production optimization strategy...
  • Carbon Nanotubes Coat Ship Hull
  • Bayer says its carbon nanotubes make a ship-hull coating so hard and smooth, it glides through the water, reducing flow resistance and saving fuel...
  • BASF To Shutter Paper Coatings Sites
  • BASF plans to close down production of styrene- butadiene latex (SBR) paper coating binders at three sites by mid-2010 because of industry overcapacity...
  • Danish Plant To Fuel Climate Talks
  • Biomass treatment specialist Inbicon has opened a second-generation ethanol plant in Kalundborg, Denmark, that will provide ethanol to fuel the cars of VIPs...
  • Thousands File Claims Against Chemtura
  • About 14,200 claims were filed as of the end of October against specialty chemical firm Chemtura, which has been in bankruptcy reorganization since March...
  • ISP Launches Drug Solubility Effort
  • International Specialty Products has launched a push into drug solubility improvement with new labs and a technology alliance...
  • Novartis Licenses Incyte Therapies
  • Novartis has entered a licensing agreement giving it U.S. rights to drug discovery firm Incyte’s JAK inhibitor INCB18424...
  • Pfizer Plans New China R&D Center
  • Pfizer has signed a memorandum of understanding with Wuhan National Bioindustry Base to build an R&D center in Wuhan, China...
  • DNDi Taps Pfizer Compound Library
  • Pfizer and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative are joining to advance the development of cures for human African trypanosomiasis...
  • Biopharma Plant Slated For Abu Dhabi
  • Middle East investors are sinking $150 million on a biopharmaceuticals manufacturing facility in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), the first of its kind in the region...
  • Business Roundup
  • Solutia, BASF, Bayer CropScience, Seattle Genetics and Astellas Pharma’s, Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, NexMed, The European Investment Fund, Soligenix, Jubilant Organosys...

November 23, 2009

Breakthroughs In Spanish Biotech (Member Content)

(November 23, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 47 | pp. 19-21)

PharmaMar and Genetrix score in a sector of reticent investors and business-resistant academics.

Tall Challenge For Pine Chemicals (Member Content)

(November 23, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 47 | pp. 22-23)

Clean energy legislation threatens industries based on renewable biomass.

Upscale Market Beckons (Member Content)

(November 23, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 47 | pp. 24-25)

Lured by newly affluent consumers, international firms beef up drug manufacturing capabilities in China.

Dow In Sharp Focus

(November 23, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 47 | p. 8)

Business: Firm says it will invest more in high-growth, value-added chemistry.

Pharma Business

(November 23, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 47 | p. 11)

BMS is splitting off nutrition company to focus on biopharmaceuticals.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(November 23, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 47 | pp. 16-17)
  • Genomics Pioneer deCode Goes Bust
  • Over a year into its attempts to revamp its business and reduce its debt, Icelandic firm deCode genetics has filed for bankruptcy...
  • Mitsubishi Chem Bids For Mitsubishi Rayon
  • In an anticipated move, Japan’s largest chemical company, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, has initiated a friendly bid to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Mitsubishi Rayon...
  • Olin Invests In Railcars For Bleach
  • Olin is developing a fleet of railcars designed to carry industrial bleach...
  • Honeywell To Build UOP Lab In India
  • Honeywell will spend $34 million to build a 400,000-sq-ft technology center at an existing Honeywell site in Gurgaon, India...
  • Sasol Mulls Gulf Coast octene Plant
  • Sasol says its Lake Charles, La., complex is a “leading candidate” as a location to build its first plant to use ethylene tetramerization technology to make α-olefins...
  • Mitsui Chemicals To Raise Capital
  • Mitsui Chemicals hopes to raise $720 million in new shares to help it cope with the downturn in the Japanese chemical industry and finance the construction of plants in China...
  • ZeaChem Constructing Cellulosic Biorefinery
  • Biofuel start-up ZeaChem has begun construction of a 250,000-gal-per-year cellulosic ethanol plant to test technology for a larger, commercial-scale biorefinery it is planning...
  • Suntech To Build Its First U.S. Plant
  • Chinese solar firm Suntech will build its first U.S. plant near Phoenix. The plant will have an initial capacity of 30 MW worth of solar modules per year...
  • Porifera Gains Desalination Technology
  • Membrane start-up Porifera has inked an exclusive licensing deal with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to develop carbon nanotube technology...
  • GSK Licenses Nabi’s Nicotine Vaccine
  • GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals and Nabi Biopharmaceuticals have signed an agreement that gives the GSK vaccines unit an exclusive option to in-license NicVAX...
  • Coca-Cola Launching Biobased Bottles
  • Coca-Cola says polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles incorporating sugar-derived raw materials are starting to hit store shelves...
  • Merck Cholesterol Drug Takes A Hit
  • Merck & Co.’s blockbuster cholesterol pill Zetia is less effective than an older, generic drug, according to a small clinical study...
  • Business Concentrates
  • Perstorp, CF Industries, Cognis, Genta, Eli Lilly & Co., FDA, UCB, Novartis, Emergent BioSolutions...

November 16, 2009

Stretching Tires' Magic Triangle

(November 16, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 46 | pp. 10-14)

Chemical companies hope their innovations can improve the environmental performance of tires without sacrificing safety and durability.

Some Good News In Third Quarter (Member Content)

(November 16, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 46 | pp. 18-20)

Chemical earnings are still weak, but quarter-over-quarter comparison is encouraging.

A Mixed Bag From Pharma (Member Content)

(November 16, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 46 | pp. 21-23)

U.S. companies saw limited growth in third-quarter sales, while flu therapies boosted European results.

The Problem With Butter Flavor (Member Content)

(November 16, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 46 | pp. 24-26)

Accused by some of causing lung disease, diacetyl is the subject of widespread lawsuits.

Pfizer Slashes R&D

(November 16, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 46 | p. 5)

Pharmaceuticals: Company to close six research sites and consolidate others as part of integration with Wyeth.

Takeover Titan Samuel Heyman Dead At 70

(November 16, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 46 | p. 9)

Obituary: Well-known corporate raider in the chemicals sector passes away after open heart surgery.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(November 16, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 46 | pp. 16-17)
  • U.S. Solar Plants Close
  • General Electric plans to close its Newark, Del., solar module facility at the end of 2009 and lay off 82 employees...
  • Braskem Plans Big Mexican Complex
  • Brazilian chemical giant Braskem and Mexican chemical firm Grupo Idesa won an auction of feedstock from Mexican state oil company Pemex that they will use for a new petrochemical complex in Mexico...
  • Brondeau Named New FMC Chief
  • Philadelphia-based FMC has named Pierre Brondeau, 52, its new chief executive officer, effective at the beginning of next year...
  • Plastic Additives Companies Fined
  • The European Commission has imposed $260 million in fines against 10 chemical firms for fixing prices of tin and ester heat stabilizers between 1987 and 2000...
  • Japanese Firms Join For Polyvinyl Alcohol
  • The Japanese companies Sekisui Chemical and Denka Kagaku are forming a joint venture for the water-soluble polymer polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH)...
  • Pharma Firms Form Antibody Alliances
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb and Alder Biopharmaceuticals will jointly develop and commercialize the monoclonal antibody ALD518, which has completed early Phase II clinical trials as a rheumatoid arthritis treatment...
  • Dow Sells Powder Coatings To Akzo
  • Dow Chemical will sell its powder coatings business to paint maker AkzoNobel for an undisclosed sum...
  • Ford Will Use Straw In New Car
  • Ford Motor will use a wheat-straw-re­inforced plastic in the third-row storage bins of the 2010 Ford Flex...
  • Life Technologies Sets Up Two Deals
  • Adding to its polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology offerings, Life Technologies will acquire BioTrove, a developer of high-throughput gene-expression and genotyping analysis systems...
  • Sigma-tau Acquires Enzon Drug Business
  • Enzon Pharmaceuticals has agreed to sell its specialty pharmaceutical business to Italy’s Sigma-tau Group for $300 million...
  • Bayer Launches A Sustainability Plan
  • Bayer is boosting its sustainability efforts with the launch of eight projects focused on health care, nutrition, and climate change...
  • Lonza Signs PACTs For Biomanufacturing
  • The Swiss contract manufacturer Lonza will manufacture Arzerra, a monoclonal antibody developed by GlaxoSmithKline and Genmab...
  • Business Roundup
  • Mitsui Chemicals, Arkema, Wacker Chemie, BASF’s fuel-cell business, Dow Chemical, Duke University, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Vertex Pharmaceuticals...

November 9, 2009

Partnering For Global Health

(November 9, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 45 | pp. 16-22)

Drug companies and nonprofits are taking novel approaches to refill the pipeline of new drugs and vaccines for neglected diseases.

Solar On Sale (Member Content)

(November 9, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 45 | pp. 28-30)

Photovoltaic prices will continue to drop, thanks to an oversupply of polysilicon.

Executive Upgrade (Member Content)

(November 9, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 45 | pp. 32-33)

Technology management program receives high marks, but not all are pleased.

C&EN Talks With Peter Pollak (Member Content)

(November 9, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 45 | pp. 32-33)

A visionary in the fine chemicals industry claims a victory in a still-risky business.

Clorox To Stop Using Chlorine

(November 9, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 45 | p. 12)

Plant Security: Bleach maker will end shipment of hazardous chemical.

Pharma Strategy

(November 9, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 45 | p. 13)

Novartis makes major R&D and vaccines investments in China.

Japanese Earnings Surprise

(November 9, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 45 | p. 13)

Fiscal First Half: Firms performed better than feared.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(November 9, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 45 | pp. 24-25)
  • J&J Revamps, Cuts Jobs
  • Johnson & Johnson is restructuring to improve its operating efficiency through more simplified processes and fewer layers of management...
  • DuPont Forecasts Strong Growth
  • As the global economic recovery gets under way, DuPont CEO Ellen J. Kullman predicts that her firm will deliver 20% compound annual earnings growth...
  • Dow Corning Gets Silicon Metal Plants
  • Dow Corning has bought one silicon metal plant and acquired an interest in a second one from Globe Specialty Metals in a $175 million deal...
  • Germany’s Merck Leads OLED Group
  • Merck KGaA is leading a new German consortium that aims to develop soluble materials to be used in large organic light-emitting diodes...
  • ExxonMobil, Toray In Battery film Venture
  • ExxonMobil Chemical’s Japanese affiliate and Japan’s Toray Industries are forming a 50-50 joint venture to develop and make separator films...
  • SGL And BMW Form Carbon Fiber Pact
  • The German carbon fiber maker SGL is forming joint ventures with automaker BMW and chemical maker Mitsubishi Rayon to make carbon fiber, the fiber’s precursor, and downstream fabric...
  • Mitsui And 
Sinopec Firm Up China Plans
  • Mitsui Chemicals and Sinopec plan to spend about $660 million in China to build new plants and acquire an existing one...
  • Lilly Opens Labs In California
  • In a move to advance its biotech drug pipeline, Eli Lilly & Co. opened a new biotechnology center in San Diego last week...
  • DSM Shelves China Vitamins Project
  • DSM has halted talks with North China Pharmaceutical Group about forming a vitamins and anti-infectives joint venture...
  • Carbogen Revamps Swiss Operations
  • The pharmaceutical chemicals firm Carbogen Amcis plans to restructure its three Swiss facilities in response to a decline in customer products in the early phases of drug development...
  • Archimica Makes Changes In Italy
  • Pharmaceutical chemical maker Archimica has sold its active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) plant in Isso, Italy, to the Italian firm Erredue...
  • Takeda Licenses Amylin Obesity Drugs
  • Takeda Pharmaceutical is licensing two obesity drugs in development at Amylin Pharmaceuticals...
  • Merck Closes On Schering-Plough
  • Merck & Co. completed its $41 billion acquisition of Schering-Plough last week...
  • Business Roundup
  • Cambrios, Equinox Chemicals, Lubrizol, Nalco, Celanese, China's Ministry of Commerce, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer, Biovitrum, Lonza...

November 2, 2009

Employment Outlook

(November 2, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 44 | pp. 45-58)

Recession moves out-of-work chemists to reinvent themselves; employers eye Gen Y; civil service may attract more scientists.

Late Is Good In Contract Pharma (Member Content)

(November 2, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 44 | pp. 16-19)

With loss of early-stage drug-manufacturing business, CPhI exhibitors vie for late-stage opportunities.

Hikal Branches Out

(November 2, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 44 | Web Exclusive)

Indian fine chemicals manufacturer sets up contract research arm.

Cellulosic Test Bed (Member Content)

(November 2, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 44 | pp. 20-21)

Coskata tries out waste-to-ethanol engineering at new plant.

High-Risk Energy Projects Get Funds

(November 2, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 44 | p. 9)

Grants: Big winners include Foro Energy, DuPont, and MIT.

European Firms Test The Bottom

(November 2, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 44 | p. 11)

Third Quarter: Optimism appears in some earnings reports.

Career Track

(November 2, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 44 | p. 11)

Students who study science don't always stay in the field.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(November 2, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 44 | pp. 14-15)
  • Lonza Cuts Jobs, Spending
  • In light of several unexpected events, especially since the end of September, Swiss custom chemicals maker Lonza says its 2009 operating earnings will be about $360 million...
  • Celanese, PPG Plan Resins For China
  • Two firms have launched expansion plans for coatings resins in China. Celanese is expanding its vinyl acetate/ethylene polymer emulsion plant in Nanjing by the first half of 2011...
  • Chinese Firm Slates Vinyl Acetate Plant
  • China’s Jiangsu Sopo will build a vinyl acetate plant in Zhenjiang, China, using technology licensed from DuPont. The 330,000-metric-ton-per-year plant is expected to open in 2013...
  • Wacker, Dow Corning Expand In China
  • Wacker and Dow Corning have started construction on an addition to their fumed silica plant in Zhangjiagang, China...
  • Monsanto Will Get Air Products’ H2
  • Air Products & Chemicals will build a world-scale hydrogen plant at Monsanto’s Luling, La., facility, where Roundup-brand glyphosate herbicide is produced...
  • SABIC, Albemarle Link For Catalyst
  • Albemarle and an affiliate of Saudi Basic Industries Corp...
  • Ferro Eliminates 230 More Jobs
  • Ferro initiated cost reduction projects in October that will result in the loss of 230 jobs by mid-2010 and $14 million in severance payments...
  • BASF To Shut Down Maleic Anhydride
  • BASF plans to shut down a 115,000-metric-ton-per-year maleic anhydride facility in Feluy, Belgium, at the end of 2009...
  • GSK And SuperGen In Epigenetics Pact
  • GlaxoSmithKline and SuperGen will work together to discover cancer therapies based on epigenetic, or gene expression, targets...
  • Thermo Fisher, Symyx Launch Joint Product
  • Thermo Fisher Scientific and R&D productivity firm Symyx Technologies have launched a new product...
  • Astellas Signs Up Medivation Drug
  • Astellas Pharma and Medivation have signed a deal to develop and co-commercialize MDV3100, a Medivation drug currently in Phase III trials for the treatment of prostate cancer...
  • Biotech Companies Make Merger Deals
  • Ligand Pharmaceuticals will acquire Metabasis Therapeutics by initially paying about $1.8 million to Metabasis stockholders and making future cash payments...
  • Lonza Inks Biotech Manufacturing Pacts
  • Swiss contract drugmaker Lonza will manufacture Alnara Pharmaceuticals’ lead product, liprotamase, at its site in Kourˇim, Czech Republic...
  • DNP Raises Funds For Succinic Acid
  • DNP Green Technology has raised $12 million in financing from a syndicate led by Sofinnova Partners, a French venture capital firm...
  • Business Roundup
  • Johnson Matthey, Metabolix, Evonik Industries, Metabolon, Linde, Dow Chemical and Dole Foods, Aceto, Malvern Instruments and Kaiser Optical Systems, Cephalon...

October 26, 2009

Enterprise Software In The Annus Horribilis

(October 26, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 43 | pp. 10-15)

Decades of big investment in information technology are paying off in the chemical industry's response to the recession.

Building Green (Member Content)

(October 26, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 43 | pp. 18-19)

The polyurethanes industry sees opportunity in energy conservation and greenhouse gas reduction.

Missing The Target (Member Content)

(October 26, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 43 | p. 20)

Some researchers call for moving beyond targeted therapies when tackling cancer.

A Mixed Earnings Picture

(October 26, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 43 | p. 7)

Recovery Watch: The third quarter brings few signs of stronger demand.

Integrating Wyeth

(October 26, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 43 | p. 9)

Pfizer's acquisition is complete; now, the job cutting begins.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(October 26, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 43 | pp. 16-17)

October 19, 2009

Hard Water (Member Content)

(October 19, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 42 | pp. 20-21)

Water treatment start-ups are awash in innovation but face a risk-averse industry.

In With The New (Member Content)

(October 19, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 42 | pp. 22-23)

A unique methyl methacrylate plant in Singapore owes its success to a handful of British chemists.

A New Attraction (Member Content)

(October 19, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 42 | pp. 24-25)

A few chemical companies are combining chemistry and magnetics.

Fine Chemicals Tough It Out

(October 19, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 42 | p. 9)

CPhI: After a difficult year, there could be signs of life for pharmaceutical chemical producers.

More Acetonitrile

(October 19, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 42 | p. 9)

Ineos rolls out new technology that will help keep the polar solvent in supply.

Newcomer Enters Patent Measuring

(October 19, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 42 | p. 11)

R&D: Dow, BASF back new method for assessing impact.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(October 19, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 42 | pp. 18-19)

October 12, 2009

Chemist Charged With Crime

(October 12, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 41 | p. 12)

Intellectual Property: Fired DuPont chemist is hit with second suit charging he stole trade secrets.

Federal Complaint Targets DuPont Researcher

(October 12, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 41 | Web Exclusive)

Intellectual Property: Hong Meng is hit with second suit charging he stole trade secrets.

Shipping Drug R&D Abroad

(October 12, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 41 | pp. 16-23)

Rise of foreign drug discovery services providers coincides with restructuring of R&D at major pharmaceutical firms.

Chemicals From Biorefineries (Member Content)

(October 12, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 41 | pp. 28-29)

Alternative fuels and industrial chemicals from a single source are still a long way off.

New Challenge For An Old Plant (Member Content)

(October 12, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 41 | pp. 30-32)

A former Merck manufacturing site is being recast as the contract manufacturer Cherokee Pharmaceuticals.

Unions Criticize Safety Board Again

(October 12, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 41 | p. 13)

Investigation: Panel's report on 2008 oleum release lacks teeth, unions say.

Kraton To Go Public

(October 12, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 41 | p. 14)

Materials firm plans to raise up to $230 million with initial public offering of stock.

C&EN Talks With Marijn E. Dekkers (Member Content)

(October 12, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 41 | p. 34)

The Thermo Fisher CEO is getting another big promotion: the top job at Bayer.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(October 12, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 41 | pp. 25-26)
  • Recovery Seen In Europe
  • The European chemical industry is showing tentative signs of economic recovery, but it is threatened by two European Union legislative initiatives...
  • Sigma-Aldrich Strikes Two Agreements
  • Sigma-Aldrich has become the exclusive distributor of cell lines modified with zinc-finger DNA-binding proteins for use in commercial pharmaceutical protein production...
  • Solvay Venture Plans Peroxide In China
  • Solvay has formed a 50-50 joint venture with China’s Huatai Group that will build a hydrogen peroxide plant at Huatai’s new site in Dongying, Shandong province, China...
  • Dow Unveils Solar Shingle
  • Dow Chemical displayed its line of Power­house solar shingles at an event in Midland, Mich., last week...
  • Wacker Exits Solar Wafer Business
  • Wacker Chemie is exiting the business of making polysilicon wafers for solar cells by transferring its shares in the Wacker Schott Solar joint venture to its partner, Schott Solar...
  • Amyris Raises Funds For Commercial Plant
  • Amyris Biotechnologies has raised $41.75 million in a round of venture capital funding...
  • Gas Firms Win Deals In China And Taiwan
  • Air Liquide will spend $19 million to build new facilities to deliver nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, argon, and specialty gases to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp...
  • Ferratec Scales Up Potassium Ferrate
  • Ferratec and research partner Electrosynthesis have scaled up a process invented by industrial research organization Battelle to manufacture potassium ferrate...
  • Evonik Forms Glass Venture In Taiwan
  • Evonik Industries has set up a joint venture with the Taiwanese firm Cristal Materials to produce lenses for light-emitting diodes...
  • Former InterMune CEO Convicted Of Fraud
  • W. Scott Harkonen, CEO of InterMune from February 1998 through June 2003, was convicted in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California...
  • Kaneka Teams Up For Drug Delivery
  • Japan’s Kaneka has formed a joint venture with MedRx, a research and development firm based on the Japanese island of Shikoku that is developing ionic-liquid-based systems for delivering drugs through the skin...
  • Carbogen, Nextpharma Link Drug Services
  • Carbogen Amcis and NextPharma Technologies are forming an alliance...
  • Arigene Will Merge With Trimeris
  • South Korea’s Arigene will acquire Tri­meris through an $81 million stock offering...
  • Business Roundup
  • W.R. Grace Synalloy, Novolyte Technologies, Osmose, The European Commission, Bicycle Therapeutics, GlaxoSmithKline and Jiangsu Walvax Biotech Co., Adimab...

October 5, 2009

Discovered In Asia, Tested In The U.S. (Member Content)

(October 5, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 40 | pp. 24-25)

Chinese and Indian companies are steadily moving drugs into U.S. clinical trials.

Hiring Chemistry (Member Content)

(October 5, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 40 | pp. 27-28)

More than ever, biotech companies need good pharmaceutical chemistry partners.

A Second Act (Member Content)

(October 5, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 40 | pp. 29-30)

Private investors hope to bring back on-line a shuttered petrochemical complex.

Sinochem Bids For Nufarm

(October 5, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 40 | p. 12)

Merger: $2.5 billion deal would give Chinese firm a global agchem platform.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(September 14, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 37 | pp. 18-19)
  • India Strikes Down AIDS Drug Patents
  • India’s patent office has rejected applications from two U.S. drug companies for patent protection for two HIV/AIDS drugs...
  • Russian Soda Ash Goes To Solvay
  • Solvay has signed an agreement to acquire majority stakes in Bereznikovsky Sodovy Zavod and Berkhimprom...
  • Solyndra Gets Loan For Solar Plant
  • The Department of Energy has finalized a $535 million loan guarantee to thin-film solar manufacturer Solyndra...
  • DuPont Sues Scientist For Stealing Secrets
  • DuPont has filed suit against senior researcher Hong Meng, charging that he stole confidential information on the development of organic light-emitting diodes for computer displays...
  • BASF To Revamp Nylon In Europe
  • BASF will close a nylon 6 engineering polymers plant in Rudolstadt, Germany, by the end of next year and consolidate nylon production at its integrated sites...
  • Shankland Is New Honeywell CTO
  • Ian Shankland has been named vice president and chief technology officer for Honeywell Specialty Materials...
  • Huntsman Closes Plant Down Under
  • Huntsman Corp. plans to close its Australian styrenics facility by early next year...
  • IFF Mulls shutting European Plants
  • International Flavors & Fragrances says it may close its fragrances compounding facility in Drogheda, Ireland, as well as a portion of its fragrance chemical plant in Haverhill, England...
  • Plextronics, Novaled Collaborate On OLEDs
  • Plextronics and Novaled have agreed to collaborate on inexpensive solution-processed OLED materials—specifically solution-processible hole-injection layer materials...
  • Liquidia Raises Funds For Nanopolymer
  • Nanotechnology start-up Liquidia Technologies has raised $7 million in a third round of venture capital financing, led by Canaan Partners...
  • Albemarle Links With MeadWestvaco
  • Albemarle has formed an alliance with MeadWestvaco Specialty Chemicals to develop brominated wood-based activated carbon for use in controlling mercury emissions from coal-burning power plants...
  • Germany’s Merck Buys Chinese Pigment Firm
  • Merck KGaA has acquired Suzhou Taizhu Technology Development for close to $41 million...
  • Targeted Genetics Has Deal With Genzyme
  • Targeted Genetics has sold manufacturing and other technology related to adeno-associated viral vectors to Genzyme for up to $7 million...
  • Roche Names New Pharma Executives
  • Pascal Soriot, 50, will take over in 2010 as chief operating officer of Roche’s pharma division, which has been led by CEO William M. Burns...
  • Business Roundup
  • The Society of Chemical Manufacturers & Affiliates’, Dow Chemical, Bayer CropScience, Xoma and Arana Therapeutics, BioLeap, Sigma Pharmaceuticals will acquire a Bristol-Myers Squibb plant...

September 28, 2009

Flu Fervor

(September 28, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 39 | pp. 15-26, 27-33)

In response to the H1N1 viral pandemic, manufacturers ramp up production of antiviral drugs; vaccine makers race to deliver doses in time.

Stateside Surge In Pharma Chemicals (Member Content)

(September 28, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 39 | pp. 38-41)

Investment flows into the U.S. as drugmakers reassess their supply chains.

Gaining Focus (Member Content)

(September 28, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 39 | pp. 43-45)

Small-molecule drugs to treat dry age-related macular degeneration are heading to the clinic.

DuPont Accuses Scientist Of Theft (Member Content)

(September 28, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 39 | pp. 47-48)

Colleagues, puzzled by charges, wonder whether it is all a misunderstanding.

Data Manipulation At ETH

(September 28, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 39 | p. 11)

Misconduct: Fabricated chemistry data at Switzerland's premier research institution leads to resignation.

Biotech Stocks

(September 28, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 39 | p. 11)

Falling share prices could lead to market delisting for many firms.

Heads Butt Over Deadly Explosion

(September 28, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 39 | p. 12)

Dust Accident: Safety board seeks better maintenance; unions want tougher regulations.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(September 14, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 37 | pp. 18-19)
  • India Strikes Down AIDS Drug Patents
  • India’s patent office has rejected applications from two U.S. drug companies for patent protection for two HIV/AIDS drugs...
  • Russian Soda Ash Goes To Solvay
  • Solvay has signed an agreement to acquire majority stakes in Bereznikovsky Sodovy Zavod and Berkhimprom...
  • Solyndra Gets Loan For Solar Plant
  • The Department of Energy has finalized a $535 million loan guarantee to thin-film solar manufacturer Solyndra...
  • DuPont Sues Scientist For Stealing Secrets
  • DuPont has filed suit against senior researcher Hong Meng, charging that he stole confidential information on the development of organic light-emitting diodes for computer displays...
  • BASF To Revamp Nylon In Europe
  • BASF will close a nylon 6 engineering polymers plant in Rudolstadt, Germany, by the end of next year and consolidate nylon production at its integrated sites...
  • Shankland Is New Honeywell CTO
  • Ian Shankland has been named vice president and chief technology officer for Honeywell Specialty Materials...
  • Huntsman Closes Plant Down Under
  • Huntsman Corp. plans to close its Australian styrenics facility by early next year...
  • IFF Mulls shutting European Plants
  • International Flavors & Fragrances says it may close its fragrances compounding facility in Drogheda, Ireland, as well as a portion of its fragrance chemical plant in Haverhill, England...
  • Plextronics, Novaled Collaborate On OLEDs
  • Plextronics and Novaled have agreed to collaborate on inexpensive solution-processed OLED materials—specifically solution-processible hole-injection layer materials...
  • Liquidia Raises Funds For Nanopolymer
  • Nanotechnology start-up Liquidia Technologies has raised $7 million in a third round of venture capital financing, led by Canaan Partners...
  • Albemarle Links With MeadWestvaco
  • Albemarle has formed an alliance with MeadWestvaco Specialty Chemicals to develop brominated wood-based activated carbon for use in controlling mercury emissions from coal-burning power plants...
  • Germany’s Merck Buys Chinese Pigment Firm
  • Merck KGaA has acquired Suzhou Taizhu Technology Development for close to $41 million...
  • Targeted Genetics Has Deal With Genzyme
  • Targeted Genetics has sold manufacturing and other technology related to adeno-associated viral vectors to Genzyme for up to $7 million...
  • Roche Names New Pharma Executives
  • Pascal Soriot, 50, will take over in 2010 as chief operating officer of Roche’s pharma division, which has been led by CEO William M. Burns...
  • Business Roundup
  • The Society of Chemical Manufacturers & Affiliates’, Dow Chemical, Bayer CropScience, Xoma and Arana Therapeutics, BioLeap, Sigma Pharmaceuticals will acquire a Bristol-Myers Squibb plant...

September 21, 2009

Vanishing Plants (Member Content)

(September 21, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 38 | pp. 21-24)

Latest closures are ending chemical production at the only U.S. facilities of their kind.

Stepping On The Gas (Member Content)

(September 21, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 38 | pp. 26-27)

North American petrochemical makers are benefiting from domestic natural gas development.

Lilly Sets Out To Reorganize

(September 21, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 38 | p. 9)

Pharmaceuticals: Plan will establish five business units and cut $1 billion in costs, 5,500 jobs.

Elan Alters J&J Pact

(September 21, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 38 | p. 9)

Pharmaceuticals: New deal maintains partnership with Biogen Idec, cuts what Johnson & Johnson will pay.

Changing Of The Guards

(September 21, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 38 | p. 11)

New CEOs: Moves at the top are afoot for Bayer, Nova, and IFF.

Positive Earnings Estimates

(September 21, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 38 | p. 11)

Recovery: With higher sales volumes in the third quarter, Solutia, Lubrizol boost 2009 earnings estimates.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(September 14, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 37 | pp. 18-19)
  • India Strikes Down AIDS Drug Patents
  • India’s patent office has rejected applications from two U.S. drug companies for patent protection for two HIV/AIDS drugs...
  • Russian Soda Ash Goes To Solvay
  • Solvay has signed an agreement to acquire majority stakes in Bereznikovsky Sodovy Zavod and Berkhimprom...
  • Solyndra Gets Loan For Solar Plant
  • The Department of Energy has finalized a $535 million loan guarantee to thin-film solar manufacturer Solyndra...
  • DuPont Sues Scientist For Stealing Secrets
  • DuPont has filed suit against senior researcher Hong Meng, charging that he stole confidential information on the development of organic light-emitting diodes for computer displays...
  • BASF To Revamp Nylon In Europe
  • BASF will close a nylon 6 engineering polymers plant in Rudolstadt, Germany, by the end of next year and consolidate nylon production at its integrated sites...
  • Shankland Is New Honeywell CTO
  • Ian Shankland has been named vice president and chief technology officer for Honeywell Specialty Materials...
  • Huntsman Closes Plant Down Under
  • Huntsman Corp. plans to close its Australian styrenics facility by early next year...
  • IFF Mulls shutting European Plants
  • International Flavors & Fragrances says it may close its fragrances compounding facility in Drogheda, Ireland, as well as a portion of its fragrance chemical plant in Haverhill, England...
  • Plextronics, Novaled Collaborate On OLEDs
  • Plextronics and Novaled have agreed to collaborate on inexpensive solution-processed OLED materials—specifically solution-processible hole-injection layer materials...
  • Liquidia Raises Funds For Nanopolymer
  • Nanotechnology start-up Liquidia Technologies has raised $7 million in a third round of venture capital financing, led by Canaan Partners...
  • Albemarle Links With MeadWestvaco
  • Albemarle has formed an alliance with MeadWestvaco Specialty Chemicals to develop brominated wood-based activated carbon for use in controlling mercury emissions from coal-burning power plants...
  • Germany’s Merck Buys Chinese Pigment Firm
  • Merck KGaA has acquired Suzhou Taizhu Technology Development for close to $41 million...
  • Targeted Genetics Has Deal With Genzyme
  • Targeted Genetics has sold manufacturing and other technology related to adeno-associated viral vectors to Genzyme for up to $7 million...
  • Roche Names New Pharma Executives
  • Pascal Soriot, 50, will take over in 2010 as chief operating officer of Roche’s pharma division, which has been led by CEO William M. Burns...
  • Business Roundup
  • The Society of Chemical Manufacturers & Affiliates’, Dow Chemical, Bayer CropScience, Xoma and Arana Therapeutics, BioLeap, Sigma Pharmaceuticals will acquire a Bristol-Myers Squibb plant...

September 14, 2009

A Fast Pace For Suzhou's R&D Hub (Member Content)

(September 14, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 37 | pp. 20-21)

China's best run R&D center could be growing too quickly for its own good.

Chemtura Charts A Comeback (Member Content)

(September 14, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 37 | pp. 22-23)

CEO Craig Rogerson hopes firm will emerge from bankruptcy in March 2010.

Diagnostics Push

(September 11, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 36 | p. 6)

Acquisition: Deals mark convergence of life sciences tools and medical diagnostics.

Biogen Bids For Facet

(September 11, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 36 | p. 7)

Pharmaceuticals: Deal is designed to boost its position in the MS drug market.

Investing In Solar Cells

(September 11, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 36 | p. 7)

Japan's Showa Shell is sinking $1.1 billion into its thin-film technology.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(September 14, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 37 | pp. 18-19)
  • India Strikes Down AIDS Drug Patents
  • India’s patent office has rejected applications from two U.S. drug companies for patent protection for two HIV/AIDS drugs...
  • Russian Soda Ash Goes To Solvay
  • Solvay has signed an agreement to acquire majority stakes in Bereznikovsky Sodovy Zavod and Berkhimprom...
  • Solyndra Gets Loan For Solar Plant
  • The Department of Energy has finalized a $535 million loan guarantee to thin-film solar manufacturer Solyndra...
  • DuPont Sues Scientist For Stealing Secrets
  • DuPont has filed suit against senior researcher Hong Meng, charging that he stole confidential information on the development of organic light-emitting diodes for computer displays...
  • BASF To Revamp Nylon In Europe
  • BASF will close a nylon 6 engineering polymers plant in Rudolstadt, Germany, by the end of next year and consolidate nylon production at its integrated sites...
  • Shankland Is New Honeywell CTO
  • Ian Shankland has been named vice president and chief technology officer for Honeywell Specialty Materials...
  • Huntsman Closes Plant Down Under
  • Huntsman Corp. plans to close its Australian styrenics facility by early next year...
  • IFF Mulls shutting European Plants
  • International Flavors & Fragrances says it may close its fragrances compounding facility in Drogheda, Ireland, as well as a portion of its fragrance chemical plant in Haverhill, England...
  • Plextronics, Novaled Collaborate On OLEDs
  • Plextronics and Novaled have agreed to collaborate on inexpensive solution-processed OLED materials—specifically solution-processible hole-injection layer materials...
  • Liquidia Raises Funds For Nanopolymer
  • Nanotechnology start-up Liquidia Technologies has raised $7 million in a third round of venture capital financing, led by Canaan Partners...
  • Albemarle Links With MeadWestvaco
  • Albemarle has formed an alliance with MeadWestvaco Specialty Chemicals to develop brominated wood-based activated carbon for use in controlling mercury emissions from coal-burning power plants...
  • Germany’s Merck Buys Chinese Pigment Firm
  • Merck KGaA has acquired Suzhou Taizhu Technology Development for close to $41 million...
  • Targeted Genetics Has Deal With Genzyme
  • Targeted Genetics has sold manufacturing and other technology related to adeno-associated viral vectors to Genzyme for up to $7 million...
  • Roche Names New Pharma Executives
  • Pascal Soriot, 50, will take over in 2010 as chief operating officer of Roche’s pharma division, which has been led by CEO William M. Burns...
  • Business Roundup
  • The Society of Chemical Manufacturers & Affiliates’, Dow Chemical, Bayer CropScience, Xoma and Arana Therapeutics, BioLeap, Sigma Pharmaceuticals will acquire a Bristol-Myers Squibb plant...

September 7, 2009

Khosla Grows Investment Funds

(September 7, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 36 | p. 13)

Cleantech: Venture capitalist has $1 billion to back new technology.

Huntsman To Buy Most Of Tronox

(September 7, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 36 | p. 15)

Acquisition: Deal will make Huntsman the world's second largest maker of titanium dioxide.

Dainippon Takes Over Sepracor

(September 7, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 36 | p. 16)

Acquisition: The purchase gives Japanese firm key U.S. presence.

Danaher Invests In Mass Spec

(September 7, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 36 | p. 16)

Instrumentation: $1.1 billion deal brings AB Sciex and more.

Powerful Stuff (Member Content)

(September 7, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 36 | pp. 32-34)

Materials get attention and funding in effort to create U.S. lithium battery industry .

Up From The Ashes (Member Content)

(September 7, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 36 | pp. 36-37)

U.S. soda ash industry fights its way out of the recession.

Toray Taps China (Member Content)

(September 7, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 36 | p. 38)

Japanese firm's plant in Beijing will produce high-technology water purification membranes.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(September 7, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 36 | pp. 29-30)
  • Merck Sets New Structure

  • Merck & Co. has announced a reorganization plan, naming top managers for the five divisions that will be formed following the company’s acquisition of Schering-Plough...
  • Clariant Sells Its Silicones Business
  • Clariant has sold its specialty silicones business to GenNx360 Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on industrial businesses. GenNx360 has renamed the business SiVance...
  • Bayer Wins Agchem Patent Suit In China
  • Bayer CropScience has won a lawsuit against two Chinese firms that it claims were infringing its patent on mefenpyr, a chemical that improves herbicide selectivity...
  • Invista Boosts Stake In Protective Wear
  • Invista will increase its investment in Ashburn Hill, a South Carolina-based manufacturer of fire-resistant apparel for firefighters and industrial workers...
  • Wyatt Technology Wins On Appeal
  • Instrument maker Wyatt Technology has won its appeal of a lawsuit against Viscotek relating to the theft of Proterion Corp. dynamic light-scattering technology that Wyatt acquired in late 2004...
  • EU Funds study of Nanoparticles
  • The European Union has awarded the University of Ulster’s Biomedical Sciences Institute a grant to investigate the link between nanoparticles and disease...
  • Archimica And Chemic Partner On APIs
  • Archimica and Chemic Laboratories have formed a partnership for the development and commercialization of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs)...
  • Roche Takes Option To Buy Lonza Plant
  • Roche has exercised an option to buy Lonza’s cell culture biologic facility in Singapore. The price is $290 million plus milestone payments of $70 million...
  • TC Will Work With Roche And Celgene
  • PTC Therapeutics has signed a research and licensing agreement with Roche for the development of small molecules with PTC’s Gene Expression Modulation by Small-Molecules, or GEMS, technology...
  • Shantha Gets Vaccines Contracts
  • Shantha Biotechnics, part of Sanofi Pasteur, has been awarded $340 million in contracts from the United Nations to supply vaccines between 2010 and 2012...
  • Catalyst Gets Drug From Northwestern
  • Catalyst Pharmaceutical has paid Northwestern University an undisclosed sum for the rights to develop a novel class of GABA aminotransferase inhibitors and derivatives of vigabatrin...
  • Novartis Unveils New Lab Concept
  • Novartis has launched its Lab of the Future initiative to create laboratories with flexible work spaces, modular furniture, and integrated technologies...
  • Trubion, Facet Link For Leukemia Drug
  • Trubion Pharmaceuticals has partnered with Facet Biotech to commercialize TRU-016, a Trubion product in Phase I clinical trials for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia...
  • Business Roundup
  • Asahi Kasei, Mitsubishi Corp. and Belchim Management, Air Products & Chemicals, BPT, LyondellBasell Industries, TCG Lifesciences, Sanofi-Aventis, Bayer Schering Pharma...

August 31, 2009

Seeking Angels (Member Content)

(August 31, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 35 | pp. 18-19)

ACS Meeting News: University inventors connect with experienced alumni to start new businesses.

Cost Of REACH Underestimated

(August 31, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 35 | p. 7)

European Union's chemical testing program may require millions more animals and euros than expected.

P&G Sells Drug Unit To Warner Chilcott

(August 31, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 35 | p. 8)

Acquisition expands drug firm's specialty product lines in the U.S.

Brazilian Chemicals

(August 31, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 35 | p. 9)

Country's top two chemical firms may be in merger talks.

Lonza Launches Bid For Patheon

(August 31, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 35 | p. 10)

Deal would extend the Swiss firm's services to finished-dosage drugs.

Babies On Board (Member Content)

(August 31, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 35 | p. 20)

The bisphenol A controversy gives Eastman's new polymer an edge in the infant care market.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(August 24, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 34 | pp. 19-20)
  • Hexion Cuts Jobs To Reduce Costs
  • Hexion Specialty Chemicals said last week that as a result of its program to improve efficiency and cut annual costs by $250 million, it is laying off 20% of its workforce...
  • Plextronics Wins More Financing
  • Plextronics, a Pittsburgh-based developer of organic semiconductor technologies for printed electronics, has raised another $14 million in venture capital...
  • Sasol May Shut Down Phosphoric Acid Plant
  • Fuels and chemicals maker Sasol is considering closing its phosphoric acid plant in Phalaborwa, South Africa...
  • Dow Chemical Teams On Art Conservation
  • Dow Chemical, the J. Paul Getty Trust’s Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) in Los Angeles, and London’s Tate gallery will collaborate...
  • Bayer Acquires Crop Biotech Firm Athenix
  • Bayer CropScience will acquire Athenix, a privately held company that develops herbicide tolerance and insect control traits for corn, soybeans, and other crops...
  • Bayer CropScience Collaborates On Rice In China
  • Bayer CropScience and the China National Rice Research Institute have agreed to collaborate on rice trait development and breeding...
  • Bridge Organics Expands In Michigan
  • Bridge Organics, a contract chemistry research firm launched in 1997 by five former Pharmacia scientists, is expanding its Vicksburg, Mich., facility...
  • BASF, RWE, Linde Start CO2 Capture
  • Partners BASF, RWE Power, and Linde have started up a pilot plant for capturing carbon dioxide at RWE’s coal-fired power plant in Niederaussem, Germany...
  • FDA Clears Schering Antipsychotic Drug
  • FDA has approved Schering-Plough’s antipsychotic drug, Saphris, for acute treatment of schizophrenia in adults and for episodes associated with severe bipolar-1 disorder...
  • Crucell Gets NIH Influenza Contract
  • Crucell has received a $41 million contract from NIH’s National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases to develop monoclonal antibodies...
  • Neglected Disease Consortium Formed
  • A team of scientists from industry, academia, and the nonprofit sector are collaborating to find new treatments for African sleeping sickness and leishmaniasis...
  • Business Roundup
  • Novomer, LyondellBasell Industries, Univation Technologies, W.R. Grace, Cires, InnoCentive, PerkinElmer, IBM and California Institute of Technology, Transcept Pharmaceuticals...

August 24, 2009

Still Short On Medical Isotopes

(August 24, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 34 | p. 9)

Reactor outage in Canada persists.

Chemical Deals Keeping Pace

(August 24, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 34 | p. 11)

Credit crunch hobbles big mergers, but firms continue to shop strategically.

Standing The Heat (Member Content)

(August 24, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 34 | pp. 21-22)

DSM is attempting what many have tried and failed to do: launch a new polymer.

C&EN Talks With Thomas J. Stanley (Member Content)

(August 24, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 34 | p. 23)

The technology chief of SABIC Innovative Plastics says polymers still hold a lot of potential.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(August 24, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 34 | pp. 19-20)
  • Hexion Cuts Jobs To Reduce Costs
  • Hexion Specialty Chemicals said last week that as a result of its program to improve efficiency and cut annual costs by $250 million, it is laying off 20% of its workforce...
  • Plextronics Wins More Financing
  • Plextronics, a Pittsburgh-based developer of organic semiconductor technologies for printed electronics, has raised another $14 million in venture capital...
  • Sasol May Shut Down Phosphoric Acid Plant
  • Fuels and chemicals maker Sasol is considering closing its phosphoric acid plant in Phalaborwa, South Africa...
  • Dow Chemical Teams On Art Conservation
  • Dow Chemical, the J. Paul Getty Trust’s Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) in Los Angeles, and London’s Tate gallery will collaborate...
  • Bayer Acquires Crop Biotech Firm Athenix
  • Bayer CropScience will acquire Athenix, a privately held company that develops herbicide tolerance and insect control traits for corn, soybeans, and other crops...
  • Bayer CropScience Collaborates On Rice In China
  • Bayer CropScience and the China National Rice Research Institute have agreed to collaborate on rice trait development and breeding...
  • Bridge Organics Expands In Michigan
  • Bridge Organics, a contract chemistry research firm launched in 1997 by five former Pharmacia scientists, is expanding its Vicksburg, Mich., facility...
  • BASF, RWE, Linde Start CO2 Capture
  • Partners BASF, RWE Power, and Linde have started up a pilot plant for capturing carbon dioxide at RWE’s coal-fired power plant in Niederaussem, Germany...
  • FDA Clears Schering Antipsychotic Drug
  • FDA has approved Schering-Plough’s antipsychotic drug, Saphris, for acute treatment of schizophrenia in adults and for episodes associated with severe bipolar-1 disorder...
  • Crucell Gets NIH Influenza Contract
  • Crucell has received a $41 million contract from NIH’s National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases to develop monoclonal antibodies...
  • Neglected Disease Consortium Formed
  • A team of scientists from industry, academia, and the nonprofit sector are collaborating to find new treatments for African sleeping sickness and leishmaniasis...
  • Business Roundup
  • Novomer, LyondellBasell Industries, Univation Technologies, W.R. Grace, Cires, InnoCentive, PerkinElmer, IBM and California Institute of Technology, Transcept Pharmaceuticals...

August 17, 2009

Stimulus For Instruments

(August 17, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 33 | pp. 13-16)

Scientific instrument makers hope that big bucks in government stimulus R&D spending mean big profits for them.

Tokuyama Doubles Output

(August 17, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 33 | p. 8)

Expansion takes place amid softening demand.

Monsanto's Phosphate Operation

(August 17, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 33 | p. 9)

Life sciences company will process phosphorus for Roundup herbicide from a new mine in Idaho.

Deal Fever Strikes Japan

(August 17, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 33 | p. 9)

Union of Mitsubishi Chemical and Mitsubishi Rayon could benefit both.

Demand Stabilizes In Second Quarter (Member Content)

(August 17, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 33 | pp. 19-21)

As destocking ends, chemical firms look for signs of growth.

Pharma Continues To Flounder (Member Content)

(August 17, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 33 | pp. 22-25)

U.S. companies have lackluster results in the second quarter, but flu treatments could help european firms.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(August 17, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 33 | pp. 17-18)
  • Elan Sues Biogen Idec In Spat Over J&J Deal
  • Elan and Biogen Idec are fighting about whether a company can trade away half a partnership...
  • DuPont Rejiggers Business Operations
  • Preparing DuPont to come out of the recession as a more agile competitor...
  • Iofina Acquires Iodine Firm H&S
  • Iofina has acquired the iodine derivatives producer H&S Chemical for $8.5 million in cash and stock...
  • ISP Forms Skin test Alliance
  • International Specialty Products has formed an alliance with Cellworks Group to use the latter’s computer-enabled...
  • BP And Martek Join For Algae Biofuel
  • BP has signed a development agreement with Martek Biosciences to use algae to produce biodiesel from sugar...
  • Sigma-Aldrich Buys ChemNavigator
  • Sigma-Aldrich has acquired ChemNavigator, a cheminformatics company that provides discovery research software for the design, selection, and procurement of chemical compound libraries...
  • EU Probes Chinese Chemical Exporters
  • Responding to a complaint from the European Chemical Industry Council, the European Commission (EC) has opened an investigation into allegations that Chinese makers of the industrial cleaning agent sodium gluconate are selling their product at below-market prices in the European Union...
  • Lanxess Scores With Novel Tire Additive
  • Lanxess has won the first major application for its Nanoprene nanoscale pre-cross-linked rubber particles...
  • Clinton Foundation Lowers HIV Drug Prices
  • The William J. Clinton Foundation’s HIV/AIDS Initiative has scored two deals that will help bring better and cheaper HIV and tuberculosis drugs to patients in developing countries...
  • Millipore Acquires England-Based BioAnaLab
  • Millipore has acquired BioAnaLab, an En­gland-based developer of assay, validation, and other services for biopharmaceutical firms...
  • EMD Serono Links With M.D. Anderson
  • The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center has inked another deal with a big drug company geared at bringing drugs out of the lab and to patients more efficiently...
  • GSK Strikes Deals With Vernalis, Nabi
  • GlaxoSmithKline will collaborate with Vernalis to develop drugs that act against an undisclosed oncology target...
  • Business Roundup
  • Air Products & Chemicals, Saint-Gobain, Cray Valley, Lanxess, Hexion Specialty Chemicals, Novartis, Inovio Biomedical, Nycomed...

August 10, 2009

Nanotech Toolkit

(August 10, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 32 | pp. 12-17)

As nanotechnology R&D advances, instrumentation is keeping stride with scientific and educational needs.

European Decline Persists

(August 10, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 32 | p. 11)

Reports show poor earnings, but some positive signals are on the horizon.

Advancing Electric Vehicles

(August 10, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 32 | p. 9)

Battery technology projects win stimulus funds worth $2.4 billion.

Arkema Will Acquire Dow Acrylics Unit

(August 10, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 32 | p. 11)

Sale satisfies FTC demand following Dow's Rohm and Haas purchase.

Positioning Ricerca (Member Content)

(August 10, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 32 | pp. 20-21)

Contract research firm focuses its chemistry, biology services on early-stage drug development.

Viwa's Business Model (Member Content)

(August 10, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 32 | p. 22)

Custom chemical supplier not only serves customers abroad but also brings foreign products to the Chinese market.

The Grim Auto Reaper

(August 10, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 32 | Web Exclusive)

Engine-killing by chemistry is vital to the federal government's Cash-for-Clunkers program.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(August 10, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 32 | pp. 18-19)

August 3, 2009

Global Top 50

(August 3, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 31 | pp. 11-15)

BASF and Dow Chemical maintain top spots, but fertilizer makers and Middle Eastern firms move up in ranking during a tough year.

Agilent To Acquire Varian For $1.5 Billion

(August 3, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 31 | p. 7)

Deal brings Agilent a line of atomic and molecular spectroscopy instruments, and bolsters its push into the bioanalytical instrumentation market.

Sabotage At Energy Department Facility

(August 3, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 31 | p. 7)

Former employee destroys 4,000 protein crystals under study at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

Second-Quarter Results

(August 3, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 31 | p. 8)

Dow Chemical and BASF earnings reflect bad, but improving, economy.

Final Slate For ACS Fall Ballot

(August 3, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 31 | p. 9)

Candidates for president-elect, director-at-large, and District I and V directors.

Precursor Powerhouse (Member Content)

(August 3, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 31 | pp. 18-19)

Air liquide finds success in a specialized electronic materials niche. (pp. 18-19)

JSR Bets On Old Business (Member Content)

(August 3, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 31 | pp. 20-21)

Diversified advanced materials firm renews commitment to synthetic rubber. (pp. 20-21)

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(August 3, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 31 | pp. 16-17)
  • Sanofi-Aventis Nabs Deals
  • Sanofi-Aventis and Merck reached an agreement under which Merck will sell its 50% interest in the companies' current animal health joint venture, Merial, to Sanofi-Aventis...
  • SEC Sues For Insider Trading Of Nova Stock
  • The U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission has filed a suit against Khaled Mohammed Sharif Al Sayed Al Hashemi for unlawful insider trading of Nova Chemicals shares...
  • DSM Selling Energy, Fertilizer Assets
  • DSM is divesting its energy and urea licensing businesses as part of its effort to focus on life and material sciences...
  • Bayer Advances Printable Polycarbonate
  • Using laser engraving with polycarbonate inks, Bayer MaterialScience and its partner, the Federal German Printing Office, have developed color photo identification cards and passports made of polycarbonate film...
  • Arkema Adds More Facilities In China
  • Arkema's subsidiary Coatex will spend $21 million to build new acrylic polymer production facilities in Changshu, China...
  • Pfizer Creates More Chinese Partnerships
  • Pfizer is solidifying its commitment to enhancing biotech collaboration in China...
  • China's Yingli Slates Solar Silicon Plants
  • China's Yingli Green Energy Holding signed an agreement with Hainan Provincial Development Holding to form a joint venture...
  • La Seda Shutting Down Plastics Output
  • Spanish polyethylene terephthalate maker La Seda de Barcelona plans to cut about 300 jobs and capacity for 500,000 metric tons per year of both polyethylene terephthalate resin and purified terephthalic acid...
  • Brondeau Leaving Dow Chemical
  • Pierre R. Brondeau, 51, is retiring from Dow Chemical. Brondeau had been the president and chief operating officer of Rohm and Haas until Dow's purchase of that firm in April...
  • Malaria Vaccine R&D Gets Funding
  • Dutch biopharmaceutical firm Crucell will collaborate with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)...
  • Amgen And GSK Form Drug Partnership
  • Amgen has partnered with GlaxoSmithKline to sell denosumab, a monoclonal antibody in development to treat osteoporosis, in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Mexico...
  • Lilly Moves ImClone R&D To NYC Park
  • Eli Lilly & Co. has signed on as the first tenant of the Alexandria Center for Science & Technology at East River Science Park, in New York City...
  • Business Roundup
  • Air Liquide, Sasol, LyondellBasell Industries, LG Chem, Afton Chemical, DuPont Teijin Films, Georgia Gulf, Raptor Pharmaceuticals and TorreyPines Therapeutics...

July 27, 2009

Practical Platform (Member Content)

(July 27, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 30 | pp. 34-36)

Adimab believes its yeast-based antibody discovery system could change how biotherapeutics are found. (pp. 34-36)

Chemical Firms Eke Out Earnings

(July 27, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 30 | p. 11)

With demand still weak, companies shrink overhead.

Bristol-Myers Squibb To Buy Medarex

(July 27, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 30 | p. 14)

Deal adds key antibody discovery technology and attractive drug pipeline.

A Collaborative Alliance

(July 27, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 30 | p. 14)

Society establishes pioneering links with the Society of Chemical Industry.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(July 27, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 30 | pp. 24-25)
  • Drug Firms Unveil Infectious-Disease Projects
  • Big pharma firms are upping their commitment to medicines for infectious diseases that disproportionately impact developing countries...
  • Sipchem, Hanwha Team Up For Saudi Project
  • Saudi International Petrochemical (Sipchem) and South Korea's Hanwha Chemical have formed a joint venture that will invest about $1.1 billion in projects in Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia...
  • BASF Puts A Spring In Athletes' Step
  • For the Aug. 15 start of the International Association of Athletics Federations' World Championships, Berlin's Olympic stadium is sporting a blue track made with BASF's polyurethanes...
  • Altana Will Buy U.S. Ink Maker
  • German specialty chemical company Altana has agreed to acquire Water Ink Technologies for an undisclosed sum...
  • Explosions Take Lives In China And France
  • Five people died last week in an explosion at Luoran, a dyestuff chemicals producer located in Luoyang City in China's Henan province, according to Xinhua, the Chinese state-run news agency...
  • U Of Georgia Licenses Curing Technology
  • The University of Georgia Research Foundation is licensing a visible-light-based curing technology to adhesives and sealants maker Three Bond International...
  • China Approves Saudi Chemical Investment
  • China's National Development & Reform Commission has approved Saudi Basic Industries Corp.'s 50% participation in a petrochemical complex that Sinopec is building in Tianjin...
  • Chevron Phillips Completes PPS Plant
  • Chevron Phillips Chemical has completed a 10,000-metric-ton-per-year polyphenylene sulfide plant at its Borger, Texas, site...
  • Praxair Invests In Solar Sector
  • Praxair's electronics division has made $15 million in investments to expand its capacity for tubular sputtering targets used by the solar industry for physical vapor deposition of coatings...
  • Vertex Will Sell Milestones On Drug
  • In an unusual strategy to raise cash, Vertex Pharmaceuticals wants to sell off potential milestone payments associated with the development and commercialization of its lead drug candidate...
  • Merck And Portola In Heart Drug Alliance
  • Merck & Co. and Portola Pharmaceuticals are working together to develop betrixaban, an oral anticoagulant now in Phase II clinical trials for the prevention of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation...
  • Abbott And GSK Join For Cancer Diagnostic
  • Abbott Laboratories and GlaxoSmithKline will develop an automated molecular diagnostic test that uses polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology to screen non-small-cell lung cancer tumors...
  • Japanese Drugmaker to Acquire U.S. Firm
  • Japan's Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical has offered to acquire Miami-based Noven Pharmaceuticals for $430 million...
  • Business Roundup
  • Occidental Chemical is the buyer of Dow Chemical's calcium chloride business, BASF and ReVolt Technology, Huntsman Corp. founder Jon M. Huntsman, Dow Chemical, NatureWorks, LabVantage Solutions, Lonza, Baxter International...

July 20, 2009

Women In Industry (Member Content)

(July 20, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 29 | pp. 26-27)

Women made some strides at the very top but have little to show elsewhere.

Can Conundrum (Member Content)

(July 20, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 29 | pp. 28-29)

Chemists come up short in attempts to remove bisphenol A from food can liners.

Academic Chemists Cement Global Ties

(July 20, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 29 | p. 14)

Leaders of U.S., Chinese chemistry departments meet in Beijing to share experiences.

Exxon Invests In Algal Biofuels

(July 20, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 29 | p. 15)

Project represents a new direction for oil giant.

LyondellBasell Under Fire

(July 20, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 29 | p. 17)

Bankrupt firm's plan to close facilities in Texas has neighbors in an uproar.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(July 20, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 29 | pp. 24-25)
  • Drug Firms Unveil Infectious-Disease Projects
  • Big pharma firms are upping their commitment to medicines for infectious diseases that disproportionately impact developing countries...
  • Sipchem, Hanwha Team Up For Saudi Project
  • Saudi International Petrochemical (Sipchem) and South Korea's Hanwha Chemical have formed a joint venture that will invest about $1.1 billion in projects in Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia...
  • BASF Puts A Spring In Athletes' Step
  • For the Aug. 15 start of the International Association of Athletics Federations' World Championships, Berlin's Olympic stadium is sporting a blue track made with BASF's polyurethanes...
  • Altana Will Buy U.S. Ink Maker
  • German specialty chemical company Altana has agreed to acquire Water Ink Technologies for an undisclosed sum...
  • Explosions Take Lives In China And France
  • Five people died last week in an explosion at Luoran, a dyestuff chemicals producer located in Luoyang City in China's Henan province, according to Xinhua, the Chinese state-run news agency...
  • U Of Georgia Licenses Curing Technology
  • The University of Georgia Research Foundation is licensing a visible-light-based curing technology to adhesives and sealants maker Three Bond International...
  • China Approves Saudi Chemical Investment
  • China's National Development & Reform Commission has approved Saudi Basic Industries Corp.'s 50% participation in a petrochemical complex that Sinopec is building in Tianjin...
  • Chevron Phillips Completes PPS Plant
  • Chevron Phillips Chemical has completed a 10,000-metric-ton-per-year polyphenylene sulfide plant at its Borger, Texas, site...
  • Praxair Invests In Solar Sector
  • Praxair's electronics division has made $15 million in investments to expand its capacity for tubular sputtering targets used by the solar industry for physical vapor deposition of coatings...
  • Vertex Will Sell Milestones On Drug
  • In an unusual strategy to raise cash, Vertex Pharmaceuticals wants to sell off potential milestone payments associated with the development and commercialization of its lead drug candidate...
  • Merck And Portola In Heart Drug Alliance
  • Merck & Co. and Portola Pharmaceuticals are working together to develop betrixaban, an oral anticoagulant now in Phase II clinical trials for the prevention of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation...
  • Abbott And GSK Join For Cancer Diagnostic
  • Abbott Laboratories and GlaxoSmithKline will develop an automated molecular diagnostic test that uses polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology to screen non-small-cell lung cancer tumors...
  • Japanese Drugmaker to Acquire U.S. Firm
  • Japan's Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical has offered to acquire Miami-based Noven Pharmaceuticals for $430 million...
  • Business Roundup
  • Occidental Chemical is the buyer of Dow Chemical's calcium chloride business, BASF and ReVolt Technology, Huntsman Corp. founder Jon M. Huntsman, Dow Chemical, NatureWorks, LabVantage Solutions, Lonza, Baxter International...

July 13, 2009

Electronic Chemicals

(July 13, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 28 | pp. 10-14)

Despite a drop in business, makers of electronic materials strengthen product research and development efforts.

Chemicals To Help Coal Come Clean (Member Content)

(July 13, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 28 | pp. 18-20)

Scrubbing methods to capture carbon from power plants are advancing to the demonstration phase.

C&EN Talks With Felek Jachimowicz (Member Content)

(July 13, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 28 | p. 21)

W.R. Grace R&D executive heads for China in search of business opportunities.

BASF To Cut Jobs

(July 13, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 28 | p. 6)

Layoffs of 3,700 workers are part of plan to integrate Ciba.

Recession Hits Chemical Workers

(July 13, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 28 | p. 7)

Production cutbacks are to blame for loss of 41,300 jobs.

Novartis' Patent Case in India

(July 13, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 28 | p. 7)

For the third time, an Indian court has ruled that Novartis' patent on the cancer drug Gleevec is not valid in India.

J&J Bets With Elan

(July 13, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 28 | p. 8)

Alzheimer's investment helps small firm survive.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(July 13, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 28 | pp. 16-17)
  • Downturn Forces Shutdowns
  • Four firms are advancing plans to shut down chemical plants because of the economic slowdown...
  • Wacker Realignment Will Reduce Jobs
  • Wacker Chemie is making changes in its silicon wafer and silicones businesses that will eliminate nearly 800 jobs by the end of 2010...
  • Australian Firm Advances Urea Plan
  • Australia's Perdaman Chemicals & Fertilisers has lined up technology providers for a $2.7 billion urea plant it plans to build in Western Australia...
  • Curtains To Storm Damage
  • Recently approved for use in Florida's hurricane-prone Dade and Broward Counties, roll-down curtains made with Honeywell's Spectra ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene fiber are able to protect windows from debris...
  • Asahi And Teijin Dissolve Venture
  • Asahi Kasei and Teijin Fibers plan to dissolve their Solotex polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT) joint venture by March 2010...
  • NatureWorks Ups PLA Capacity
  • NatureWorks has installed equipment that will allow its Blair, Neb., plant to double polymer output to its full design capacity of 140,000 metric tons per year...
  • GE Reveals OLED Design Concepts
  • General Electric is working with design students from the Cleveland Institute of Art to create lighting applications for flexible, thin, organic light-emitting diodes...
  • EC To Intensify Pharma Scrutiny
  • The European Commission says it will intensify its scrutiny of anticompetitive practices in the pharmaceutical industry, particularly practices that hinder the introduction of low-cost generic drugs...
  • Pfizer Abandons New R&D Site
  • Pfizer has jettisoned plans to move roughly 100 employees into a new R&D space in San Francisco's Mission Bay area...
  • Novavax In Vaccine Deal With Rovi
  • Novavax is licensing its recombinant virus-like-particle (VLP) vaccine technology to Madrid-based Rovi Pharmaceuticals for the development of vaccines under an $83 million program sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Health...
  • Biogen, Acorda To Develop Fampridine
  • Biogen Idec is expanding its portfolio of multiple sclerosis drugs through a deal with Acorda Therapeutics...
  • Novasep Buys Belgium-Based Henogen
  • Novasep, a Pompey, France-based maker of active pharmaceutical ingredients and purification technologies, has expanded its bioprocess development services through the acquisition of Henogen...
  • MedImmune Licenses Engineered Proteases
  • Catalyst Biosciences has signed a research and licensing agreement with AstraZeneca's MedImmune biologics unit to develop novel engineered proteases that degrade or modulate two disease targets...
  • Business Roundup
  • Praxair, Myriant Technologies, Lanxess, MorphoSys and Novartis, Santhera Pharmaceuticals, Optimata, International Petroleum Investment Co...

July 6, 2009

Coverstory: Facts & Figures Of The Chemical Industry

INTRODUCTION, FINANCES, EMPLOYMENT, PRODUCTION, TRADE, . (pp. 29, 30-46, 47-50, 51-59, 60-63)

(July 6, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 27 | pp. 29-63)

For the chemical industry, 2008 started strong, but recession dragged it down.

Safe Havens (Member Content)

(July 6, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 27 | pp. 15-17)

Custom chemical producers at Chemspec showcase pharma and agchem in a down year.

In Their Backyard (Member Content)

(July 6, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 27 | p. 18)

Leading Chinese producers of pharmaceutical ingredients see opportunities in home market.

Economists See End To Recession

(July 6, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 27 | p. 9)

ACC predicts U.S. chemical output will rise 1.6% in 2010.

Dow Plans Algae Biofuels Pilot

(July 6, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 27 | p. 10)

Project will test a process to turn CO2 into ethanol.

Materials Engineering

(July 6, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 27 | p. 11)

GE taps Detroit area for a new manufacturing R&D center.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(July 6, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 27 | pp. 14)

June 29, 2009

An Entrepreneurial Nonprofit (Member Content)

(June 29, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 26 | pp. 17-19)

Capitalizing on its position as a technology adviser to government and business, Battelle commercializes new ideas.

Dow And Gazprom In Carbon Pact

(June 29, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 26 | p. 6)

Chemical and gas giants pursue growing business in CO2 reduction projects.

Huntsman And Banks Settle

(June 29, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 26 | p. 7)

Chemical firm's share price drops after it accepts deal worth $1.7 billion.

Ascend Emerges (Member Content)

(June 29, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 26 | pp. 20-21)

New owners of former Solutia nylon business draw on deep experience.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(June 29, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 26 | pp. 15-16)
  • Dow Corning, Customers Lobby For Solar Energy
  • Representatives from Dow Corning and from firms that use Dow Corning's polysilicon to manufacture solar cells visited Capitol Hill for three days last week to lobby Congress...
  • SNF To Build New Polyacrylamide Plant
  • French water-soluble polymers specialist SNF Holding plans to build a $362 million polyacrylamide plant on an 800-acre site in Iberville Parish, La...
  • Monsanto Weighs Future Of Roundup
  • Monsanto will create a separate division for Roundup glyphosate herbicide and other herbicides that will focus on cutting costs...
  • ExxonMobil Pushes Electric Vehicles
  • ExxonMobil Chemical is helping to underwrite an electric-car-sharing and rental program, called AltCar, in Baltimore...
  • Arkema Plans Methacrylates Cuts
  • Because of global overcapacity, Arkema plans to shut down a 90,000-metric-ton-per-year methyl methacrylate plant concentrate production at its site in Rho, Italy...
  • Invista Enters Engineering Plastics
  • Invista launched a new nylon 6,6 engineering polymers business at the NPE 2009 plastics trade show in Chicago last week...
  • Clariant Plans Further Job Cuts
  • Clariant is embarking on its second round of job cuts this year...
  • Chinese Firm Goes Public In U.S.
  • Shanghai-based Chemspec International raised $57 million through an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange...
  • Helsinn Revamps Manufacturing Units
  • Helsinn has reorganized its active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing operations in its home country of Switzerland and in Ireland...
  • Microencapsulation Aids Insecticides
  • The Italian chemical maker Endura has licensed microencapsulation technology, developed in two government labs, that promises to mitigate pesticide resistance in insects...
  • Protein Sciences Gets HHS Vaccine Contract
  • Protein Sciences Corp. has been awarded a $35 million contract by the Department of Health & Human Services to pursue a new method for making influenza vaccines...
  • Merck Joins DNDi In Tropical Disease Fight
  • Merck & Co. will work with the not-for-profit Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) to discover and develop better treatments for tropical diseases...
  • Business Roundup
  • BASF, Ashland, Solutia sold, Frutarom, Dow Chemical's 45% interest in Total Raffinaderij Nederland, Cytec Industries has reduced its earnings outlook, Huntsman CORP., Lonza and DSM Nutritional Products, GlaxoSmithKline and U.K.-based Chroma Therapeutics...

June 22, 2009

Coverstory: Engineering Polymers

Nylon, polycarbonate, and ABS businesses have all been squeezed by the recession, but some will bounce back better than others. (pp. 15, 16-17, 18-19, 20-21)

Coverstory: The Ole Standby

Nylon may be on the ropes, but observers say it isn't down for the count. (pp. 16-17)

Coverstory: Slowing Down

As current uses of polycarbonate wane, producers search for new ones. (pp. 18-19)

Coverstory: A Mature Plastic

Makers of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene have struggled for a long time, and the recession isn't helping. (pp. 20-21)

Drugmakers Bond On Supply Safety (Member Content)

(June 22, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 25 | pp. 24-25)

Rx-360, a consortium of pharmaceutical companies and their suppliers, hopes to foster shared audits.

A New Approach (Member Content)

(June 22, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 25 | pp. 26-27)

Chemical industry association shifts to internet for communication.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(June 22, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 25 | pp. 22-23)
  • Countries, Gates Commit $1.5 Billion To Vaccines
  • The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and governments of Italy, Canada, Russia, Norway, and the U.K. have delivered $1.5 billion to the Advance Market Commitment (AMC) program...
  • Georgia Gulf Wins Time From Creditors
  • Struggling chemical maker Georgia Gulf has negotiated with debt holders to delay payment of $34.5 million in bond interest, originally due on April 15, to July 15...
  • Ascent Goes Long With Thin Film
  • Thin-film photovoltaics firm Ascent Solar has manufactured a 5-meter-long, flexible solar module on a polyimide substrate...
  • Dow Partners With Saudi University
  • Dow Chemical has entered a strategic relationship with the soon-to-be-opened King Abdullah University of Science & Technology, in Saudi Arabia...
  • BASF Is Closing Polystyrene Unit
  • BASF is closing an expandable polystyrene (EPS) plant in Tarragona, Spain, by August. Some 85 workers will be affected by the decision...
  • BASF Strikes Deal On Trimethylolpropane
  • BASF is mothballing its trimethylolpropane (TMP) plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany, and entering a marketing and sales agreement with Fabbrica Adesivi Resine...
  • Bayer Licenses OLED Technology
  • Bayer MaterialScience has signed a licensing agreement with Add-Vision that gives it the right to make polymer-based organic light-emitting-diode displays...
  • Huntsman Fights And Cooperates In India
  • A court in Mumbai has granted Huntsman Corp. an injunction against a local reactive dye maker...
  • GSK Makes pact With India's Dr. Reddy's
  • GlaxoSmithKline has formed an alliance with Dr. Reddy's Laboratories under which it will market some of the Indian company's products in emerging markets...
  • Watson Buying Arrow In Generics Deal
  • Watson Pharmaceuticals has agreed to acquire privately held Arrow Group for $1.75 billion in cash and stock...
  • R&D Collaboration Targets Alzheimer's
  • Boehringer Ingelheim will collaborate with Vitae Pharmaceuticals on the R&D of beta-secretase inhibitors for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease...
  • Lonza Gets Elusys and Land In India
  • Lonza will use its gene expression technology to produce Anthim, a monoclonal antibody targeting anthrax infections, for Elusys Therapeutics...
  • Business Roundup
  • Arkema, Air Liquide will spend $35 million in Chengdu, Evonik Industries will expand, Strem Chemicals will distribute, Adimab, GlaxoSmithKline and Synta Pharmaceuticals, Wayne State University and Michigan Technology & Research Institute, Ipsen, Tibotec...

Online Discovery p. 9

Lilly launches website to find new drug candidates.

Plant Protection Faces Scrutiny p. 9

Chemical makers question technology mandate before Congress.

Huntsman Trial Begins p. 10

Chemical maker and two banks tussle over failed merger.

Generics For Biologics p. 11

Federal Trade Commission favors earlier generic competition for protein drugs.

June 15, 2009

Sneaky Solar

(June 15, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 24 | pp. 17-18)

Solar energy developers seek to move beyond clunky rooftop panels.

Dow's Plan For Coatings Growth (Member Content)

(June 15, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 24 | p. 19)

Launch of new business follows acquisition of Rohm and Haas.

C&EN Talks With Sir Philip Cohen (Member Content)

(June 15, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 24 | p. 20)

The father of protein phosphorylation has set his sights on a new target: ubiquitin.

R&D Collaboration Targets Alzheimer's

Boehringer Ingelheim, Vitae team up for a second time.

Future Factory Takes Flight

Europe-based group targets more efficient processes.

Lanxess Boosts Footprint In China And India

Acquisition in India will triple company's headcount in the country.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(June 15, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 24 | pp. 15-16)

June 8, 2009

Process Chemistry

For pharma, cost-efficient and greener chemistry go hand in hand; firms work with academia to train process development researchers. (pp. 13, 23)

At 50, Hovione Takes A Big Step (Member Content)

(June 8, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 23 | pp. 30-34, 36)

Portuguese fine chemicals firm targets big pharma with a plant acquired from Pfizer.

Diversification (Member Content)

(June 8, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 23 | p. 34)

The View From New Jersey.

A Well-Integrated Sideline

(June 8, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 23 | Web Exclusive)

Deal to supply an inhaler device to Daiichi Sankyo marks a big victory for Hovione.

Hovione Shapes China Manufacturing Site

(June 8, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 23 | Web Exclusive)

Reluctantly Green (Member Content)

(June 8, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 23 | pp. 37-38)

AgraQuest seeks to take biopesticides into the agricultural mainstream.

ExxonMobil Boosts Its China Presence (Member Content)

(June 8, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 23 | pp. 40-41)

Unfazed by economic slowdown, company starts up giant facilities, invests in shanghai R&D center.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(June 8, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 23 | pp. 28-29)
  • Advanced Battery Buildup
  • Millions of dollars in public funding continue to drive plans to ramp up lithium-ion batteries...
  • Two Big Deals Are Finalized
  • Mitsubishi Rayon finally closed on its $1.6 billion purchase of acrylic plastics maker Lucite International...
  • BASF And Dupont Tangle In Court
  • BASF and DuPont filed separate lawsuits against the other in U.S. Federal Court for the District of Delaware over genetic traits...
  • Biofuels Firm HCL Raises Venture Funds
  • HCL CleanTech, a cellulosic biofuel start-up, has raised its first round of funding from venture capital firms Burrill & Co....
  • OriginOil To Patent Algae Technology
  • Algal biofuel firm OriginOil has filed for an international patent from the United Nation's World Intellectual Property Organization...
  • DSM Acquires Biogas Company
  • DSM will acquire privately held Biopract for an undisclosed price...
  • Chinese Firm Plans Sucralose Boost
  • Niutang Chemical plans to expand capacity for the artificial sweetener sucralose to 500 metric tons per year by 2012...
  • InnoCentive Sets Up Website With NPG
  • InnoCentive and the Nature Publishing Group have launched the nature.com Open Innovation Pavilion...
  • SC Johnson Will Aid Pyrethrum Producers
  • Consumer products maker SC Johnson and a project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development are teaming up to help Rwandan farmers boost production of pyrethrum...
  • Microsoft Acquires Merck Software
  • Microsoft will acquire assets from Merck & Co.'s Rosetta Inpharmatics unit that will allow the software giant to incorporate genetic, genomic, metabolomic, and proteomics data management software...
  • GSK, Concert Link For Deuterium Drugs
  • GlaxoSmithKline is betting on the potential of deuterium-containing drugs through a collaboration with Concert Pharmaceuticals...
  • SAFC, Cherokee Sign Distribution Pact
  • SAFC has formed an exclusive distribution partnership with Cherokee Pharmaceuticals under which Cherokee will provide analysis, testing, and warehousing of pharmaceutical ingredients...
  • Business Roundup
  • Dorf Ketal has bought the Intec Polymers, Lumena Resources, , AkzoNobel, LyondellBasell Industries, Dow Chemical, Dow AgroSciences, World Wide Wheat, Celldex Therapeutics has agreed to acquire CuraGen, Air Liquide, TorreyPines Therapeutics has decided to liquidate its assets and dissolve itself. The decision is subject to shareholder approval. In April, the company reduced its workforce to just three employees after having sold off or licensed most of its small-molecule drug programs to other firms.

Impact Of GM's Bankruptcy p. 8

Action further resigns chemical makers to lower demand from a smaller U.S. auto industry.

Targeted Drugs Get Traction p. 10

Drug firms announce advances in personalized medicine at oncologists' meeting.

Japanese Petrochemicals p. 11

Mitsubishi Chemical and Asahi Kasei mull merger of petrochemical operations.

June 1, 2009

Glycerin Gambit (Member Content)

(June 1, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 22 | pp. 16-17)

Making chemicals from the biodiesel by-product proves challenging.

On The Map (Member Content)

(June 1, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 22 | pp. 18-19)

With strategy and a bit of luck, Aspen has quickly established itself on the global pharma scene.

C&EN Talks With Martin Brudermüller (Member Content)

(June 1, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 22 | pp. 20)

Head of BASF in Asia focuses on improving firm's competitiveness.

Business Concentrates (Member Content)

(June 1, 2009 | Vol. 87 Issue 22 | pp. 17-18)

U.S. Steps Up H1N1 Readiness p. 6

Health agency taps drug companies to make ingredients for a vaccine.

New Management For Ranbaxy p. 6

Losses prompt parent firm, Japan's Daiichi Sankyo, to appoint new chairman and CEO.

May 25, 2009

Catalyst For Change

Eyeing the end of the recession, Süd-Chemie looks to advanced technologies for growth.

Research Resurrection

A Rutgers biochemist revives a World War II-era antimalarial research project.

China Takes Lead In Acetic Acid

Foreign and domestic producers ramp up capacity in what they bill as the world's most dynamic market.

Rushing To Market

Investing heavily, Russian initiative hopes to catch up in nanotechnology commercialization.

Cloud Computing

As data storage and processing needs increase, big pharma looks to companies offering these services over the Internet.

Collaborative Research

Genomics Instrumentation

House Committee Clears Cap-And-Trade Bill

Climate change legislation sets CO2 emissions limit, leading to 83% cut in 2050.

Onyx Sues Bayer

Small firm claims big partner stole drug.

Sobering BIO

The financial crisis meant fewer attendees at the biotech industry's annual meeting.

Coca-Cola's Biobased Bottles

Ethylene glycol in new Dasani water bottles will be derived from sugar and molasses.

Business Concentrates

May 25, 2009

Goldman Sachs Sees Upside For Specialty Chemicals

Goldman Sachs has raised its view on the specialty chemical sector to attractive from neutral...

Dow Sells Businesses In Debt-Cutting Push

Dow Chemical has struck agreements to sell two businesses in order to pay down debt in the wake of its acquisition of Rohm and Haas...

LS9 Partners With Procter & Gamble

Biotech start-up LS9 has partnered with consumer products firm Procter & Gamble to develop and commercialize renewable chemicals for P&G products...

DuPont Launches Solar-Cell Encapsulants

DuPont has commercialized two new film series designed to encapsulate and provide long-term protection to solar cells...

Cereplast Exits Manufacturing

Cereplast, a Hawthorne, Calif.-based developer of biobased plastics, is exiting resin manufacturing...

Novartis Will Buy Generics Firm

Novartis has agreed to acquire EBEWE Pharma, an Austria-based producer of generic injectable drugs, for $1.2 billion in cash...

Pfizer Expands Further Into Generics

Pfizer continues to expand its Established Products business unit, launched last year, with two new agreements...

AkzoNobel Gun Cures Paint

AkzoNobel has launched a paint spray gun with an array of ultraviolet light-emitting diodes...

Celgene Signs License Deal With GlobeImmune

GlobeImmune and Celgene have signed an agreement to discover, develop, and commercialize oncology drug candidates based on GlobeImmune's molecular immunotherapy technology...

EU Initiative Awards $337 Million For R&D

A partnership between the European Commission and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries & Associations has awarded $337 million for 15 research projects...

Lonza Expands Capacity, Adds Deal

Lonza will spend about $27 million to build a new cell therapy facility at the Tuas Biomedical Park in Singapore...

Takeda Buys U.S. Cancer Drug Firm

Takeda Pharmaceutical will pay roughly $75 million to acquire IDM Pharma, a cancer drug discovery and development firm...

Partnerships Target Protein Enhancement

Two pairs of companies have signed deals around technology that improves the availability and longevity of pharmaceutical proteins in the body...

Business Roundup

BASF, Perstorp will mothball its pentaerythritol facility, Valentine Chemicals, Redpoint Bio, Merck Serono has withdrawn its voluntary cash tender offer for MediCult, ExxonMobil Chemical, Opsona Therapeutics, Oxford BioTherapeutics...

May 11, 2009

Cash Flows From China's Water

In this highly populated, rapidly industrializing country, water purification is becoming a big business.

Keeping Hands Off

Roche lets Genentech's R&D run free as it integrates the biotech powerhouse.

Energy For Growth

Downplaying an insurgency, Pakistani chemical firm Engro has big plans for expansion.

A Minnow Jumps Out

Small contract development firm Recipharm wants to swim with the big fish.

Europe's Beauty Race

Cosmetics makers worry they won't meet the 2013 deadline for new European Union safety-testing regulations

Novel Ingredients Spread Across InCosmetics

Pandemic Readiness

Drug and vaccine makers prepare for a more virulent strain of H1N1.

Business Groups Oppose Tax Hikes

Obama says tax code encourages shift of jobs overseas.

Supporting Biofuels

President Obama wants U.S. leadership; EPA works on life-cycle analysis.

Biotech Outlook

As access to most types of capital disappears, industry consolidation is likely in 2009.

Business Concentrates

May 11, 2009

Sanofi To Build Its First Antibody Plant

Sanofi-Aventis is investing more than $250 million in Vitry-sur-Seine, France, to build its first monoclonal antibody production facility...

DuPont Will Cut 2,000 More Jobs

Detailed restructuring plan was announced on April 21 as part of its first-quarter earnings report...

BASF Opens Fuel-Cell Facility

BASF has opened a facility in Somerset, N.J., to make high-temperature membrane electrode assemblies...

Rhodia Shuts Nylon Operation In Canada

Rhodia is shutting down a nylon 6 and nylon 6,6 engineering resin compounding plant in Mississauga, Ontario...

Gevo Gets Funding, Plans Biofuel Plant

The French oil and gas company Total has invested an undisclosed amount in the fourth round of funding by biofuels start-up Gevo...

Partnership Wins Iowa Grant For Algae Pilot

Corn ethanol firm Green Plains Renewable Energy and its partners in BioProcessAlgae have been awarded a $2.1 million grant from the Iowa Power Fund...

BASF, Others Invest In SDCmaterials

SDCmaterials, a Tempe, Ariz.-based producer of catalysts and ceramic additives, has raised $14 million in venture capital funding...

Monsanto Sues DuPont Over Seed Traits

Monsanto has filed suit in federal court in St. Louis against DuPont and its Pioneer Hi-Bred seed subsidiary...

Bayer Will Build A Nanotubes Plant

Bayer MaterialScience has started construction on a carbon nanotube plant at the Chempark industrial site in Leverkusen, Germany...

BASF Delays Plan For China MDI facility

BASF will delay the start-up of its proposed methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) plant in Chongqing, in southwestern China...

Cognis Bioresin Is Used In Concept Car

Students at the Royal Institute of Technology, in Stockholm, built the body of an eco-friendly concept car out of hemp and Cognis' Tribest resin, an acrylated epoxidized soybean oil...

Alliances Formed For Solar And Wind Power

Konarka Technologies, a developer of flexible solar panels, has signed an agreement with Arch Aluminum & Glass to integrate solar films into glass building materials...

Biovail Signs Deals With Acadia, GSK

Biovail and Acadia Pharmaceuticals are joining to commercialize pimavanserin, a drug developed by Acadia to treat psychosis caused by Parkinson's disease...

Ironwood Signs Pact With Spanish Firm

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has licensed to Spain's Laboratorios Almirall the European rights to develop and commercialize linaclotide, its investigational compound for irritable bowel syndrome

Business Roundup

HallStar, Arkema, Bayer and the Technical University of Dortmund, Süd-Chemie and Linde, Evotec, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Jubilant Biosys...

May 4, 2009

Top 50 Chemical Producers

C&EN's annual ranking of U.S. chemical firms shows early strains from the economy.

A Decade Of Change

DuPont Chairman Holliday reflects on transformation of his company and the industry.

Insights: Battery Thrills And Chills

U.S. manufacturers will need more than stimulus money to succeed at powering the electric car revolution.

Building Brick By Brick

Starting from square one, the South African science community is slowly laying the foundation for a biotechnology industry.

Reporter's Notebook

Dow, BASF In The Black

Top two chemical firms eke out profits in the first quarter despite steep declines in demand.

Celanese PVOH Business Goes To Japan's Sekisui

Sale price shows decline in business's value since 2000.

Business Concentrates

May 4, 2009

China Sets Conditions On Lucite Acquisition

Japan's Mitsubishi Rayon has cleared regulatory hurdles to its proposed $1.6 billion acquisition of Lucite International...

Judge Throws Out Pesticide Lawsuit

A California state judge has thrown out two pesticide lawsuits against Dole Foods, Dow Chemical, and American Vanguard...

Evonik Starts Up Biodiesel Catalysts

Evonik Industries has completed a sodium methylate plant at its Mobile, Ala., complex...

Flavor Maker Finds Natural Blue

Wild Flavors says it has developed an acid-stable, naturally derived, blue food coloring...

Dow Signs Pact For Novel Methane

Dow Chemical has taken an option to buy methane from GreatPoint Energy...

GE Demonstrates Holographic Storage

General Electric researchers have demonstrated a material that the company says could be used to make holographic storage media about the size of DVDs...

Qteros To Pilot Ethanol Process

Biotech start-up Qteros plans to locate the first phase of its cellulosic ethanol pilot plant at a site belonging to chemical maker Solutia in Springfield, Mass.

LyondellBasell Adds To Bankruptcy Filing

LyondellBasell has added its Luxembourg-based holding company to the existing chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization of its U.S. affiliates...

DuPont Gets Nod For Insect Repellant

EPA has registered DuPont's refined catmint oil as a new insect repellant...

Sanofi Overhauls Late-Stage Pipeline

Sanofi-Aventis is overhauling its pipeline to channel its resources toward what it considers to be more promising projects...

Bayer Licenses Ardea Compounds

Bayer HealthCare will pay up to $407 million for access to Ardea Biosciences' small-molecule inhibitors of mitogen-activated ERK kinase (MEK)...

Novozymes Adds Hyaluronic Acid

Novozymes Biopharma will spend about $53 million to build a current Good Manufacturing Practices-compliant facility at its site in Tianjin, China...

Business Roundup

DuPont, AkzoNobel, Elementis, Texas Petrochemicals, Ashland's Aqualon functional ingredients business, Umicore, Pfizer, Symyx Technologies, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals...

April 27, 2009

Back From China

Manufacturing of pharmaceutical chemicals and related goods is starting to trickle back to the U.S.

REACH Enters A New Phase

Companies worldwide join forces to fill in data gaps for registration of chemicals in Europe.

Cellulosic Scale-Up

DOE-backed ethanol producers encounter difficulties converting waste streams to commercially viable fuel.

Chemical Earnings Continue To Slide

Companies cut to the bone to counter shrinking demand.

Security Dispute Reaches Congress

Bayer admits using security law to block public access to chemical accident information.

GSK Will Acquire Skin Care Firm Stiefel

Purchase continues British drug company's diversification drive.

Business Concentrates

April 27, 2009

Invista Scales Back Nylon Intermediates

Fibers producer Invista will end production of adipic acid and hexamethylenediamine, both nylon 6,6 intermediates, at its plant in Maitland, Ontario, by the end of the year...

Süd-Chemie To Buy BASF Catalyst Site

Süd-Chemie has reached an agreement to buy BASF's synthesis gas catalysts plant in Nanjing, China...

Bayer Signs A Pair Of Crop R&D Deals

Bayer CropScience and Israel's Evogene have signed a three-year pact focused on increasing rice productivity and yield...

Sumitomo And Aramco Mull Saudi Expansion

Sumitomo Chemical and Saudi Aramco have agreed to begin a feasibility study for the expansion of their $8.5 billion oil refining and petrochemical joint venture...

Glycerin Chemistry Targeted By Glycos

Glycos Biotechnologies has raised $5 million in early-stage funding from the venture capital firms Draper Fisher Jurvetson and DFJ Mercury...

Linde Readies H2 From Glycerin

Linde will build a demonstration plant in Leuna, Germany, that converts glycerin into hydrogen...

Bayer Adds Urethanes

Bayer MaterialScience is spending roughly $3 million on a new production line in Dormagen, Germany, to make high-purity waterborne urethane dispersions...

Novozymes Sees China Opportunity

Novozymes, the world's largest enzymes producer, has released a report predicting that China can develop a cellulosic ethanol industry that employs 6 million people by 2020..

Pfizer Strikes Deal With Malaria Venture

Pfizer and Medicines for Malaria Venture have signed an agreement that gives MMV access to Pfizer's library of novel chemical entities...

Galapagos Signs Two Discovery Pacts

Belgian biotech firm Galapagos has entered two new drug discovery collaborations

Merck, Medarex, And Massachusetts In Deal

Merck & Co. has licensed technology developed by biotechnology firm Medarex and the Massachusetts Biologic Laboratories at the University of Massachusetts Medical School..

Alphora Adds Pilot Chromatography Unit

Alphora Research has added pilot-plant-scale chromatography at its facility in Mississauga, Ontario...

ChemDiv Acquires Clinical Trial Firm

ChemDiv, a chemistry-based contract research firm, has acquired Prudentas, a Moscow-based company that conducts Phase I through IV clinical studies in Eastern Europe

Another Epigenetics Agreement Signed

U.K.-based biotech company CellCentric has added two university professors—Ramin Shiekhattar and Luciano Di Croce—to its research network...

Business Roundup

Merck KGaA, NatureWorks, Nova Chemicals, Bayer MaterialScience, Ashland's Aqualon cellulose derivatives subsidiary...

April 20, 2009

Paying Attention To Neglected Diseases

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative is mobilizing public/private partnerships.

How MSF Advanced From The Field To The Research Lab

Breaking The Mold

Vanderbilt's program in drug discovery and others like it push the boundaries of traditional academic research.

Entrepreneurs In Academia

Chemistry professors start small businesses to catapult their research from lab to market.

Specialty Chemicals

The economic downturn is taking its toll across the industry, but companies are fighting to survive and emerge even stronger.

Battery Plants Gain Ground

Lithium-ion battery makers move ahead with U.S. facilities.

New Asian Team

Japan's Mitsubishi Chemical and China's Sinopec will join forces in petrochemicals.

GSK Will Acquire Skin Care Firm Stiefel

Purchase continues British drug company's diversification drive.

Business Concentrates

April 20, 2009

GSK And Pfizer To Form Company Focused On HIV

Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline have agreed to pool their products and R&D to create a new company focused entirely on HIV...

Invista Pays Emissions Fine

Invista will pay a $1.7 million fine and spend up to $500 million to resolve 680 environmental violations...

BASF Executives Take Over At Ciba

BASF has named two longtime executives to top posts at newly acquired Ciba...

Companies Advance LED Technology

Inlustra Technologies has begun production of nonpolar gallium nitride...

DuPont Asks Staff To Take Unpaid Leave

Because of the continued poor global economy, DuPont has asked salaried and professional employees worldwide to voluntarily take unpaid time off during the remainder of 2009...

Symyx Will Study Heat-Transfer Fluids

The Department of Energy has awarded Symyx Technologies a grant to research advanced heat-transfer fluids for solar-thermal power generation...

Creditors Give Georgia Gulf A Break

Georgia Gulf has received amendments from its creditors that will allow it to delay interest payments on two of its bonds for about a month...

Borouge Moves Forward With Plant

Borouge is moving forward on its Borouge 3 project in Ruwais, United Arab Emirates...

Pfizer Will Raise Presence In India

Pfizer will raise its stake in an Indian subsidiary, Pfizer Ltd., to 75% by buying an additional 33.8% stake in the company from the public for about $136 million...

iZumi Signs With Kyoto On Stem Cells

San Francisco-based iZumi Bio will work with Kyoto University's Center for iPS Cell Research & Application...

Novartis Wins First U.S. Review Voucher

Novartis has received FDA approval for Coartem, the first artemisinin-based combination treatment for malaria...

Sanofi Will Buy Cancer Drug Firm

In a move to strengthen its oncology portfolio, Sanofi-Aventis has agreed to acquire BiPar Sciences...

J&J And Amgen Cut Staff In U.S.

Johnson & Johnson will eliminate about 900 positions in its Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals division...

Business Roundup

Mitsubishi Gas Chemical, Air Products & Chemicals, SÜd-Chemie, Verdezyne, Ensemble Discovery, Dionex, Daiichi Sankyo, Air Liquide Foundation and Institut Pasteur of Shanghai...

April 13, 2009

Supplanting Oil

Small companies move closer to demonstrating chemicals from renewable resources.

Going It Alone

After failing to get itself acquired, Huntsman Corp. has a plan to survive the downturn.

Treated Wood Tempest

Industry is aghast as Viance and Osmose swap charges over preservative formulas.

Cleantech Cash

Start-ups switch gears to win government support.

Chemical Jobs Continue To Fall

U.S. payroll losses total 11,300 in first quarter.

Pfizer Outlines R&D Structure

After merger with Wyeth, drug giant will have two research teams.

Giving Malaria A Double Whammy

Compound reverses resistance, acts as antimalarial agent.

Business Concentrates

April 13, 2009

Chrysler Partners With A123 For Electric Cars

U.S.-based battery supplier A123Systems will power its lineup of gasoline hybrid electric and fully electric vehicles...

LyondellBasell Eying Deeper Cost-Cutting

LyondellBasell, which is under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, is targeting...

BASF Closes On Ciba Purchase

BASF has completed the $5.1 billion acquisition of specialty chemical maker Ciba...

Linde And Sinopec Build Gas Plant

Linde and Sinopec have formed a 50-50 venture that will initially spend $66 million to build industrial...

Germany's Merck Will Pare Pigments

To adapt production to demand, Germany's Merck is cutting back pigment output worldwide mostly because...

Asahi, Shin-Etsu Warn On Profits

Japan's Asahi Kasei expects to post a net profit of $70 million on sales of $15.6 billion in the fiscal year that just ended on March 31...

Tate & Lyle Has Sucralose Setback

Tate & Lyle has had another setback in its battle to stave off Chinese competition on the sweetener sucralose...

Mitsui, Sumitomo To Close Joint Venture

Mitsui Chemicals and Sumitomo Chemical are dissolving their Japan Polystyrene resins joint venture...

Nylon Recycling Gets A Boost

Rhodia is teaming up with mountaineering goods marketer Millet in a project to recycle nylon...

DSM Wins Production Contract With Shire

The British drug company Shire will close a plant in Owings Mills, Md., and transfer production of finished-dose drugs to...

BMS Expands Dealings With Otsuka

Bristol-Myers Squibb and Japan's Otsuka Pharmaceutical have expanded an existing development...

Sanofi Will Buy Brazilian Drugmaker

Sanofi-Aventis has undertaken two deals to enlarge its generic drug portfolio and position in Latin America...

PPD Agrees To Buy And Sell Businesses

Contract research and drug development firm PPD has agreed to sell its Piedmont Research Center...

Business Roundup

Sumitomo Chemical, Avertine Renewable Energy, Syncom, Seattle Genetics, Cambridge Major Laboratories...

April 6, 2009

Sun's Warmth Cushions Wacker

Polysilicon for solar panels proved to be strong performer for German company in 2008, but other units suffered.

The Gasoline Wars

Oil companies use additive packages to help their fuels stand out from the crowd.

DCAT Week Ennui

Too much defense and not enough offense at drug industry event. Web Exclusive

Dealing with CO2

Technologies to capture greenhouse gas advance.

Takeda Elevates U.S. Operations

U.S. division takes lead in bringing new drugs to market.

Business Concentrates

April 6, 2009

Dow NABS Rohm And Haas, Throws Salt Over Shoulder

Dow Chemical has closed on its $19 billion purchase of Rohm and Haas...

Solutia To Sell Nylon Business To SK Capital

Solutia has found a buyer for its unprofitable nylon business in private equity firm SK Capital Partners...

BASF Powers Up Lithium Batteries

BASF is leading a German consortium formed to develop new generations of lithium-ion batteries for use in electric-powered vehicles...

Materials Chemistry Center Set In U.K.

A $45 million "virtual" materials chemistry research network has been launched in England's northwest region...

Asahi Stops Making Polyester In Japan

Asahi Kasei will close two plants in Nobeoka, Japan, that make polyester monofilament and yarns...

Three Plants Close In Europe

Rohm and Haas will close its powder coatings plant in Castellón, Spain, and build a smaller facility in the same area...

Lyondell Wins Case On Appeal

The Delaware Supreme Court has reversed a Delaware Court of Chancery decision...

Chemical Makers Enable The Nano

The Tata Nano is made with materials from major chemical companies...

Genzyme Strikes Deal For Bayer Compounds

Genzyme has reached an agreement with Bayer Healthcare...

Solvay Mulls Options For Drug Business

Solvay is holding discussions with third parties as it analyzes options for its pharmaceutical business...

Sutro Advances Cell-Free Proteins

Sutro Biopharma has produced a therapeutic cytokine protein at 100-L scale using a cell-free synthesis technology...

Evotec And Dyax Announce Job Cuts

Evotec has launched a restructuring program aimed at lowering sales and accounting costs by 10% and R&D costs by more than 30%...

Lilly, Zydus Cadila Launch R&D Pact

Zydus Cadila and Eli Lilly & Co. will collaborate to discover drugs in a program lasting up to six years...

Business Roundup

Bayer MaterialScience, Altana, Lucite International, EMD Serono, Linde, Young & Partners and Eureka Capital Partners, H.B. Fuller will acquire Nordic Adhesives, Bayer CropScience,Innospec...

March 30, 2009

Industry Considers Carbon Options

As greenhouse gas regulations loom in the U.S., chemical firms worry about what they'll look like.

Climate-Change Bills Remain Vague

Leading Clariant Beyond The Crisis

New CEO Hariolf Kottmann seeks to complete a long restructuring at the Swiss specialties firm.

Weathering The Crisis

Some instrument vendors skipped Pittcon 2009, but more than 19,000 attendees did not.

Solar Firm Wins Big U.S. Loan

Financing plan has been years in the making.

Innospec CEO Resigns

Tainted by UN oil-for-food program scandal.

Business Concentrates

March 30, 2009

Merck Launches Venture Fund

Joining its larger drug industry compatriots, Germany's Merck Serono has established a venture capital fund to invest in biotechnology start-up companies...

Lyondell And BASF Shut Ethylene Plants

LyondellBasell Industries will permanently close its olefins cracker in Chocolate Bayou, Texas, by the beginning of August...

3M and Amperex link For Better Batteries

3M has signed an agreement with China-based battery maker Amperex Technology to expand the use of nickel-manganese-cobalt cathode materials in lithium-ion batteries...

Europe Tackles Another Cartel

The European Commission has sent companies in the heat-stabilizer industry written notice that it is investigating their possible participation in a cartel prior to 2001...

Rhodia Restructures French Operations

Rhodia and its employee works council are discussing plans to improve the competitiveness of the firm's nylon and Novecare units in France...

Bayer And Novartis Invest In India

Bayer MaterialScience will spend more than $25 million to build a plant in Ankleshwar, India, for aromatic and aliphatic polyisocyanates...

Green Chemistry Pact Set In France

Protéus has signed a research agreement with Agro Industrie Recherches et Développements...

Aramco Sees Boost Of Sumitomo Venture

Saudi Aramco CEO Khalid A. Al-Falih said his company will "soon" sign a memorandum of understanding with Sumitomo Chemical concerning the expansion of their joint venture...

DuPont Opens Solar Center In Hong Kong

DuPont has opened its DuPont Apollo R&D center at Hong Kong Science Park...

Cortex And Poniard Cut Their Workforces

Cortex Pharmaceuticals is restructuring its operations and halving its workforce of about 30...

GSK Partners With University Spin-Off

GlaxoSmithKline and University College London spin-off Pentraxin Therapeutics are developing a small-molecule-antibody conjugate for treating amyloidosis...

GSK Report Details Aid To Poor Nations

GlaxoSmithKline will contribute 500 granted and 300 pending patents to an intellectual property pool for research on treating neglected tropical diseases...

Bristol-Myers Squibb Opens In Bangalore

Bristol-Myers Squibb has started operations at its Bangalore R&D center, located on the premises of the Indian biotechnology firm Biocon...

Business Roundup

PTT Poly Canada, Mitsubishi Rayon, Chemtura has received approval, SOCMA, UOP, a subsidiary of Honeywell, International Flavors & Fragrances, SynGest, MDRNA, Centocor...

March 23, 2009

Tough Times For Petrochemicals

The long-anticipated petrochemical downturn has finally arrived, heralded by a deep recession.

Middle East

Financial crisis may delay new rush of capacity.

Trauma Continues For Chemical Firms

Salary reductions increase as a cost-control measure.

Congress, Companies Target Chemicals

Bisphenol A and phthalates are in the crosshairs.

Chemtura's Bankruptcy

Firm cut dividends, jobs and put businesses up for sale, but it was not enough.

Business Concentrates

March 23, 2009

Burrill, Partner Plan Minnesota Biotech Park

Burrill & Co., the San Francisco-based life sciences investment firm, is teaming up with real estate developer Tower Investments...

Spectrum Has New CEO

Spectrum Chemicals & Laboratory Products has named Marc Hayem as its CEO...

LyondellBasell Fails To Pay Bond Interest

LyondellBasell Industries hasn't made interest payments on two bonds due in 2015...

European Commission Approves Ciba Deal

BASF's acquisition of Ciba has received conditional approval from the European Commission, with a decision by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission still pending...

ExxonMobil Building Shanghai Tech Center

ExxonMobil Chemical is building a technology center in Shanghai for product applications support...

NatureWorks Mulls New Production

NatureWorks is considering building a second manufacturing plant to make polylactide polymers...

IBM Develops Water Purification Membrane

IBM has developed a new desalination membrane that it says filters salts and arsenic from water while using less energy than other forms of water purification...

Cedarburg Acquires Contract Firm Hauser

Cedarburg Pharmaceuticals has acquired Hauser Pharmaceutical Services for an undisclosed sum...

DSM And North China Sign Antibiotics Pact

DSM has signed contracts with North China Pharmaceutical Group Co. regarding the establishment of three joint ventures...

Synta Cuts Workforce After Suspending Trial

Synta Pharmaceuticals will eliminate 90 positions following the suspension of Phase III clinical trials of elesclomol...

DuPont Gains Access To Rice Hybrid Data

DuPont's seed business has reached an agreement with the Indonesian Center for Rice Research that grants the company access to ICRR's rice hybrids...

Roche Buys German Analytics Firm

Roche will acquire Innovatis, a privately held German company that specializes in automated cell analysis...

Business Roundup

Impact Laboratories of Scotland, PotashCorp is cutting back, Almatis, SKion, JSR is starting production, NanoGram and Teijin, Merck Serono and Fast Forward, Astellas Pharma, Bayer HealthCare...

March 16, 2009

Who's Next?

Veterans of past layoffs tell those facing the ax in the pharma industry what they can expect.

No Second Life

Polypropylene isn't getting recycled nearly as much as its packaging-plastics counterparts.

Chiral Quest Takes On A New Mission

To compete, catalyst developer expands its custom manufacturing strategy.

Europe Hangs On

Suppliers to durable goods markets got slammed in late 2008, while those tied to consumable goods fared better.

Pharma Outsourcing

Pharmaceutical companies look for outsourcing partners all along the drug development pipeline.

Case Studies:

Additive Approach

Case Study #1: UCB taps deCode for structure-based drug discovery.

Greatest Hits

Case Study #2: Merck advances process development by tuning up biocatalysts with Codexis.

Handle With Care

Case Study #3: In a manufacturing pact, DSM has the right reactor for the right product from NicOx.

Merck To Acquire Schering-Plough

The $41 billion deal is one of three big mergers reshaping the pharmaceutical industry.

Toxic Release Inventory

Firms must provide more data, not less, according to new legislation.

Dow, Rohm And Haas Settle

Revised terms pave the way for Dow's big specialty chemical acquisition.

Business Concentrates

March 16, 2009

Firms Advance Biochemicals

A slew of companies announced advances last week in the field of chemicals based on renewable resources...

Eastman Chemical Cuts Costs Again

Eastman Chemical plans to cut $100 million from its annual expenses...

BASF, Dow Open Novel Propylene Oxide Plant

Chemical giants BASF and Dow Chemical have started up a propylene oxide plant in Antwerp, Belgium...

Western Firms Establish Asia Units

Three Western firms have opened new facilities in Asia...

Plastics Compounders Sign Nanotech Pacts

A. Schulman will use nanoScience Engineering Corp.'s nanocomposite clay materials to enhance the properties of compounded polymer products...

Total Revamps Its Chemicals In France

French oil company Total is investing more than $290 million to improve the competitiveness of its petrochemical activities in France...

Shell, Codexis Link To Scale Up Biofuels

Shell has expanded its research program with Codexis to accelerate commercial-scale deployment of nonfood cellulosic ethanol...

DSM Opens Plant For Paint Resins

DSM has opened a $38 million waterborne acrylic resins factory in Waalwijk, the Netherlands...

Mitsubishi Forms New Research Center

Mitsubishi Chemical has formed a new research institute that will advise the company on future areas of technology development...

CF Spurns Agrium Acquisition Offer

The board of directors of fertilizer maker CF Industries has rejected an acquisition offer by rival Agrium...

Proteon Inks Deal With Novartis

Proteon Therapeutics has granted Novartis an exclusive option to acquire it after the successful completion of a Phase II clinical study of PRT-201...

Ampac Has Continuous Processing Facility

Ampac Fine Chemicals has inaugurated a kilogram-scale batch and continuous processing plant at its Rancho Cordova, Calif., site...

Gilead Steps In To Buy CV Therapeutics

Gilead Sciences has agreed to acquire CV Therapeutics for $20 per share in cash...

MannKind Will Acquire Pfizer Insulin Plant

MannKind has agreed to purchase Pfizer's insulin factory in Frankfurt, including a quantity of insulin and a license to make it for pulmonary delivery...

Business Roundup

Monsanto, Lanxess will build a facility, Air Products has expanded, Siegfried Holding, Evonik Industries, DSM has obtained an exclusive license, Pfizer...

March 9, 2009

On The Bubble

Cleantech start-ups and investors weigh the odds of growing during a downturn. With Audio and Video

Chemtura Battles To Stay Afloat

New CEO struggles to raise cash before the firm runs out of time and money.

The Dragon Still Roars

The global economic crisis has hurt Chinese exporters, but business is still humming in a wide range of sectors.

Industry's Outlook Worsens

Main industry trade group drops its forecast for 2009 chemical output.

Roche Ups Its Bid For Genentech

Announcement follows meeting with investors at which Genentech touted its pipeline.

Supreme Court Rules Against Wyeth

Justices say FDA-approved drug labels do not shield companies from legal damages.

Business Concentrates

March 9, 2009

Slow Economy Hits More Chemical Firms

The economic slowdown continues to take a toll on chemical firms....

LyondellBasell Gets Funding

A bankruptcy court has approved an $8 billion package of debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing for Lyondell Chemical...

Danisco Cuts Back Xylitol Business

The Danish food ingredient company Danisco is reorganizing its xylitol business....

Hexion Expands Epoxy Facility

Hexion Specialty Chemicals will move its Stuttgart, Germany, epoxy resins blending facility to a larger one in Esslingen...

Chinese Chemical Plants Closed

The mayor of Yancheng in the province of Jiangsu, China, has ordered about 30 chemical plants closed after an illegal waste dump...

Pfizer Expands Aurobindo Pact

Pfizer has expanded its relationship with India-based Aurobindo Pharma to bolster its activities in the generic drug arena...

Frutarom Makes U.S. Acquisition

Israeli flavors expert Frutarom has agreed to acquire California-based Flavor Specialties Inc. for $17.2 million...

Joint Venture To Expand Fly Ash Use

Nalco has formed a joint venture with Sonic Technology Solutions to expand the use of fly ash as a cement substitute....

Battelle Improves X-Ray Capability

Battelle has opened a radiographic center at its Columbus, Ohio, headquarters...

Cephalon Makes an Offer For Arana

Cephalon has made a $207 million offer to acquire the 80% of Australia's Arana Therapeutics it does not already own....

Huntsman, Genencor Launch New Bleach

Huntsman Corp.'s textile effects business and enzyme producer Genencor have launched the first result of a sustainable products partnership....

Vertex Acquires Virochem Pharma

Vertex Pharmaceuticals has agreed to pay roughly $375 million in cash and stock for ViroChem Pharma...

BMS Links With Japanese Firms

Bristol-Myers Squibb is collaborating with the Japanese companies Nissan Chemical Industries and Teijin Pharma to develop Nissan's NTC-801....

Business Roundup

Cognis completes a sale, Gevo agrees to a license, The MMRF awards $500,000, and Lonza enters a custom manufacturing agreement....

March 2, 2009

Mergers Retreat From Heights

Tight credit, lack of demand dampen once-hot deal market.

Word From On High

Top officials chart the future of Europe's chemical industry.

Smaller World, Safer Packages

A new chemical labeling system gets international support.

European Earnings

Fourth quarter sinks annual results.

Fertilizer Makers' Urge To Merge

Agrium bids $3.6 billion for CF Industries, which had offered to buy Terra Industries for $2.1 billion.

Abu Dhabi Firm Agrees To Buy Nova

Deal allows Canadian chemical company to live on.

Business Concentrates

March 2, 2009

Chemical, Pharmaceutical Stocks Hit Long-Time Lows

The Dow Jones Industrial Average's 3.4% fall on Monday, Feb. 23, took it down to 7,114.78...

Wacker To Build Polysilicon In U.S.

Germany's Wacker Chemie plans to build a $1 billion polysilicon plant in Cleveland, Tenn...

Two Firms May Lose Stock Listing

The economic slowdown has hit the stocks of Chemtura and Georgia Gulf hard...

ASU Develops Touch-Screen Display

Arizona State University's Flexible Display Center has developed what it calls the world's first...

Grace Goes On Trial In Montana

W.R. Grace and five of its former executives went on trial last week in federal court in Montana...

Dow Corning Will Slash 800 Jobs

Dow Corning plans to eliminate 800 jobs across its 40-plus global locations...

Nanosys And Harvard License Medical Nanotech

Nanosys and Harvard University's Office of Technology Development have licensed...

Segetis Readies Plant-Based Chemicals

Segetis, a venture-capital-backed firm developing chemicals from renewable feedstocks...

Small Drug Firms Face Operating Setbacks

La Jolla Pharmaceutical has eliminated most of its workforce, about 90 jobs...

Drugmakers Hurt By Late-Stage Trials

Pfizer has dropped two compounds from its pipeline following lackluster results...

Mitsubishi Drops Fiber Materials In Japan

Mitsubishi Chemical will permanently shut down a 250,000-metric-ton-per-year purified terephthalic acid (PTA) unit...

Genentech And CV Play Hardball

Genentech has told shareholders to reject Roche's $42 billion bid...

Business Roundup

Westlake Chemical, Arkema, LyondellBasell Industries, Nexterra Energy, Bayer...

February 23, 2009

An Unlikely Hot Spot

Nearly six years after Pfizer closed down its site in Kalamazoo, the life sciences industry there is growing steadily.

Exelixis After GSK

A six-year partnership ends, and a new era begins for a biotechnology pioneer.

Fourth-Quarter Earnings Tank

Steep drop in demand from economic downturn sends chemical firms racing to cut costs.

Drug Firms Revamp

After a difficult 2008, big firms are taking aggressive restructuring steps.

GSK Outlines Aid For Poor Countries

Activist group welcomes move but asks for more specifics.

LyondellBasell's Problem

Firm's European arm misses debt payments.

Energy Jobs

DOE gears up to spend big on infrastructure, renewable energy projects.

Naming What's In Cleaning Products

Activists sue companies, saying they must disclose ingredients under 1976 New York law.

Industrial R&D Spending Stalls

Investments in research will be flat in 2009.

Business Concentrates

February 23, 2009

Chemical Firms Scrounge For Cash To Pay Bills

Chemical companies are looking for sources of cash to increase liquidity and pay bills...

Dow To Slash Top Exec Bonuses

Dow Chemical CEO Andrew N. Liveris and top executives reporting directly to him will not receive cash performance bonuses for 2008...

Rhodia Idles Workers In Charleston

Rhodia has temporarily laid off 28 of 125 workers at its Charleston, S.C., site...

CoorsTek Adds Armor Facility

CoorsTek has opened a new manufacturing facility in Golden, Colo., for bulletproof composites...

Rockwood Cuts Jobs, Freezes Salaries

Rockwood Holdings has reduced workhours, eliminated jobs, and initiated salary freezes...

Investors Put Money Into Affymax, Opsona

Institutional investors will buy $42 million worth of Affymax stock in a private transaction...

GPC Biotech, Agennix To Merge

GPC Biotech, in Munich, and Houston-based Agennix have agreed to merge to expand and sustain their oncology pipelines

Bayer, Dow Enter Crop Research Pacts

Bayer CropScience and Dow AgroSciences have entered into separate crop research pacts...

Divergence Raises $12 million

Divergence has raised $12 million from investors to advance its nematicide program...

BP And Verenium Form Joint Venture

BP and Verenium announced that they have expanded a partnership...

Lilly Makes Pact With Neurosearch

Eli Lilly & Co. has teamed with NeuroSearch to develop new drugs...

CuraGen Evaluates Strategic Options

Saying its stock price doesn't reflect its intrinsic value, biotech firm CuraGen is evaluating its strategic options...

GSK Starts Trial Of HGS Diabetes Drug

GlaxoSmithKline's start of Phase III clinical trials of Syncria...

Business Roundup

Terra Industries, Solvay, Huntsman Corp., Celanes, Novogen, UCB plans to build, Landela Pharmaceutical...

February 16, 2009

Pinching Pennies

Chemical firms plan a 25.1% capital spending cut and a 1.8% drop in R&D spending in 2009.

Fine Chemicals Firms Continue To Expand

At Informex, companies touted investments in facilities and technology.

Small Technologies Firms Find A Home

Informex introduces forum for sustainable chemistry firms. Web Exclusive

Roche Pins Hopes On R&D

Swiss drug company continues to boost research spending even in downturn.

Less Sunny Skies

Attendees at annual detergents meeting confront a more hostile business environment. Web Exclusive

Congress Breaks Stimulus Logjam

Science, energy, education get big boost in sweeping package.

Companies Halt Plans For Plants

Seeking to cut costs, chemical makers delay projects.

Dow/Rohm And Haas Update

Dow works overtime to complete deal with financing that will preserve its credit rating.

Chemtura's Debt

With a deadline looming, firm seeks to avoid bankruptcy, sale of the company.

Business Concentrates

February 16, 2009

More Pharmaceutical Firms Cut jobs

More cutbacks are under way at drug companies to address current business issues...

ICIG Will Acquire Italy's Miteni

International Chemical Investors Group has signed an agreement to acquire Miteni...

Invista, Innospec Refinance Debt

Two chemical companies have successfully refinanced their debt obligations despite the unprecedented credit crisis...

Arkema Sells One Firm, Buys Another

Arkema is selling its vinyl compounding business in Vanzaghello...

Lyondell Protects European Parent

A U.S. bankruptcy court issued a temporary restraining order to prevent creditors of Houston-based Lyondell Chemical from seeking action against LyondellBasell Industries...

Valero Bids For VeraSun Plants

Bankrupt ethanol maker VeraSun Energy has received a $280 million bid from San Antonio-based refiner Valero for five of its ethanol plants...

NatureWorks Achieves Big CO2 Reduction

NatureWorks says a new manufacturing process rolled out late last year reduces CO2 emissions and energy consumption...

Fragrance Maker IFF Opens China Center

International Flavors & Fragrances has opened a center in Shanghai designed to nurture a "customer-focused environment" for flavor and fragrance creation...

Merck Buys Plant For Follow-On Drugs

Merck & Co. will pay $130 million to acquire Insmed's portfolio of "follow-on" biologic therapeutic candidates...

Sanofi Launches Diversification Plan

Sanofi-Aventis announced that it has embarked on a plan to "develop new growth platforms"...

GSK, Idenix Ink Collaboration

GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to pay Idenix up to $450 million in a licensing agreement...

Bayer Invests In China R&D Center

Bayer Schering Pharma will invest nearly $130 million in a new R&D center in Beijing over the next five years...

BUSINESS ROUNDUP

Dow Chemical, FRX Polymers, Lignol Energy is abandoning its joint venture with Suncor Energy, RPM International, Sasol-Huntsman, AstraZeneca, Novartis will pay $75 million to Portola Pharmaceuticals, DeCode Chemistry & Biostructures, Bayer Schering Pharma, and Affimed Therapeutics...

February 9, 2009

Tiny Prospectors

Companies developing microbially enhanced oil recovery hope to gain traction with the industry.

Inherently Safer Water Purification

Use of on-site bleach generation grows as an alternative to shipping chlorine.

Demand Collapses In Fourth Quarter

Chemical executives rue the worst quarter in decades.

Roche Gets Hostile

Lower offer for Genentech coincides with more merger talk in the pharma sector.

Dow Responds To Rohm And Haas

Minus K-Dow joint venture, acquisition would spell financial peril, firm maintains.

Business Concentrates

February 9, 2009

Nova Chemicals' Stock Tumbles On Debt Worries

Shares of Canada's Nova Chemicals tumbled last week...

Wellman Emerges From Bankruptcy

After one year in bankruptcy, plastics maker Wellman Inc. has emerged from that status as a privately held company...

Lanxess Enacts A Crisis Plan

Lanxess has put together a global package of measures designed to help it cope with the effects of weak demand worldwide...

Sumitomo Forecasts A Loss, Cuts Jobs

Sumitomo Chemical says it will cut 2,500 jobs worldwide...

BASF Will Maintain R&D Spending ...

Despite the financial crisis, BASF says it is maintaining its investment in R&D...

... As It Eyes Sale Of Leather Business

BASF is considering the sale of its $500 million-per-year leather and textile chemicals business...

DuPont Sues An Aramid Competitor

DuPont has filed a suit in U.S. federal court against South Korea's Kolon Industries...

Airline Adopts Corn-Based Deicer

Deicing fluid maker Kilfrost is incorporating 1,3-propanediol made via fermentation into a new line of aircraft deicers...

Mitsui Mothballs Two Facilities

Mitsui Chemicals will close an aniline plant at its Ishihara Works in Japan...

Ferro Lowers Dividend, Freezes Hiring

To conserve cash, Ferro will cut its quarterly dividend to 1 cent from 14.5 cents per share, saving the company $24 million annually...

DSM, Arsenal Drop Benzoic Acid

DSM says it won't sell its special products business to Arsenal Capital Partners as previously announced...

Drug Firms Cut Jobs To Preserve Cash

Rigel Pharmaceuticals will shed 20% of its workforce...

Business Roundup

Waters Corp., CF Industries, Borealis, Arkema's specialty chemical unit, Novozymes and China National Cereals, Fujifilm, Johnson & Johnson, Kreido Biofuels, FMC, Redpoint Bio...

February 2, 2009

Leather From Another Era

In the Hazaribagh district of Dhaka, Bangladesh, archaic tanneries put workers and the environment at risk. With Photo Gallery

Insights: The Language Of Hard Times

No matter how chemical companies say it, it's all about the Benjamins.

Pfizer Buys Wyeth

Deal will make Pfizer the biggest prescription drug company in the world.

Dow, Rohm And Haas Deal Gets Ugly

Rohm and Haas says a deal is a deal, despite Dow's woes.

Wellman Emerges From Bankruptcy

Company is now focused on polyethylene terephthalate.

Business Concentrates

February 2, 2009

Venture Capitalists Put Big Bucks In 'Cleantech'

U.S. venture capitalists spent $28.3 billion on investments in start-up firms in 2008, or 8% less than in 2007.

DuPont Posts $249 Million Loss

Declines in construction, auto sales, and consumer spending led to a drop in earnings for DuPont in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Ashland Plans New Cuts ...

Wrestling with the combined effects of the economic downturn and its recent acquisition of Hercules...

... As Clariant Plans Cuts Of Its Own

Tough economic conditions are also forcing Clariant to cut 1,000 jobs and eliminate a dividend payment for 2008.

Cabot To Close Four Plants

On the heels of slumping earnings, carbon black and silica maker Cabot says it will close four plants...

Equipolymers To Divest In Italy

Equipolymers, the joint venture between Dow Chemical and Petrochemical Industries Co. of Kuwait plans to...

Battelle Creates Smart Coating

Scientists at Battelle, an Ohio-based research institution, have developed a coating...

Astellas Bids For CV Therapeutics

Astellas Pharma has made a hostile bid for CV Therapeutics, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based biotech...

GSK Buys UCB Unit

GlaxoSmithKline will pay $680 million in cash for the commercial operations and distribution rights for UCB's...

Terra Rejects CF Takeover Bid

Terra Industries has rejected an unsolicited, all-stock bid worth $2.1 billion from rival fertilizer maker CF Industries.

Forma And Cubist Target Antibacterials

Forma Therapeutics and Cubist Pharmaceuticals will work together to discover novel antibacterial compounds...

AstraZeneca, Sepracor Slash Head Count

Pharma companies continue to cut back amid tougher times. AstraZeneca is making yet another round of cuts...

More Biotech Firms Announce Job Cuts

Citing the difficult economic climate, three small drug companies are making significant job cuts.

Lonza Starts Up New API Facility

Lonza has started the first phase of a new large-scale facility...

Business Roundup

Bayer will invest some $30 million, Intrepid Potash says it will temporarily shut down, AkzoNobel and Purac have developed organic peroxides, and Wyeth and Dutch biopharmaceutical maker Crucell have ended merger talks...

January 26, 2009

Up From The Slime

Start-up companies see algae as the new renewable fuel source.

The Greening Game

Makers of cleaning products and detergents seek the sweet spot between products that are green and products that clean.

Cleaning Products Are A Port In A Storm For Chemical Makers

Contract manufacturers look for ways to cope with economic challenges and changes at pharmaceutical customers.

CF Industries Wants Terra

Combined firm would be world's largest nitrogen producer.

Chemical Makers Stage More Cuts

Economic downturn brings additional job reductions.

Business Concentrates

January 26, 2009

BASF Sees More Woes

BASF Chairman Jürgen Hambrecht says his company's global business declined significantly in December 2008...

Celanese Mulls Plant Closures

The economic downturn is forcing Celanese to consider closing acetyls plants in France and Mexico...

Dow And Süd-Chemie In Research Alliance

Dow Chemical and catalyst expert Süd-Chemie have agreed to jointly research and develop...

Lipton Receives SCI Chemical Medal

The Society of Chemical Industry's American Section has awarded Nova Chemicals CEO Jeffrey M. Lipton its Chemical Industry Medal...

European Projects Target Biofuels

The Dutch firms Cosun and Avantium will collaborate on a two-year project to develop a new generation of bioplastics...

Mitsubishi Rayon Writes Down Assets

Mitsubishi Rayon will post hundreds of millions of dollars in losses in the third quarter of the fiscal year that ends March 31...

Showa Denko Slates Nanotube Facility

Japanese chemical maker Showa Denko K.K. is building a 400-metric-ton-per-year carbon nanotube facility in Oita, Japan...

AkzoNobel Exits Nonstick Coatings

AkzoNobel will sell its nonstick coatings business to Whitford Worldwide...

Start-Up Solarmer Eyes Solar-Cell Advance

Solarmer Energy is using technology from UCLA and the University of Chicago to develop polymer-based solar cells that are more efficient...

Gases Firms Boost Electronics Offering

Air Liquide has expanded its facility in Fremont, Calif., to support increased demand for its Torus product...

Indian Firms Expand Discovery Services

Two Indian contract research firms are adding drug discovery services through partnerships with U.S. companies...

Teva And Lonza Join For Biosimilars

Israeli generic drug firm Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Swiss custom manufacturer Lonza are establishing a joint venture...

Business Roundup

Invista is in negotiations with trade unions, Total Petrochemicals has expanded its styrene plant, Lanxess will reduce production of butyl rubbe, Dow Chemical has inked an agreement with India's Royal Castor Products...

January 19, 2009

Staying Alive

The biopharmaceutical sector scales back research to manage cash and ride out the economic downturn.

Clustering In Heidelberg

German region wins competition to anchor one of five national R&D clusters. Web Exclusive

Tight Focus Helped German Clusters Compete

Web Exclusive

Filling Drug Gaps

Priority Review Vouchers aim to spur researchers to address neglected diseases.

C&EN Talks With: Robert S. Wedinger

Ph.D. chemist and Chemtura exec makes his mark at the highest level of business.

Custom Chemicals

Contract manufacturers look for ways to cope with economic challenges and changes at pharmaceutical customers.

From Compound To Pill

Custom chemical firms add capabilities ranging from chemistry development through finished-dose manufacturing.

15,000 Jobs Lost

Chemical payroll losses mirror those in U.S. economy.

Pharma Research

Pfizer will eliminate up to 800 R&D positions in 2009.

Vanderbilt Forms Pact With J&J

Unique deal reflects novel drug discovery program at the university.

Business Concentrates

January 19, 2009

Pigment Maker Tronox Files For Bankruptcy

Tronox has filed for reorganization under Chapter 11.

EU Clears Arsenal's Buy of DSM Unit

European antitrust officials have cleared Arsenal Capital Partners' acquisition of DSM's special products business...

GM Picks LG Chem To Power The Volt

General Motors has chosen the South Korean firm LG Chem and its Michigan-based subsidiary Compact Power to supply lithium-ion battery cells for the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid car.

Business Group Seeks Greenhouse Gas Cap

A coalition that includes Dow Chemical and DuPont has unveiled a set of policy recommendations aimed at creating an economically sustainable climate protection program.

ZeaChem Advances Cellulosic Ethanol ...

Biofuels start-up ZeaChem has raised $34 million in venture capital financing...

... While Ze-gen Gets Funding For Syngas

Renewable energy start-up Ze-gen has received funding from Waroz Holding to commercialize gasification technology that converts municipal waste into synthesis gas.

Chinese Aromatics Project Wins Okay

China's Ministry of Environmental Protection has approved the construction of a controversial aromatics complex in the coastal province of Fujian.

Sunoco To Shutter Bayport Facility

Sunoco will permanently close its Bayport, Texas, polypropylene facility by the end of April.

Rhodia Will Acquire McIntyre Group

French specialty chemical company Rhodia will acquire McIntyre Group...

DSM Opens China Research Center

DSM has inaugurated its new China Campus, where it will concentrate all of its R&D operations in the country and many of its administrative functions.

RNA-Based Therapies Targeted In Two Deals

Cubist Pharmaceuticals and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals will work together to advance therapies to treat respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections.

Biotechnology Sector Continues To Retrench

More biopharmaceutical firms are cutting staff and reining in research spending...

Novartis Lands HHS Contract For Vaccines

The Department of Health & Human Services has awarded Novartis a $486 million contract to build the first U.S. facility for cell-based influenza vaccine.

Bristol-Myers Acquires Hepatitis C Drug

Bristol-Myers Squibb will pay at least $105 million to ZymoGenetics for a novel type 3 interferon in Phase I studies to treat hepatitis C.

Business Roundup

LyondellBasell Industries, Ineos, BASF, The Medicines Co., Novartis Option Fund, Archer Daniels Midland and Igene Biotechnology have formed a joint venture, Apitope Technology, UCB Pharma...

January 12, 2009

Biosimilars Bet

Merck uses new technology to enter nascent follow-on biologics market.

Managing Growth Virtually

BWA Water Additives looks to expand without acquiring production assets.

Debt Crushes LyondellBasell

Chapter 11 filing seeks to protect company.

Dow Strikes Back

Company reveals plans in the wake of cancelled Kuwaiti deal.

January 12, 2009
Coverstory

World Chemical Outlook

For the global chemical industry, the very bad day started early in the fourth quarter of 2008, and it may last another six months.

United States

Chemical industry mirrors larger economy, where a rebound will require home values to stabilize.

Canada

With an unhappy ending to 2008, Canadian producers aren't eager about beginning 2009.

Latin America

The region may avoid the worst of the petrochemical downturn, but growth will slow.

Europe

A bleak midwinter outlook points to a long year ahead.

Asia-Pacific

After several strong years, Growth stalls throughout the region.

Business Concentrates

January 12, 2009

DC Chemical Sells Stake In Columbian Chemicals

South Korea's DC Chemical says it will sell its stake in Columbian Chemicals...

Cytec and Nova To Cut Staff

Cytec Industries announced a restructuring plan...

Huber Silica Plant Is On Schedule

Huber Engineered Materials is finalizing construction on a 40,000-metric-ton-per-year precipitated silica plant...

Lubrizol Buys Dow Polyurethanes

Lubrizol has acquired the thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) business of Dow Chemical...

A123Systems Plans U.S. Battery Plants

Battery maker A123Systems has applied for $1.84 billion in direct loans from the Department of Energy...

Sigma-Aldrich, ASM Sign Dielectric Pact

Sigma-Aldrich's SAFC Hitech unit has signed an agreement to supply ASM International with chemicals used to deposit transistor insulators...

Sankyo Writes Off Ranbaxy Buy

Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo will take a write-off of $3.85 billion following its acquisition of Ranbaxy Laboratories...

Broad Scientists Launch Biotech

Three scientists from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University have joined forces to launch Forma Therapeutics...

Crucell, Wyeth In Merger Talks

Dutch biopharmaceutical producer Crucell says it is "in friendly discussions with Wyeth that may lead to a combination of the two companies."...

Roche And Synta Ink Collaboration

Synta Pharmaceuticals and Roche have formed an alliance...

Frutarom Buys Oxford Chemicals

Flavors and fine ingredients maker Frutarom will purchase flavor and fragrance ingredients maker Oxford Chemicals...

Recipharm Adds To Its Empire

The acquisitive Swedish contract development company Recipharm has snapped up Solvay subsidiary Laboratoires Fournier...

PPD Acquires Merck Plant In Outsourcing Deal

Pharmaceutical Product Development has purchased Merck & Co.'s 130,000-sq-ft vaccine testing laboratory...

Business Roundup

Ashland, Gulf Resources, Genencor, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Chiral Technologies Europe, Ratiopharm, Adventrx Pharmaceuticals...

January 5, 2009

A Strategy For Survival

Arkema CEO Le Hénaff temporarily cuts production but keeps an eye on long-term opportunities.

Insights: Company Of The Year

Huntsman's struggle to get acquired puts it on top.

Kuwait Cancels Deal With Dows

Observers wonder whether Dow can complete Rohm and Haas purchase.

Fertilizer Makers Cut Production

Farmers are postponing nutrient application until spring.

U Of Michigan Buys Pfizer Site

University hopes to re-create jobs lost after R&D center's closure.

Business Concentrates

January 5, 2009

More Firms Make Cuts To Cope With Economy

Deteriorating customer demand has forced more chemical companies to make cutbacks...

Cabot Micro To Buy Taiwan's Epoch

Cabot Microelectronics has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Epoch Material...

Lanxess Reins In New Projects

Hard on the heels of its decision to take an extended end-of-year break at 23 of its 45 facilities in Germany...

AkzoNobel Bids For More Chlorine

AkzoNobel has made what it calls "an irrevocable bid" to acquire Germany-based LII Europe...

Chlorine, Mercury Plan Gets EU Nod

The European Commission has welcomed a voluntary agreement from the European chlor-alkali industry...

K2 To Make Bleach At A Dow Site

K2 Pure Solutions plans to build and operate a bleach plant at Dow Chemical's...

Eastman Enters Korean Acetate Tow Fiber Venture

Eastman Chemical has formed a joint venture with South Korea's SK Chemicals to construct...

One More Boost For Succinic Acid

The French starch producer Roquette FrÈres has licensed technology from Rice University...

Innocentive Posts Vaccine Challenge

The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) has thrown open to the public the challenge of finding an HIV vaccine...

Avigen, Targanta Make Deep Cuts

Avigen will halt clinical trials on AV650, a neuromuscular treatment, and sell an early-stage developmental compound...

Pierre Fabre, Forest Launch Collaboration

Pierre Fabre Medicament and Forest Laboratories will collaborate on the development...

AstraZeneca, MAP In Asthma Drug Pact

AstraZeneca has linked with MAP Pharmaceuticals to develop a nebulized formulation of budesonide...

GSK Signs Aptamer Deal With Archemix

GlaxoSmithKline has linked with Archemix to develop aptamer therapeutics, or synthesized oligonucleotides...

Business Roundup

Lurgi, Bayer, BASF, Japan's Ube Industries, Yule Catto, Huntsman Corp., Novartis...

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