PerkinElmer has proudly congratulated the Brawn GP racing team and driver Jenson Button on winning the Formula One Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championships respectively. The Brawn team used various PerkinElmer instruments to test the car’s performance and reliability.

PerkinElmer’s Optima 5300V inductively coupled plasma (ICP) instrument was used to monitor engine and gearbox wear by detecting metal content in lubricants, and its Spectrum 100 fourier-transform infrared spectrometer to monitor the degradation of seals and analyse organic debris from engine and gearbox lubricants.

PHARMACEUTICAL

The new Merck emerges

Following the completion of its reverse merger with Schering-Plough, the new Merck has emerged from its chrysalis and its chief executive, Richard Clark, announced that it still has a ‘fat wallet and plans more wheeling and dealing’.

The new company currently has 106,000 employees, but is expecting to shed around 15 per cent of those (15,000 jobs) ‘from all areas across the combined company’ to reduce its cost base by $3.5 billion a year.

GSK launches world’s largest malaria vaccine trial

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has launched the world’s largest malaria vaccine trial on its RTS,S vaccine (featured in this Chemistry World feature article). The trial has so far enrolled more than 5000 children in seven different sub-Saharan African countries and aims to enroll a further 11000.

‘A malaria vaccine could help save countless lives and redefine the future for Africa’s children,’ said Patricia Njuguna, RTS,S principal investigator and chair of the Clinical Trials Partnership Committee that is leading the clinical development of RTS,S. ‘Communities all across Africa are dedicated to this future and are participating to ensure that we develop a vaccine with an acceptable safety and efficacy profile.’

‘This is a tremendous moment in the fight against malaria and the culmination of more than two decades of research, including 10 years of clinical trials in Africa,’ said Joe Cohen, co-inventor of RTS,S and vice president of R&D, vaccines for emerging diseases and HIV, at GSK Biologicals.

Novartis goes east

Novartis has said it will invest $1 billion (£603 million) over the next five years to build ‘the largest pharmaceutical R&D institute in China’ in response to the country’s increasing demand for healthcare. The company estimates that the move will increase the number of research associates it employs at the the Novartis Institute for BioMedical Research in Shanghai (CNIBR) from 160 to over 1000.

The company has also spent $125 million on buying an 85 per cent stake in  the Chinese vaccine maker Zhejiang Tianyuan Bio-Pharmaceutical Co. to expand its ‘limited presence in this fast-growing market segment’.

Quintiles and AZ tie the knot

Contract research organisation Quintiles is to ‘assume the operational responsibilities for the majority of AstraZeneca’s (AZ) clinical pharmacology delivery’.  According to Anders Ekblom, executive vice president for Global Drug Development at AstraZeneca, ‘this model gives us access to the right scientific and medical expertise plus the quality, flexibility and capacity we need to work efficiently and cost-effectively to deliver these studies.’

Takeda and Amylin ‘fight the fat’

Takeda has agreed to licence various obesity drug candidates from Amylin in a deal worth up to $1 billion. The deal includes pramlintide/metreleptin and davalintide, which are currently negotiating their way through Phase II development. Amylin will receive a one-time, up-front payment of $75 million from Takeda as well as various milestone payments.

According to said Yasuchika Hasegawa, Takeda’s chief executive, ‘both Amylin and Takeda have extensive experience in the diabetes and metabolic disease area, and this collaboration should allow us to more quickly bring promising new treatments to patients in need.’

ViiV launches

GSK and Pfizer’s HIV joint venture that was announced in April this year has been officially launched. According to Dominique Limet, ViiV’s chief executive,  ‘our ambition is to conduct research and development both inside and outside ViiV Healthcare.  Our R&D efforts, strategic partnerships and licensing opportunities will be focused on delivering medications that help address resistance issues and dosing complexity.  Within our own pipeline we have some very exciting molecules, including our late stage integrase inhibitor development programme.’

INDUSTRY

Ineos considers a bio-refinery future

Ineos Bio has begun a £3.5 million feasibility study into whether its Seal Sands site in the Tees Valley, UK is suitable for a commercial bio-ethanol and bio-energy plant that will used biodegradeable household waste as a feedstock. The study is being supported by a £2.2 million grant from the regional development agency One North East and the UK’s Department for Energy and Climate Change.

‘This is a very exciting project. Converting household organic wastes into bio-fuel and clean energy can deliver very attractive environmental and social benefits to the North East and the UK as a whole,’ said Peter Williams, chief executive of Ineos Bio. ‘Essentially, our aim is to provide bio-fuel for cars and bio-energy at competitive cost without harming the environment, with very low or zero net carbon emissions and without competing with food production.’

The technology was featured in greater detail in a Chemistry World feature article published in April.

OSHA fines BP for refinery blast

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has slapped BP with an $87.4 million fine for failing to correct potential hazards at its refinery in Texas City, Texas following the fatal explosion that occured at the site four and half years ago. 15 people died and 170 were injured following the explosion at the refinery - the third largest in the US.

The fine is the largest in OSHA’s history, with the second largest of $21 million being the fine it imposed on BP following the original incident. The company has already paid more than $2 billion to settle civil lawsuits and paid a $50 million fine to the US Justice Department to settle criminal charges related to the blast.

BP has said it is appealing against this latest fine.

ESG wages war on contamination

Following the acquisitions of Environmental Services Group in 2006 and Scientifics in 2007, testing and inspection group Inspicio has combined the companies and launched the Environmental Scientifics group (ESG). The new group will provide testing, analysis and consultancy services across a range of fields from forensics and commodity chemical analysis to environmental monitoring.

At the launch in the London’s Cabinet War Rooms, David Watson, managing director for the newly created Laboratories and Analytical Services division told Chemistry World that the new structure brings together all of the companies’ services under a single management structure.

Shell slashing jobs as profits plummet

Shell is cutting 5000 jobs, around 10 per cent of its workforce, as part of its previously announced plan to streamline the business, which saw third quarter earnings slump 73 per cent to $2.9 billion compared to the same period last year.

Shell’s chief executive, Peter Voser, said the company’s results ‘were affected by the weak global economy. Upstream and Downstream profitability has been sharply reduced compared to year-ago levels.’

The company did not say how many job cuts would be made from its chemicals business, which saw chemical sales volumes fall 5 per cent compared to the same period last year.

‘We continue to focus on improving our competitive cost position, simplifying Shell, and increasing personal accountabilities. The Transition 2009 programme, which I announced earlier this year, is progressing well, and will be completed by the end of 2009. Some 5,000 employees are leaving Shell as a result of these changes. This represents around a 10% reduction in employees in the redesigned divisions and corporate functions,’ said Voser.

‘We have reduced operating costs by some $1 billion in the first nine months of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008. This reduction excludes the impact of exchange rate movements and non-cash pension costs.’

Rhodia on the up as others still in the slump

Rhodia has seen its third quarter operating profit increase 19.5 per cent year-on-year to €104 million (£93 million) despite sales falling 15 per cent to €1.04 billion. The increase in profitability was due to the company’s cost saving drive which has reduced fixed expenditures by €96 million year so far this year.

‘In Q3, our results continued to improve substantially, especially in our Polyamide and Silcea activities. This was due not only to a significant recovery in demand driven by emerging markets, but also to our ability to defend margins and our enhanced operational efficiency,” said Rhodia’s chief executive, Jean-Pierre Clamadieu.

‘We anticipate that demand in Q4 will remain similar to the Q3 level. I am convinced that we are today well prepared to emerge stronger from the crisis.’

But the news across the sector is not all so rosy - DSM’s third quarter operating profits fell 41 per cent to €139 million with sales falling to €2.02 billion, 14 per cent down on the prior year’s result. However, despite the gloom its operating profits were more than double those achieved during the second quarter of this year.

Total’s chemicals business also saw a fall in revenues and profits in the third quarter, with sales dropping 28 per cent year-on-year to €3.89 billion and operating profits falling 44 per cent to €191 million. However, both these figures were an improvement on the company’s second quarter results with sales increasing 6 per cent and operating profits more than tripling.

Matt Wilkinson and Phillip Broadwith

Early this week I attended the Nano and emerging technologies forum in London, a networking conference where the UK’s nanotechnology community got together to discuss the state-of-the-art in this field.

Tony Ryan from the University of Sheffield opened the meeting with the statements: ‘the UK is the powerhouse of nanotechnology’ and ‘nanotechnology and the UK are in a good position to tackle the global grand challenges.’ And this was the message repeated by many others throughout the event.

And the cash is certainly there to support these scientists, with the UK’s research councils ploughing £50 million per year into the area and the Technology strategy board and various centres pledging to add a further £170 million to the pot over the next five years. (more…)

In this week’s Chemistry in its element, Claire Carmalt from University College London talks about the metal that cries when it is heated and is vital for modern day living.

When it comes to ways to deal with our ever-warming planet, it all eventually boils down to cold, hard cash.

Whether it’s ploughing funds into R&D for new technologies or the potential financial impact on developing economies, lurking behind the melting ice caps, heat waves, floods and droughts are £££ (or whatever currency you covet). (more…)

This week has seen the plastics division of the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and its ‘plastics make it possible’ campaign link up with US arts and entertainment organisation Gen Art to celebrate the future of fashion - which they believe is plastic.

‘Plastics and couture might not seem like an obvious fit, but the fact is that plastics have played a very large role in fashion for decades,’ said Steve Russell, vice president of the plastics division of the ACC. ‘Without plastic, we wouldn’t have faux fur, and skinny jeans wouldn’t have their stretch. We’re thrilled to partner with Gen Art to highlight how plastics inspire designers’ imaginations and allow artists to create pieces that are cutting-edge, on trend, chic, affordable, and even eco-friendly.’

Actress Kaley Cuocu (right), star of the hit sitcom The Big Bang Theory, will be hosting the Gen Art  ‘Fresh Faces in Fashion’ show and announcing a fashion design competition challenging designers, both established and new, to create womenswear using plastic-based fibres. The winner of the contest will receive a $10,000 (£6,000) prize and a runway show at Gen Art’s Fresh Faces event at the Winter 2010 New York Fashion Week.

PHARMACEUTICALS

EMEA reviews Tysabri on fresh brain infection fears

The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) has begun a review of the benefits and risks of taking Biogen Idec and Elan’s multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri, following reports of more cases of the potentially deadly brain infection progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). The number of PML infections in Tysabri users has increased to 23 since the drug was reintroduced in July 2006 and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently in talks with the companies to discuss changing the label on Tysabri and whether there is a link between the risk of PML and the length of treatment.

Meanwhile, Genentech (now wholly owned by Roche) and Biogen Idec have said that a third arthritis patient taking Rituxan has developed the disorder, scuppering their plans of getting the drug approved by the FDA for use in arthritis patients ‘in light of the number of effective [rheumatoid arthritis] treatments currently available to patients in earlier stages of the disease’.

GSK taps Supergen to develop epigenetic therapeutics

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has signed up Supergen to discover and develop cancer therapies based on epigenetic targets that regulate gene function without altering the underlying DNA sequence. According to the companies, epigenetic processes are believed to play a central role in the development of almost all cancers.

The deal will see Supergen receive an upfront payment of $5 million, which includes a $3 million equity investment, to help it progress candidate compounds through to early clinical proof of concept trials. GSK will then have an option to further develop any successful candidates and could end up paying over $375 million in milestone payments if any of the programmes are successful.

INDUSTRY

Things ‘heating up’ the CSB

The US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has sent investigative teams to two different fires this week.

The first fire happened at the Tesoro refinery in Salt Lake City, Utah. According to refinery officials, liquid hydrocarbons were released from a flare stack during an effort to restart the refinery’s crude unit after a power outage earlier in the day. The hydrocarbons were ignited in a pool fire that extended from the base of the stack and damaged a trailer and other equipment that was positioned nearby. No injuries were reported in the fire and firefighters managed to extinguish the blaze within an hour.

‘Nearly four years after the disaster in Texas City, there continues to be a disturbing number of fires, explosions, and releases at the nation’s refineries. These events endanger workers and the public and can disrupt the supply of needed transportation fuels,’ said John Bresland, chairman of the CSB. ‘A sudden release of flammable liquid from a flare or blowdown stack poses a potential risk to people, equipment, and the environment and warrants a close look.’

The second occurred at a Caribbean Petroleum Corporation petroleum storage facility near San Juan, Puerto Rico. Reports indicate that an explosion at the facility (see right) caused a large number of the storage tanks to catch fire.

Dow fails to stop UK rubber cartel case rolling on

Dow Chemical has lost a request for a claim brought against it in the UK over its involvement in an alleged European rubber cartel to be dismissed. Justice Nigel Teare at the High Court in London ruled that Cooper Tire & Rubber and 25 other companies can sue Dow in the UK for compensation for losses they claim resulted from antitrust violations.

The cartel is alleged to involve as many as 20 other companies, including Unipetrol, units form Royal Dutch Shell and Bayer AG and to have operated between 1996 and 2002.

Unipetrol, units of Shell, Dow, Eni and Trade Stomil were fined €519 million (£464 million) in a 2006 European Union antitrust case, Bayer was granted immunity ‘because it was the “whistleblower”‘.

Sabic and Albemarle catalyse Arabian Gulf growth

Albemarle and the Ibn Hayyan Plastics Products Company (TAYF) subsidiary of the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) are to form a 50:50 joint venture company to build a ‘world scale organometallics production facility’ in the Arabian Gulf industrial city of Al-Jubail. The companies estimate they will invest Riyal 300 million (£48 million) in the Saudi Organometallic Chemicals Company which will have the capacity to produce 6,000 tonnes of tri-ethyl aluminium a year.

Tri-ethyl aluminium is used primarily as a co-catalyst in Ziegler-Natta type systems in olefin polymerisation reactions.

‘We are excited to bring this enabling technology to the Middle East and we are equally pleased to be doing so in partnership with SABIC, one of the world’s leading chemical companies,’ said Mark Rohr, chief executive officer of Albemarle. ‘This new world-scale production unit will help us safely and efficiently serve our customers while also providing a foundation for Albemarle to capitalise on other opportunities emerging in the region.’

AkzoNobel sales fall 10 per cent

Hans Wijers, chief executive of  AkzoNobel, has said the Dutch chemicals giant has ’seen some signs of improvement in [sales to] emerging markets, but overall we don’t foresee a quick recovery.’ Despite sales during the quarter falling 10 per cent €3.6 billion, the company’s operating profits increased 4 per cent to €391 million compared to the same period last year. This led to a 30 per cent increase in net profits, which rose to €197 million, helped by the company’s continuing restructuring and integration efforts.

BASF sees business ’stabilise at a low level’

German chemical giant BASF has seen its quarterly sales rise 2 per cent compared to the second quarter of the year, but its revenues of €12.8 billion were still 19 per cent down compared with the same period last year. But despite the company’s operating income for the quarter slipping 20 per cent to €1.2 billion compared to the third quarter of 2008, it still managed to reduce its overall debt position.

‘In the past three months our business has stabilised at a low level. Positive impulses are coming from Asia, especially from China, and from parts of South America. Europe and North America remain weak,’ said BASF’s chairman Jurgen Hambrecht. ‘Overall, there is much to suggest that the worst is behind us. After a steep plunge, we are now climbing gradually out of the trough. The recovery will be slow and uneven.’

He also cautioned that while the integration of Ciba was proceeding faster than planned, the increased speed of the integration will result in a ‘negative impact on earnings’ of more than €800 million in 2009. The integration will see 33 of the planned 58 closures of Ciba sites occur before the end of 2009, with the total headcount loss estimated to be around 3,800 positions.

AGROCHEMICALS

Terra aids Agrium to save itself from CF bid

The war of the fertilisers has taken another interesting twist, with Terra Industries agreeing to buy Agrium’s half of a nitrogen fertiliser facility for $250 million in cash. The deal should ease regulatory concerns over Agrium’s proposed bid for CF Industries. If successful, Agrium’s takeover of CF Industries would halt CF’s bid to buy out Terra.

The deal is subject to Agrium completing the takeover of CF and relies on Terra being able to raise $600 million in debt capital.

Matt Wilkinson

We’ve all been told that the thousands of carved pumpkins (also known as Jack-o’-lanterns) that will be displayed around the world tomorrow night will keep away the ghosts and ghouls that come out each year at Halloween. But did you know that the same pumpkins might also be able to scare away fungal infections?

A Korean team have found that pumpkin skin contains an antifungal protein that has not been found elsewhere before. Publishing in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, the team led by Kyung-Soo Hahm and Yoonkyung Park at Chosun University, also report that this protein inhibits the growth of 10 species of harmful pathogenic fungi including Candida albicans that causes human skin infections. These tests have only been carried out on a petri dish so far, but the team is predicting the protein could be developed as a natural antifungal agent. Something else to think about when you are carving your pumpkin tomorrow!

Happy Halloween!

Nina Notman

Picture credit: Wikimedia Commons

As I’m sure you all know, the winners of this year’s Nobel prize for chemistry were Venki Ramakrishnan from the LMB in Cambridge, UK, Tom Steitz from Yale, US, and Ada Yonath from the Weizmann Institute in Israel. You can find the full story in this month’s issue, which should be winging it’s way to RSC members right now (unless it’s stuck in a Royal Mail sorting office while the posties are on strike). You can also read it online here, even if you’re not a member!

But as they say, a picture’s worth a thousand words, so what’s a video worth? Here’s one from Ramakrishnan’s group that shows the wonders of the ribosome in action:

Enjoy the issue!

Phillip Broadwith

Drum roll please……….our weekly Chemistry in its element podcasts have a new webpage with a flashy interactive periodic table (as you may be able to tell we’re quite chuffed with this!). Just click on the element images with headphones to hear the podcasts that have been released so far, and then come back each week to hear the latest release.
(The podcasts are also all available on iTunes, if that is more your cup of tea)

This week’s release: Science writer Brian Clegg tells us about the element with the sexiest name – iridium

Well, it seems I’ve taken my eye off the ball on this one - the more clued-in members of the blogosphere noticed quite some time ago that the proposed symbol for the newly-ratified element 112 (dubbed copernicium) has been changed from Cp to Cn.

Given all the hoo-ha about the symbol Cp (see CW blog posts here, here and here for the full story), it’s not entirely surprising, but it does appear that the decision came much earlier in the process than any of us thought - this report from a meeting of the Iupac/Iupap joint working party in August doesn’t even mention Cp as a proposed symbol.

Sigurd Hofmann, who has the honour of naming element 112, will be recording a podcast for our Chemistry in its Element series sometime on the next few weeks, so tune in to hear the full story about the latest super-heavyweight to hit the periodic table. (more…)

The Nanomonster team behind the ’prize winning’ Nano song have launched a new musical video – The safety song. I’m pleased to report it features the same great puppets, another catchy song, and has definitely brightened up my Monday!

Nina Notman