This week has seen the European Union gain a new president of the council and foreign policy representative. Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy will take up the newly-created role of president, while the UK’s Baroness Cathy Ashton takes over as the foreign policy representative.

One of the names that had been bandied about as a possible for the role of president was Neelie Kroes, the European commissioner for competition, who has criticised the pharmaceutical industry’s ‘delaying tactics’ aimed at postponing the entry of generic drugs onto the market.

PHARMACEUTICAL

Merck targets Pfizer’s biggest failure

Merck & Co. is continuing to develop its CETP (cholesterol ester transfer protein) inhibitor ancetrapib and has just released results from a Phase IIb study that show the drug not only reduces LDL (bad) cholesterol and increases HDL (good) cholesterol, but that the beneficial effects continued for up to eight weeks after patients stopped taking the drug.

In 2006, Pfizer’s CETP inhibitor, torcetrapib, became one of the most costly and high-profile drug failures in the history of the pharmaceutical industry, after the company halted its development due to trial data that suggested it increased the risk of death.

And while Merck agrees that ‘the effect of CETP inhibition on cardiovascular risk has yet to be established’, if the long held hypothesis that decreasing LDL and increasing HDL cholesterol helps prevent heart attacks, ancetrapib could bring in revenues of around $10 billion (£6 billion) a year.

Nabi lands $540 million nicotine vaccine deal from GSK

Nabi has granted GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) an exclusive worldwide license for its smoking cessation vaccine candidate NicVax in a deal that could be worth over $540 million. Nabi will receive a $40 million upfront payment as well as milestone and royalty payments that could be worth more than $500 million.

The vaccine is designed to stimulate an immune response against nicotine (see right) so that antibodies bind to any nicotine in the blood stream and prevent them crossing the blood-brain barrier rendering them unable to reach receptors in the brain.

‘If approved, this smoking cessation vaccine technology could be a novel solution to help the millions of smokers who want to stop smoking and remain abstinent; a habit that is well documented to be very hard to stop permanently,’ said Jean Stephenne, president of GSK Biologicals.

The vaccine has recently entered Phase III clinical trials.

B-MS splits off nutrition division to become a ‘pure-play’ biopharma

Even as many of its peers in the pharma industry are diversifying into the generics, healthcare and medical devices arenas, Bristol-Myers Squibb (B-MS) is divesting non-core assets in a bid to become a biopharma thoroughbred.

In its latest divestment, B-MS is splitting off its stake in the Mead Johnson Nutrition company in a deal valued at $7.69 billion.

‘This marks the latest step in our company’s transformation into a biopharma leader,’ said James Cornelius, chief executive of Bristol-Myers Squibb.

‘By executing our healthcare divestment strategy, we have sharpened our biopharma focus, improved the overall financial strength of the company and supported our ability to pursue strategic business development opportunities. All of these actions help us fulfill our mission to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines to help patients prevail over serious diseases.’

FDA accepts NicOx’s naproxcinod for filing

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted NicOx’s clinical trial data on naproxcinod (recently covered in a  Chemistry World exclusive) for filing and said it will complete its review of the data in July, 2010.

INDUSTRY

Mitsubishi Rayon to be bought back

Japanese synthetic fibre maker Mitsubishi Rayon is to be bought by Mitshubishi Chemical Holdings (MCH) in a deal worth ¥220 billion (£1.49 billion) that will further consolidate the Japanese chemical industry.

As part of the agreement, Mitsubishi Rayon will function as an operating business of MCH, alongside its three existing subsidiaries - one of which, Mitsubishi Chemical, it split from in 1950.

A green and slimey future for Linde

German technology company Linde Group is collaborating with Algenol Biofuels to develop carbon dioxide and oxygen management systems for Algenol’s algae photobioreactor systems. The venture will aim to develop cost-efficient technologies to capture, store, transport and supply CO₂ to Algenol’s reactors as well as removing excess O₂.

‘Producing fuels or chemicals from algae is a promising way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions,’ said Aldo Belloni, member of the Linde’s management board. ‘A cost-efficient supply of CO₂ is a key factor in this biofuel chain. As a pioneer and leading company in CO₂ capture, transport and supply we are delighted to be a key player in major projects in the algae-to-biofuel area.’

Total acquitted of 2001 blast

A French court has acquitted Grande Paroisse, a subsidiary of French oil giant Total, and Serge Biechlin, the former chief of its AZF chemical fertiliser plant of responsibility for a 2001 explosion at the plant on the ‘benefit of doubt’. Following the explosion that tore apart the plant with the force of a 3.4 magnitude earthquake, 31 people died and more than 2000 people were injured.

No-one has been convicted for the explosion more than eight years after it occurred. The prosecution has said it will appeal the decision.

Evonik ‘on course, despite rough seas’

Evonik Industries’ chemical division has seen demand in Asia and Europe recover, but continued ’sluggish’ demand in the US led to sales volume still falling short of last year’s level. Yet despite Its chemical sales falling 16 per cent year-on-year  to €2.59 billion (£2.3 billion), its earnings before income, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 16 per cent to €505 million.

‘Our efforts to lower costs and raise efficiency are having an effect. We are on course despite rough seas,’ said Klaus Engel, chairman of Evonik Industries.

Matt Wilkinson

This week saw Bayer hold its Perspective on Sustainability conference during which the company stressed the importance of sustainable development around the world. Bayer chief executive Werner Wenning, highlighted the importance of innovation and said ‘only through innovation can our company generate the growth that is essential to safeguard its sustained success. For us, innovations are the driver of sustainability.’

Wenning also said he expected research and development spending to increase in the coming year - although he refused to be drawn on specific amounts as budget talks had not yet been completed. Much of the company’s €2.9 billion (£2.6 billion) of R&D spend in 2009 (already a record for the company) was spent in its healthcare division, and this doesn’t look set to change.

He also said the company had opened up its compound library to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for use in the fight against malaria.

PHARMACEUTICAL

Pfizer streamlines R&D in post Wyeth shake-up

Following its $68 billion (£40.8 billion) acquisition of Wyeth, Pfizer has announced that it will be streamlining its R&D efforts into five central research hubs and nine specialised research centres, compared with the 20 R&D sites the newly merged company currently has.

‘By focusing our R&D operations in these centres, we are building the world’s premier biopharmaceutical R&D enterprise,’ said Mikael Dolsten, president of Pfizer’s BioTherapeutics Research & Development. ‘This new structure puts Pfizer in the best position to conduct cutting-edge research within and beyond our own laboratories and to deliver a portfolio of high-impact medicines to patients.’

The central hubs will be based in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Groton, Connecticut; Pearl River, New York; La Jolla, California; and Sandwich, UK. Pfizer plans to close its R&D centres in Princeton, New Jersey; Chazy, Rouses Point and Plattsburgh, New York; Sanford and Research Triangle Park, North Carolina; and Gosport, Slough/Taplow, UK, reducing its R&D footprint by 35 per cent.

The company recently reported that its third quarter operating profits increased 46 per cent to $3.9 billion as aggressive cost-cutting and headcount reduction helped offset the company’s sales falling 3 per cent to $11.6 billion. The company has shed some 6500 jobs so far this year and a further 13 500 jobs are scheduled to go now that its takeover of Wyeth has completed.

The timing of the merger means that Pfizer has not had to release Wyeth’s results, but most worryingly the pharma giant’s research and development expenditure dropped by 13 per cent to $1.6 billion compared to the same period last year.

Biota and the superbugs

Australian pharma firm Biota, which developed GlaxoSmithKline’s antiflu drug Relenza, has been splashing the cash and bought the assets of two antibacterial specialists this week to bolster its pipeline and expand beyond the antiviral market.

Firstly, the company has agreed to pay A$10.4 million (around £6 million) in shares to buy UK-based Prolysis. The deal includes a 15 per cent share on all milestones and royalties on any products that emerge.  Biota expects to invest around A$25 million over the next three years to develop its pipeline which contains two new antibiotics for multiple drug resistant bacteria, which ‘have the potential to manage the current
wave of hospital superbugs’.

Biota has also agreed to pay $1.2 million in cash and $300,000 in shares to buy US-based MaxThera. MaxThera stockholders will also receive 12 per cent of all upfront and milestone payments if the company’s two lead compounds are licensed - and Biota plans to invest up to $15 million to make sure they are.

Merck Eprova and Isofol join forces in fight against cancer

Merck Eprova, a subsidiary of Germany’s Merck KGaA, has entered into an exclusive agreement which will enable Swedish oncology firm Isofol to use Merck Eprova’s reduced folate Modufolin ([6R]-5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate) in oncology applications.

The compound is the active metabolite of Leucovorin, which is used in cancer therapy applications to modulate the activity of anticancer drugs. Most notably, Leucovorin has been used to enhance the activity and reduce the toxicity of the widely used colorectal anticancer drug 5-fluorouracil.

However, the effectiveness of Leucovorin can be limited by its metabolic conversion into the active Modufolin. By directly using the active compound the variability of the metabolic conversion of Leucovorin can be avoided, potentially allowing 5-fluorouracil to work more efficiently.

INDUSTRY

AkzoNobel powders its nose

AkzoNobel has bought the powder coatings business of Dow Chemical for an undisclosed amount.  The business, which has sales of several hundred million dollars a year and employs around 700 people, was bought by Dow as part of its acquisition of Rohm & Haas earlier this year.

‘This is a strategic acquisition which will enable us to further penetrate key industrial coatings segments,’ says Leif Darner, the AkzoNobel board member responsible for Performance Coatings. ‘By adding new powder technologies to our extensive portfolio we will be even better equipped to lead the way in meeting the increasing demand for innovative products with strong environmental profiles.’

The news of the acquisition came just a day after the European Commission fined the Dutch chemical giant €40.6 million following an investigation into price-fixing allegations involving the company’s former Tin Stabilisers and Esbo/Esters businesses which were divested in 2007.

Lanxess bouncing along

German plastics and rubber expert Lanxess has seen its third quarter sales rise 11 per cent to €1.37 billion compared to the second quarter of the year, however they were still 24 per cent down on last year’s results. The company also continued to be profitable, recording a net income of €23 million - 58.9 per cent down on the previous year.

‘Lanxess has proved once again that it can successfully deal with the effects of the economic crisis,’ said Axel Heitmann, Lanxess’s chairman. ‘Our self-help measures coupled with an improved economic climate, in particular in China, has supported us in delivering a very respectable third quarter performance.’

The company is expecting Asia to be the growth engine behind the global economy and plans to strengthen its local production network in China this month with the inauguration of a new production line for leather chemicals at its existing site in Wuxi, Jiangsu province. It is also planning to expand its pigment production in Jinshan, Shanghai.

Matt Wilkinson

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

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

While most of Europe appears to be making its way out of recession, the UK has seen another quarter of decline - with gross domestic product (GDP) once again falling. Even though the fall in GDP has stabilised to 0.4 per cent, the fact that the UK economy has been in recession for six consecutive quarters is unlikely to boost public confidence in the crucial build-up to Christmas. And that could spell yet more misery for a chemical industry that has seen some signs of stabilisation of late.

With the banks starting to make money again, credit should hopefully start flowing more freely again, and even if not, the £6 billion of bonuses that UK bank staff are set to receive should at least help grease the wheels of recovery. But while many in the financial sector were still celebrating the news that they are set to receive a bumper bonus this year, the Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, has launched a stinging attack on the behaviour of the banking system, even paraphrasing Sir Winston Churchill: ‘never in the field of financial endeavour has so much money been owed by so few to so many. And, one might add, so far with little real reform.’

PHARMACEUTICAL

Cervical cancer vaccine war heats up

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has been given the green light by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market its cervical cancer vaccine Cervarix in the US and compete against Merck & Co.’s Gardasil. GSK has said the vaccine will be available in the US by the end of the year and initial indications are that it plans to charge less for Cervarix than Merck does for Gardasil - which has just been approved by the FDA for the prevention of penile warts in young men. While some analysts predict that this could open up a market worth some $300 million (£183.5 million) for Merck, a recent study in the British Medical Journal suggests that vaccinating pre-adolescent boys in a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme would not be cost effective.

Meanwhile, Merck has received approval from the European Commission for its merger with Schering-Plough.

HGS shares soar as lupus drug wows again

Human Genome Sciences (HGS) has seen its share price soar more than 500 per cent since July when it released unexpectedly positive data from a Phase III trial of its lupus drug Benlysta (blimumab). A full analysis of the data has confirmed the positive analysis and sent the share price up a further 5 per cent to $22 a share. Speculation has been mounting that GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which is developing the drug with HGS, is lining up a bid for the company.

The company will publish data from a second Phase III trial at the beginning of November and if the data is as positive, it expects to file for approval in the US early in 2010. If approved, Benlysta will become the first new lupus drug in 50 years to hit the market and will cost patients in the region of $20,000 a year.

But the company’s good news doesn’t stop there, it has also said it has received a $75 million milestone payment from Novartis as it has successfully completed development of its hepatitis C treatment Zalbin (albinterferon alfa-2b) and the two companies will be imminently submitting the drug for marketing approval.

Lonza switches targets

Lonza has withdrawn its $700 million bid to acquire contract manufacturing and development services firm Patheon and instead has made an investment agreement with German biotech firm Cilian.

‘We believe that Cilian’s production platform for enzymes, antibodies and other proteins has the potential to provide attractive innovations in the nutrition and biopharmaceutical area,’ says Thomas Kiy, global head of strategic business development of Lonza Life Science Ingredients.

INDUSTRY

Ineos to produce more acetonitrile

Ineos’s nitriles division has rolled out a modification to their acrylonitrile production plants that allows it to tweak the amount of acetonitrile produced as a by-product. The idea is that this will allow the company to maintain supply of the useful solvent in times when demand for acrylonitrile is low - avoiding the situation that occurred last year when decreased acrylonitrile production caused a world shortage of acetonitrile. While the situation is no longer so acute, the price of acetonitrile is still relatively high - and given the state of the economy and the automotive industry it’s likely to stay that way for a while. Ineos says that implementing the technology at its three sites in the UK and US will stabilise future supplies.

SABIC’s sales and profits still down

The Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) is still struggling due to the recession with third quarter revenues down 45 per cent at Riyal8.6 billion (£1.4 billion) compared to the same quarter the previous year. Operating profits were down 48 per cent at Riyal6.4 billion during the quarter compared to last year, although the results were slightly more favourable than during the previous quarter.

‘In spite of repercussions arising from the global economic crisis, SABIC has maintained the same operational levels. SABIC’s total production during the first nine months of 2009 reached 44 million tons, an increase of four per cent, while quantities sold were 34.5 million tons, an increase of three per cent over the same period last year,’ said Mohamed Al-Mady, chief executive of Sabic.

Despite Rohm & Haas buy Dow still down

Dow’s third quarter sales of $12 billion were down 22 per cent from reported sales in the same period last year and 32 per cent lower if Rohm & Haas’s sales are taken into account. However, operating profits soared to just over $1 billion compared to $620 million in the same time period last year - primarily due to asset sales needed to pay for its acquisition of Rohm & Haas.

DuPont starts to bounce back

Despite DuPont’s third quarter revenues and operating profits being 18 per cent lower than during the same period last year ($6 billion and $491 million respectively) the company’s net income rose 11 per cent to $409 million due to lower costs.

‘We delivered on our commitment to shareholders, while navigating through some very difficult business conditions,’ said DuPont’s chief executive Ellen Kullman. ‘We see overall sequential improvement in our industrial businesses as market conditions begin to firm. With a more streamlined organisation, permanent fixed cost reductions, and increased productivity, DuPont is well-positioned to capitalize as markets improve.’

AGROCHEMICALS

Syngenta positive on future growth

Syngenta, the world’s largest agrochemical maker, was positive about growth in 2010 despite seeing revenues for the third quarter fall 12 per cent to $2 billion. Crop Protection sales were down 14 per cent compared to the same period last year, falling to $1.6 billion.

The company saw growth in Latin America boosted by increasing amounts of land being used for growing soy beans, while sales in Asia Pacific were driven by increased usaged of fungicides. Sales in Europe were hindered by continued credit pressures.

Matt Wilkinson and Phillip Broadwith

This week saw Madrid host CPhI 2009, an event where the fine chemical companies that produce the ingredients that make up drugs (active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and the excipient ‘fillers’) meet with clients from across the pharmaceutical production food chain.

During the European Fine Chemical Group (EFCG) press conference, Guy Villax, chief executive of Hovione and board member of EFCG, warned of the increasing danger of off-patent medicines in EU pharmacies containing falsified APIs - i.e. APIs that are fraudulently labelled as being from an approved source.

According to Villax, European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare (EDQM) auditors believe the amount of fraudulent APIs appearing in EU generic drugs could be as high as 20-30 per cent, and Villax believes that ‘making fraudulent APIs is now more profitable than heroin’. The rise of ‘facade’ constructions, where certified facilites relabel APIs from non-certified sources, has been blamed for the increase.

To put the problem into perspective, a single batch of falsified APIs could reach up to a million people.

PHARMACEUTICAL

Eli Lilly offloads manufacturing site to Evonik

Eli Lilly has continued its outsourcing drive by offloading its Tippecanoe Laboratories manufacturing facility to Evonik. The Lafayette, Indiana plant had been scheduled for closure and the 700 workers were expecting to lose their jobs as part of Lilly’s drive to shed costs and 5,500 jobs, however, now they will be offered work by Evonik.

The two companies have enetered into a nine-year service and supply deal that will see Evonik provide a range of intermediate and final APIs for human and animal health products. The deal mirrors Lilly’s August 2008 deal that saw the pharma giant sell off a preclinical laboratory to Covance and then sign a ten-year deal with the contract research organisation for toxicology services.

Novartis sign up Heptares, Vanda

Novartis has signed a drug discovery deal worth up to $200 million (£122.4 million) with British biotech firm Heptares. The deal will see Heptares, which has already recieved $7 million of equity financing from Novartis, search for novel drug leads against a nominated GPCR target.

The Swiss pharma giant has also agreed to pay Vanda Pharmaceuticals $200 million for the rights to market its schizophrenia drug, Fanapt, in the US and Canada.

VaxGen to be bought by Oxigene

Troubled vaccine maker VaxGen, the developer of half of the combination AIDs vaccine that met some success in a clinical trial in Thailand last month, has been bought by biopharmaceutical company Oxigene in an all stock deal worth around $22 million.

INDUSTRY

Clariant to slash 800 more jobs

Swiss specialty chemicals company Clariant has decided to cut a further 800 jobs, adding to the 1850 it announced in January. The move follows the announcement that sales during the second quarter fell 24 per cent to CHF 1.29 billion (£774 million) and that its operating income of CHF69 million for the quarter was less than half that recorded during the prior year.

Kraton plans to go public

Houston-based Kraton Polymers is hoping to raise up to $230 million with an initial public offering which it will use to pay off some of its $323 million of debt. The company calls itself the inventor of styrenic block copolymers and had sales of $1.2 billion in 2008.

Bayer MaterialScience ends short working week

Workers at Bayer MaterialScience’s German sites will return to a 37.5 hour work week next month due to increasing sales orders. The reintroduction of normal working hours will mean around 4100 employees will return to their normal rates of pay.

‘The reason for lifting this special arrangement is the improvement in orders. Nevertheless the future business development of our customer industries still remains uncertain,’ said Tony Van Osselaer, labour director at Bayer MaterialScience.

Matt Wilkinson

In this week’s Commercial Chemist we cover Allergan’s fight to be allowed to market Botox for off-label indications under its rights to free speech, GSK’s continued push into the Chinese vaccine market and a study that suggests that exposure to bisphenol A in the womb can make girls aggressive.

PHARMACEUTICALS

Allergan challenges off-label ban

Allergan, the company made famous for its wrinkle remover Botox,  is challenging the policy of the US Justice Department and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that prevents it from educating doctors about the benefits of prescribing drugs for off-label indications - those that it hasn’t received marketing approval for.

What sets this challenge apart is that Allergan is claiming that the ban on off-label marketing violates its First Amendment rights to free speech and is inconsistent with the Federal, Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

According to the company, around 20 per cent of all prescriptions are for off-label indications, but advertising to this sizable market is a risky (and often illegal) business - just last month, Pfizer was hit with a $2.3 billion (£1.4 billion) fine for the off-label marketing of four drugs. But the stakes for Allergan are equally as high as it believes that therapeutic markets for Botox could rival its sales for cosmetic uses, which are more than $1 billion a year.

PET gets a look at Alzheimer’s vaccine trial

Bayer Schering Pharma is providing its positron emission tomography (PET) agent florbetaben, which is currently in Phase II development, to Swiss-biopharma company AC Immune to support a clinical trial of its Alzheimer’s vaccine candidate  ACI-24.

Check out Chemistry World next week for the full lowdown on the vaccine and the imaging agent.

GSK expands into vaccines for Chinese kids

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is continuing its push into the Chinese vaccine markets and is sinking more than £27 million into a joint venture with Jiangsu Walvax Biotech Company to develop and manufacture paediatric vaccines for use in China. The joint venture will produce vaccines for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR).

‘This collaboration will allow Walvax and GSK to produce lifesaving vaccines to help meet China’s need for MMR vaccines,’ said Liu Hong-Yan, Chairman of Walvax. ‘The joint venture will strengthen our vaccine R&D efforts and build our capacity to increase children’s access to vaccines, one of the most cost-effective health interventions available.’

The deal follows its decision in July to collaborate with Shenzun Neptunus Interlong Bio-Technique to develop and manufacture a range of flu vaccines in the country.

INDUSTRY

LyondellBassell to exit bankruptcy by end of January

LyondellBassell, the world’s largest manufacturer of polyolefins, is planning to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December or January, a year after it filed for protection for its US units. The company buckled under the weight of the loans it took on to buy Lyondell Chemical as the economic collapse sent demand for chemicals plummeting. It has already announced that it will reduce its headcount by 2500 (15 per cent of its workforce).

It now plans to become a publicly traded firm and will make an equity offering sometime in the new year.

More BPA woes

Researchers have found that exposure to the oestrogenic monomer bisphenol A (BPA) during early pregnancy can make girls more likely to exhibit aggressive behaviour. The compound is used to make some of the plastics that have been used to store food and water, despite suspicions since the 1930s that it was toxic. Last year the debate over whether it should be used erupted again, and Canada’s national public health agency, Health Canada, labelled it as toxic.

Publishing in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, the researchers report that girls whose mothers were exposed to high levels of BPA during the early months of pregnancy are more likely to exhibit aggressive or hyperactive behaviour by the age of 2.

Dow unveils Powerhouse Solar Shingles

The Dow Chemical Company has unveiled a new line of photovoltaic solar panels in the form of roofing shingles that the company states ‘can be integrated into rooftops with standard asphalt shingle materials… reducing installation costs.’ The company believes the shingles could have sales of $5 billion by 2015.

AGROCHEMICALS

Mosaic’s sales down 66 per cent

Agrochemical company Mosaic has seen sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2010 fall to $1.5 billion, a decrease of $2.9 billion compared to sales from the same period last year. Despite the drop in sales, the company still managed to record an operating profit of $134 million - down from $1.5 billion for the same period last year.

The company said it had been hit by ‘a decline in market selling prices for phosphate as well as a decline in potash sales volumes and selling prices.‘

Meanwhile, its Mosaic Fertilizer subsidiary has agreed a $30 million settlement with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to resolve a number of alleged Clean Air Act violations at sulphuric acid production plants in Uncle Sam, Louisiana, and Mulberry, Florida.

Matt Wilkinson

This week there has been yet more evidence of consolidation in the pharmaceutical industry, with Sanofi-Aventis buying into the eye care market, Johnson & Johnson snapping up 18 per cent of Dutch vaccine maker Crucell and Silence Therapeutics announcing it is the subject of a reverse takeover bid. But the consolidation doesn’t stop there, with agrochemical firms Sinochem and Nufarm agreeing to discuss a merger while the three way tussle between Agrium, CF Industries and Terra Industries continues unabated.

PHARMACEUTICALS

Sanofi lays foundations for an ophthalmology franchise

Sanofi-Aventis is buying Fovea Pharmaceuticals to gain a foothold in the eye care arena.

‘The acquisition of Fovea, one of the pioneer French biopharmaceutical ophthalmology companies, is a further step in our company’s goal to focus on new approaches to strengthen our R&D portfolio,’ said Christopher Viehbacher, Sanofi-Aventis’s chief executive. ‘Fovea and its unique technology platform represent a major opportunity for Sanofi-Aventis in the very promising and dynamically growing ophthalmic area, driven by unmet medical needs and aging population.’

The deal will give the French pharma giant access to three products in clinical development and several discovery programmes dedicated to diseases of the back of the eye.

Meanwhile, Sanofi has also licensed a Phase I anticancer drug from Merrimack in a deal worth up to $530 million  (£333 million) plus double digit royalties. The deal for the human monoclonal antibody (mAb) MM-121 involves an upfront payment of $60 million and will see Sanofi take responsibility for all future development costs.

MM-121 targets the Erb3 (or HER3) receptor that has been implicated in the mechanism of resistance to certain treatments such as gefinitib in lung cancer, cetuximab in colon and head & neck cancer, and trastuzumab in breast cancer.

Silence keeping quiet on merger partner

RNA interference specialist Silence Therapeutics has suspended its shares from trading on the AIM stock exchange after confirming it is in merger discussions with an, as yet, unnamed company. The company expects the proposed transaction to be treated as a reverse takeover - a process that involves a private company buying a public one to bypass the lengthy process of floating on the stock exchange.

In the meantime, the company has reported its operating results for the first half of the year, and had managed to reduce its operating loss to £3.6 million - a reduction of 32 per cent compared to the £5.27 million loss it made during the first half of 2008.

J&J goes shopping again

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has bought an 18 per cent stake in Dutch vaccine maker Crucell for €301.8 million (£274.6 million) and agreed to collaborate on the development of monoclonal antibodies and vaccines for the prevention and treatment of a range of diseases including influenza.

According to Paul Stoffels, global head of pharmaceuticals research and development at J&J, the deal will provide the pharma giant with ‘access to antibody and vaccine know-how and technology and expands our ability to offer preventive health care solutions for unmet medical needs.’

The deal comes just weeks after J&J agreed to pay $885 million to buy an 18.4 per cent stake in Irish drugmaker Elan Pharma and gain access to its Alzheimer’s portfolio. The original deal had included the option to acquire Biogen Idec’s 50 per cent stake in the multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri (natalizumab) if Biogen changes hands, but this was found to breach the distribution agreement between Elan and Biogen.

And now it seems that investors believe that J&J are determined to get hold of those rights and are lining up a bid for Biogen, with trading of the company’s shares jumping 15 times the four-week average on Tuesday.

GSK gets EU approval for swine flu vaccine

The European Commission has given GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis marketing approval for their swine flu (Influenza A H1N1) vaccines, as expected after the announcement last week that the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) had recommended them (Pandemrix and Focetria respectively) for approval. The EMEA has now also recommended that Baxter’s H1N1vaccine Celvapan be given marketing authorisation. Celvapan is the first cell culture-based non-adjuvanted vaccine to receive a positive opinion in the EU.

Merck licenses flu vaccine from CSL

Merck & Co. has formed another alliance with its long-term vaccine partner CSL Biotherapies and agreed to market and distribute CSL’s seasonal flu vaccine Aflure for the next six years. The companies’ best-known collaboration involves Merck’s distribution of  the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil in the US.

Selcia launches new Discovery Division

UK-based C-14 radiolabeling expert Selcia has launched a new drug discovery division which will use the capillary electrophoresis-based fragment screening platform, CE Screen, it acquired from Cetek Corporation. The company was spun out of Aventis in 2001 and since then has more than doubled in size - it now employs over 60 people.

INDUSTRY

Red lorry, yellow lorry, silver car, silver car, silver car…

According the US paint manufacturer PPG Industries, silver has retained its position as the most popular colour of vehicle paint for the ninth year running. The silver category was used to paint 35 per cent of European cars, 25 per cent of North American cars and 34 per cent of cars in the Asia/Pacific region. Black and white were the next most popular colours in all regions ahead of red and blue.

But silver isn’t just silver, its also a myriad of charcoals and grays, and according to Jane Harrington, PPG’s manager of colour styling for automotive coatings: ‘Palettes are broadening as the number of models decreases and the industry consolidates. Going forward, automotive manufacturers are going to be relying on colour more and more to distinguish their brands.’

And it’s not just a question of shade, but also functionality - PPG has introduced a range of inorganic infrared-reflective coatings that have a high solar reflectivity that helps keep vehicles cooler, reducing the need for energy consuming air conditioning.

BASF and CSM join forces for a bio future

BASF is joining forces with Purac, a subsidiary of Dutch chemicals firm CSM, to develop the production of biobased succinic acid for use as a monomeric building block to make biopolymers and as a feedstock for other chemicals.

The plans involve using CO₂ as a raw material that will be fixed from the atmosphere during the fermentation reaction.

Meanwhile, the German chemical giant has said it aims to double its sales in the fast growing Asia Pacific region by 2020. The company will invest €2 billion between 2012 and 2013 and increase its headcount in the region by at least 5000 - taking the total number of employees in the region to over 20,000 - so it can locally produce at least 70 per cent of its sales.

JM bolsters stationary emissions control business

Johnson Matthey (JM) has bought NO_x emissions reduction expert Applied Utility Systems from Catalytic Solutions in a deal worth up to $10 million. The company designs and makes selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems for controlling NO_x emissions from gas turbines, industrial boilers, steam generators and process heaters - all of which are facing increasingly strict emissions standards.

Wacker cuts its losses and exits solar wafer business

German chemical firm Wacker has decided to exit its loss-making solar wafer joint venture with Schott Solar in order to focus on the production of hyperpure polycrystalline silicon - for which it is the second largest producer in the world.

The decision to sell its shares in Wacker Schott Solar will reduce Wacker’s pre-tax profits by about €50 million and increase its debt position by €65 million.

‘Focusing on hyperpure polysilicon production provides an excellent base for our long-term competitiveness and profitability,’ says Wacker’s chief executive Rudolf Staudigl. ‘In this field, we can play out our technology leadership and our strong market position with maximum impact.’

AGROCHEMICALS

The war of the fertilisers

A fascinating fight for control of much of North America’s fertiliser market has emerged during the year with Terra Industries continuing to knock back its larger rival CF Industries, which is itself subject to a takeover bid from Canadian firm Agrium.

CF made its original offer for Terra back in January, before Agrium made its offer for CF in February. Both those offers were swiftly rejected and since then both Agrium and CF have upped their bids for their targets more than once, and each time the bids have been knocked back.

The latest development has seen CF Industries acquire 7 per cent of Terra on the open stock market at a cost of $247 million and submit a fifth merger agreement, which was again knocked back.

Terra’s chief executive Michael Bennett said, ‘Over the last nine months, our Board has reviewed five proposals from CF - and each time the Board has unanimously determined that a combination of our companies lacks compelling industrial logic and runs counter to Terra’s strategic objectives.’

Sinochem offers to buy Nufarm

Chinese agrochemical firm Sinochem has entered into a non-binding agreement to buy Australian rival  Nufarm for $2.46 billion. If the deal is agreed, it will give Sinochem access to Nufarm’s sales and marketing networks in Australia, Europe and the Americas and will ‘accelerate Sinochem’s ambitious global growth strategy in agricultural-inputs.’

Matt Wilkinson

This week has seen an unusual amount of interest in the opioid bowel disorder (OBD) arena, with AstraZeneca signing a deal with Nektar that could be worth up to $1.5 billion (£939 million), while Adolor has acquired the rights to an OBD programme from Eli Lilly. And for all those UK readers who will be using the A123 to drive between Ilford and Barking in Greater London tonight, well, you may be surprised to know that its namesake, a US-based lithium-ion battery maker, has smashed analysts’ expectations by raising $380 million during its initial public offering (IPO) on the NASDAQ stock market.

PHARMACEUTICALS

AZ and Adolor to ease the discomfort of opioid use

Between 40 and 90 per cent of patients taking opioids such as morphine for chronic pain management suffer from opioid bowel dysfunction (OBD), which is often described as constipation. And surprisingly there’s been a lot of movement in the field this week with both Adolor and AstraZeneca (AZ) gaining rights to experimental drugs targeting the problem.

AZ is to pay US biopharma firm Nektar up to $1.5 billion for the rights to two experimental OBD drugs, NKTR-118 and NKTR-119. NKTR-118 has completed a Phase II trial while NKTR-119 is in early stage development and aims to combine NKTR-118 with selected opioids with the goal of treating chronic pain without causing constipation.

‘NKTR-118 is an important late stage programme that has the potential to address a real need for patients,’ said David Brennan, AZ’s chief executive. ‘We are excited about this agreement with Nektar, as it provides us the opportunity to apply our deep knowledge and expertise in neuroscience, oncology and gastrointestinal areas of medicine to create real value for patients. This is a good example of using externalisation to enrich the company’s late-stage pipeline.’

Meanwhile, Adolor has acquitred the exclusive worldwide rights to Eli Lilly’s opioid receptor agonist OpRA III in a deal worth up to $72 million. The drug has successfully completed two Phase I studies and Adolor aims to take the drug back to the clinic in early 2010.

‘OpRA III has a unique profile with the potential to address the gastrointestinal disorders associated with the use of opioid analgesics,’ said Michael Dougherty, Adolor’s chief executive. ‘Adolor has a wealth of experience in this therapeutic area and the addition of OpRA III to our OBD portfolio provides us with another clinical-stage compound with which we can potentially address a large and underserved market.’

The move comes some four months after Adolor made some 28 per cent of its workforce (45 workers) redundant.

Warner Chilcott returns psoriasis rights to help pay for P&G pharmaceuticals

Warner Chillcott has returned the rights to three topical psoriasis treatments to Leo Pharma in exchange for $1 billion, which it will use to fund its acquisition of Proctor & Gamble’s (P&G’s) pharmaceutical division. The deal includes the rights to Taclonex, Taclonex Scalp and Dovonex as well as rights to all products in Leo Pharma’s pipeline.

‘This transaction allows Warner Chilcott to concentrate on new strategic initiatives, including the acquisition and integration of the Proctor & Gamble Pharmaceuticals business and enables LEO Pharma to expand beyond research and development and into the commercialization of products in the United States,’ said Warner Chilcott’s chief executive Roger Boissonneault.

Pfizer and Wyeth to sell off some animal health assets

In order to comply with monopolies regulators, Pfizer and Wyeth are selling off some of their animal health assets to German rival Boehringer Ingelheim. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Pfizer has said those products being divested account for less than 10 per cent of the combined company’s animal health product sales, which amounted to $3.91 billion last year.

GSK and Novartis get swine flu vax thumb up

The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) has recommended to the European Commission that swine flu (influenza A H1N1) vaccines developed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Novartis should be given marketing approval. The committee is currently recommending a two-dose vaccination schedule, at an interval of three weeks for adults for both Novartis’ Focetria and GSK’s Pandemrix.

Authorisation was given using a ‘mock up’ approach that allows vaccine development and authorisation in advance of a pandemic, based on information generated with a different virus strain that could have caused a pandemic - in this case H5N1. The strain was then switched for the current H1N1 strain with further smaller scale trials on around 6000 people.

‘Decades of experience with seasonal influenza vaccines indicate that insertion of a new strain in a vaccine should not substantially affect the safety or level of protection offered,’ said the EMEA in a statement.

More woe for Apotex

Following the import ban imposed on Apotex by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Canadian generics manufacturer has been dealt another blow and recalled selected lots of three health products from the Canadian market.

The recall follows safety concerns highlighted during Health Canada’s on-going inspections of Apotex manufacturing facilities in the Greater Toronto Area.

Biogen goes hostile in bid for Facet

After its initial approach to buy for Facet was knocked back, Biogen Idec has decided to launch a hostile takeover bid for the company, offering $14.50 per share - a 64 per cent premium over the closing share price of Facet’s common stock on 3 September. The companies are jointly developing two drugs, daclizumab for multiple sclerosis and colocoximab for solid tumours.

Q Chip to develop biosimilars

Cardiff, Wales-based encapsulation expert Q Chip is developing a range of sustained-release biosimilars using its Q-Sphera bioencapsulation technology. The company will initially focus on developing longer-lasting formulations of the anticancer drug leuprolide and the acromegaly drug ocreotide.

The Q-Sphera microspheres are made from bioresorbable polymers and with a diameter of 80 microns can be injected using a 27-29 gauge needle.

INDUSTRY

A123 goes public

Lithium ion battery maker A123 has got off to a great start as a public company, selling 3 million more shares than expected at nearly $5 more per share during its initial flotation on the NASDAQ stock market. The company sold 28 million shares of common stock at $13.50 per share, beating predictions that they would sell for between $8 and $9.50.

The cash boost follows a $250 million grant from the US Department of Energy to build advanced battery production facilities in the US.

The company has a history of making losses and is uncertain about its ability to make a profit, yet despite these failings, increasing awareness of the climate change issues has left investors keen to gamble on the clean technology company.

While the company posted a loss of $40.7 million in the first half of 2009 (due in part to research and development expenses) it has managed to form alliances with General Electric, BMW, Chrysler and General Motors.

Air Liquide to build €10 million production unit

Air Liquide has announced that it will invest €10 million (£9.2 million) to build a dedicated nitrogen production plant in Germany’s Solar Valley in Thalheim. Due to be started in 2010, the plant will produce more than 38 million tonnes per year of nitrogen and supply photovoltaic experts Calyxo, Sunfilm and Q-Cells.

US court reopens emissions case against electric companies

The US Appeals court has reinstated a multistate lawsuit against five large power companies, which run fossil fueled power stations, that was dismissed by the district court four years ago. The states are claiming that the carbon dioxide emissions from the companies’ plants are creating a public nuisance of global warming.

New York City and eight US states are collectively suing the companies - which includes American Electric Power - to try and force them to cap and then reduce their carbon dioxide emissions.

Two more Sasol plant employees die

Two employees from petrochemical giant Sasol’s plant in Secunda, South Africa, died last week after breathing in toxic gases while working. The plant already had a chequered safety history; with one worker death earlier this year, two in 2005 and 10 in 2004.

Sugar dust explosion blamed on shoddy equipment and maintenance

The US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has issued its final report on the cause of the sugar dust explosion at the Imperial Sugar refinery in Georgia, US, on 7 February 2008, that killed six workers and injured dozens more. The CSB concluded that the explosion was triggered by the ongoing release of combustible sugar dust, and pointed the finger of blame at inadequate equipment design, maintenance and housekeeping.

DSM helps break solar cell efficiency record

Dutch materials company DSM has said its KhepriCoat anti-reflective coating system has helped achieve the highest energy conversion efficiency of a full-sized solar module. The module, designed by the Energy research Centre in the Netherlands, achieved a conversion efficiency of 16.4 per cent, breaking the previous record of 15.5 per cent by 0.9 per cent.

The KhepriCoat has been shown to increase light transmission through glass by up to 4 per cent - leading to a transmission rate of around 96 per cent for wavelengths between 400nm and 1200nm.

Matt Wilkinson and Nina Notman

Its been a busy week, with a slew of merger and acquisition activity in the instrumentation market, and to top it off our intrepid business editor has only just returned from climbing Kilimanjaro to find a pile of news bigger than Kili’s summit of 5895m sat atop his desk…

PHARMACEUTICALS

Eli Lilly shake up

5500 Eli Lilly employees are to be the latest casualties in the pharma sector as the US drugmaker announced major restructuring plans that will see nearly 14 per cent of its workforce axed. The company will be reorganised into five business units covering oncology, diabetes, emerging markets, established markets and animal health.

The revamp, designed to reduce costs by $1.1 billion (£670 million) by 2011, is in anticipation of the expiry of a series of patents covering the company’s products - beginning with the loss of protection for its blockbuster antipsychotic Zyprexa, in 2011.

‘These changes will challenge us and require new ways of thinking and acting,’ said John Lechleiter, Lilly’s chief executive. ‘Under this new operating model, Lilly has the opportunity not only to better navigate this uncertain, challenging time, but to emerge with renewed strength and focus.’

Elan’s J&J deal rejigged

Irish biopharma firm Elan Pharma has had to rejig its deal to sell a stake in the firm to Johnson & Johnson (J&J) after a US district court identified an ‘unintended breach of its Tsyabri agreement with Biodgen Idec’.

The original $1.5 billion deal would have landed J&J an 18.4 per cent stake in Elan, a majority position in its Alzheimer’s portfolio and an option to buy Biogen’s share of its Tsyabri collaboration. However, the option to buy into the Tsyabri collaboration was in breach of its earlier contract with Biogen, so Elan had to scrap that part of the deal - with J&J knocking $100 million off the price of the equity investment.

BMS gets out of Asia

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) has shed another ‘non-core asset’ and sold off its Indonesian subsidiary and the rights to various over-the-counter (OTC) products in the Asia-Pacific region to Japan’s Taisho Pharmaceutical for $310 million.

This seventh divestiture by BMS appears out of kilter with the majority of pharmaceutical companies that are trying to increase their presence in the OTC and generics marketplaces as well as increasing their geographic reach.

According to Dieter Weinand, president, intercontinental, Bristol-Myers Squibb, ‘this planned divestiture is a part of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s strategic transformation into a more focused next-generation BioPharma company that develops and commercialises products that address serious unmet medical needs.’

‘The company is looking closely at its geographic and manufacturing footprint to align more closely to the scale and size of a BioPharma company.’

Bayer names Thermo’s Dekkers as next CEO

Breaking the tradition of promoting chief executives from within company ranks, Bayer has announced that Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Marijn Dekkers will take over from Werner Wenning as chief executive of Bayer as of October 2010. In the meantime, he will join the company as head of Bayer Healthcare.

Dekkers’s record as a dealmaker at Thermo Fisher Scientific has led many analysts to speculate that the move may herald the breakup of the German pharmaceutical and chemicals conglomerate to enable it to focus on developing medicines.

Marc Casper, Thermo’s chief operating officer, has been named as Dekkers’s replacement at the instrument and laboratory reagent company. Casper took over the reigns as chief operating officer in May 2008 and spoke to Chemistry World earlier this year.

LABORATORY

World’s largest mass spec buisiness sold

Life Technologies and MDS have decided to sell their Applied Biosystems SCIEX mass spectrometry joint venture to Danaher Corporation for $1.1 billion. Under the agreement Danaher will purchase and combine both the commercial and marketing operations of the business, currently handled by Life Technologies, and the research, development and marketing functions which have been handled by MDS.

While Life Technologies is only selling off its share of the mass spectrometry business (for $450 million), MDS is selling its entire MDS Analytical Technologies business for $650 million. MDS has also announced its intention to sell off its MDS Pharma Services business to leave it focused solely on its medical isotope business MDS Nordion.

Dionex buys ESA Life Sciences’ HPLC assets

Chromatography expert Dionex has agreed to buy the the ESA Life Science tools business unit from Magellan Bioscience. The deal will add three HPLC detector families to Dionex’s HPLC offering, the Corona universal charged aerosol detector (CAD), as well as the CoulArray and Coulochem electrochemical detectors.

While financial details of the deal were not disclosed, Dionex is anticipating the transaction will generate additional revenue of $12 - $15 million a year.

PerkinElmer buys GE Healthcare’s catalogue radiochemicals

Following the sale of GE Healthcare’s custom radiolabelling services to Quotient Bioscience, the US industry giant has now agreed to sell its catalogue radiochemicals offering to PerkinElmer.

According to PerkinElmer, the deal will enable it to provide the largest selection of radiolabelled compounds to the global scientific community.

‘This asset purchase reinforces PerkinElmer’s continued position as the leading company in HTS radiochemicals and related instruments, as we remain committed to supporting critical radiochemicals-based research,’ said Richard Eglen, president of biodiscovery at PerkinElmer.

Corning buys Axygen BioScience

US glass expert Corning has bought Axygen BioScience for an undisclosed amount to bolster its presence in the laboratory equipment market. The deal will add a range of pipettes, pipette tips, high throughput screening products, centrifuges and incubators to Corning’s laboratory product offering.

‘Axygen’s product portfolio and established distribution network will significantly strengthen Corning’s life sciences platform and are critical components to our long-term growth strategy for this business,’ said Peter Volanakis, Corning’s chief operating officer. ‘We believe this highly strategic acquisition offers synergies that will allow us to grow our life sciences business to more than $500 million in revenue by 2011.’

INDUSTRY

CSB calls for better education

The US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has called for chemical engineering curricula in the US to include reactive hazard recognition and management following its investigation into the December 2007 explosion at T2 Laboratories, in Jacksonville, US.

The CSB found that the explosion was caused by a runaway chemical reaction that ‘likely resulted from an inadequate reactor cooling system’. The investigators concluded that T2 did not recognise all of the hazards involved in making a gasoline additive. As the two owners of T2 had undergraduate degrees in chemistry and chemical engineering, the CSB called for ‘improving the education of chemical engineering students on reactive chemical hazards’.

Following the blast four T2 employees were killed and a further four injured, while 28 employees of nearby business were injured when building walls and windows blew in.

‘This is one of the largest reactive chemical accidents the CSB has investigated,” said CSB chairman John Bresland. ‘We hope our findings once again call attention to the need for companies to be aware of how to control reactive chemical hazards.’

LyondellBasell to offer stock to exit bankruptcy

LyondellBasell is planning to become a public company and float itself on the stock market in its bid to exit bankruptcy before the end of the year, according to documents filed with a US bankruptcy court. The company was forced to seek bankruptcy protection in January due to the credit crisis and the sharp downturn in demand for chemicals leaving the company unable to finance the debts incurred from its leveraged buyout of Lyondell chemical in 2007.

Sasol sees profits fall as sales rise

Despite seeing its turnover for the year increase 6 per cent to Rand137 billion (£11 billion) Sasol saw its operating profits fell 26 per cent to Rand24 billion.

‘Our deleveraged balance sheet and strong cash flows continue to serve the group well in weathering the storm and in funding our prioritised growth programme in tough credit markets,’ said Pat Davies, chief executive of Sasol. ‘The global economic recession created opportunities for us to examine all our operations.’

The company was hit with fines for anticompetitive behaviour of Rand3.9 billion, with Davies saying, ‘we have acted swiftly to improve competition law compliance and will have completed our comprehensive group-wide review by December 2009.’

Arkema to build CNT plant

Arkema is building a 400 tonne per year carbon nanotube (CNT) pilot production plant in Mont, France. The plant is scheduled to start up in 2011 and will be the only CNT plant to use an entirely biologically sourced raw material - bioethanol.

The plant will use a continuous catalytic chemical vapour deposition process to grow CNTs on iron particles that control the characteristics and growth of the CNTs.

ENERGY

GE blowing in the wind

GE has bought Norwegian off-shore wind-power expert ScanWind to boost its position in the wind-power arena. According to Victor Abate, vice president of Renewable Energy for GE Energy, ‘the acquisition of ScanWind is an important step in our strategy to place GE in a strong position in the growing offshore wind segment.’

Showa Shell spends big on solar

Japan’s Showa Shell is investing $1.1billion to build its third  copper-indium-selenium (CIS) thin film photovoltaic cell plant which will boost its production capacity by a factor of ten to 1 gigawatt.

The company is predicting rapid growth in the market for solar cells due to subsidy programmes for residential photovoltaic systems in Japan and the Green New Deal Policy in the US.

Matt Wilkinson