Chemistry World Blog

PCSK9 inhibitors for cholesterol problems perform well – $500m for Ista – And light materials from Bayer (more…)

AbbVie emerges from Abbott split – EPA proposes new rules for 5 chemicals – And UK court rules against Seroquel XR patent

PHARMACEUTICAL – A £200 million biotechnology and life sciences research fund has been launched in the UK by the Wellcome Trust. The fund will invest in ‘promising healthcare businesses’, typically at an early stage of their development. It will be led by Nigel Keen, who is chair of several technology companies in the healthcare and electronics industries, including Oxford Instruments, Laird and Bioquell.

PHARMACEUTICAL – US healthcare giant Abbott has renamed the branded drugs part of its business following its decision to split that part from the medical devices part – creating two separate organisations. The new pharma company, to be launched by the end of 2012, will be called AbbVie, while the medical devices company – which will include the generic drugs and food supplements portfolio – will inherit the existing Abbott name. Richard Gonzalez, currently executive vice president for global pharmaceuticals, will become chief executive and chair of AbbVie.

CHEMICAL – The US Environmental Protection Agency has proposed new rules that would force companies to report any new uses that arise in relation to a group of potentially harmful chemicals: polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs); benzidine dyes; a ‘short chain chlorinated paraffin’; hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD); and di-n-pentyl phthalate (DNPP). These chemicals have been used in a range of consumer products and industrial applications, including: paints; printing inks; pigments and dyes in textiles; flame retardants in flexible foams; and plasticisers. And although most of them are no longer made or used in the US, they can still be imported in consumer goods or for use in new products.

PHARMACEUTICAL – AstraZeneca is ditching TC-5214, a drug candidate it licensed from US pharma company Targacept in 2009 under a deal worth up to $740 million (£470 million), $200 million of which AstraZeneca paid up front. The two companies were interested using TC-5214, an enantiomer of mecamylamine, as a treatment for depression. But recent trials have returned poor results, and AstraZeneca now says that it is not going to pursue marketing approval for the drug candidate. The move will cost the company $50 million in intangible assets.

CHEMICAL – Dow has opened a new R&D site in Hwaseong in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. The site has room for 300 researchers and will become the global hub for organic light-emitting diode (OLED) research at Dow. In addition to OLED research, the site will focus on lithography, display materials and advanced chip packaging. The company says that it has now invested more than $400 million in semiconductor, display and LED technology in Korea over the last decade.

PHARMACEUTICAL – Irish pharma major Shire has signed a $190 million deal with Heptares for rights to A2A antagonists discovered by the company. Adenosine A2A is a G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) involved in regulating dopamine in the brain. There is evidence that inhibiting the receptor may be useful in the treatment of central nervous system disorders. Shire says that this is the first time a ‘structure based’ drug discovery approach has been applied – from the outset – to a GPCR drug target.

PHARMACEUTICAL – AstraZeneca has lost out in a UK legal dispute over its Seroquel XR (quetiapine) ‘extended release’ brand. The company will lose protection for its initial quetiapine patents in only a few days. However, it has another patent describing an ‘extended release’ formulation of the drug, which would have extended its exclusivity until 2017. Now, a UK court has ruled that patent invalid in a case brought by a group of generics manufacturers. The company says that, in similar cases elsewhere, the courts have validated the extended patent. The Seroquel brand is an important part of the AstraZeneca portfolio – it generated $4.3 billion (£2.7 billion) in global sales in 2011.

CHEMICAL – Electronics giant Sony is looking to sell its chemicals business – Sony Chemical & Information Device Corporation (SCID) – to Japanese state owned company the Development Bank of Japan. SCID makes a range of adhesive and optical materials for use in electronic and magnetic components for modern devices, such as smart phones and tablet computers. The two parties have not yet confirmed any financial terms of the deal.

Andrew Turley

ECHA looks at chromium VI in leather products – Sanofi buys blood vessel blocking gel – And generic Lexapro arrives (more…)

AstraZeneca takes on FDA over Seroquel – Pfizer ditches Indian insulin biosimilars deal – And UK launches CCS competition (more…)

GSK to launch apprenticeship scheme – Chemical in consumer products study – And BPA linked to heart disease? (more…)

Alcohol dependence drug shows promise in Phase III – Evonik sells colourants – And the ECHA highlights SVHC products (more…)

Genzyme brings new Fabrazyme plant online – Clariant site to create 500 R&D jobs – And new vaccines venture in Japan (more…)

Merck KGaA talks restructuring – Abbott in $1.3bn autoimmune deal – And focus on rare diseases in Europe and UK (more…)

Novartis pays $440m for HCV candidate – BASF calls time on lead chromate – And thumbs up for obesity drug (more…)

US biotech – and Sanofi subsidiary – Genzyme has confirmed plans to close its R&D site in Cambridge, UK, by the end of 2012 putting 60 jobs under threat. The firm started the consultation process back in November 2011, when it said it was looking to consolidate its R&D structure geographically at four research hubs: one in Germany, one in France, one in Boston, US, and one somewhere in Asia. Sanofi says that it ‘remains committed to keeping its strategic presence in the UK’. It adds that it is ‘looking at options to minimise the number of job losses, either through transfer of roles within the Sanofi group or through assisting impacted employees in finding alternative employment’. The two other UK sites – a manufacturing site in Haverhill and an R&D site in Oxford – will remain.

French drug maker Sanofi bought Genzyme in February 2011 for $20 billion in one of the biggest biotech deals the industry has seen.

Are you affected by the closure? Let us know what you think…

Andrew Turley