Fri 20 Nov 2009
Chemistry World's weekly round-up of money and molecules
Posted by Matt under News , The Commercial ChemistNo Comments
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






‘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.’
Takeda has agreed to licence various obesity drug candidates from 










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.
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.



LyondellBassell







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