NEWS
£2.9m
Business digest
Local growth funding from the Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to the UK’s Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult (CGT) manufacturing centre. This will support collaborators at the CGT to develop high throughput quality control requirements, including monitoring systems and IT infrastructure, for cell and gene therapies.
$150m $40m
£10m
Investment by Bayer to build a cell culture technology centre at its Berkeley, CA, pharmaceutical development and manufacturing site in the US.
Investment by global drug delivery technology company Catalent for new equipment at its manufacturing facility in Winchester, Kentucky, US. Included in the investment are a laser drill for osmotic drug delivery, stick pack dosage manufacturing capabilities and a spray dryer.
UK-based global petrochemicals giant Ineos is investing $2bn in building its first ever manufacturing plants in Saudi Arabia, believed to be one of the largest UK investments ever in the Kingdom. The three world-scale plants, including a 425,000t acrylonitrile plant, the first of its kind in the Middle East when it starts up 2025, and a 400,000t LinearAlphaOlefin plant and associated world-scale PolyAlphaOlefin unit. These units will produce the key building blocks for carbon fibre, engineering polymers and synthetic lubricants that are pivotal to economic growth in the region. Saudi Aramco and Total are preparing the construction of a $5 bn petrochemical complex (Project Amiral), including a mixed- feedstock steam cracker expected to be 1.5m t in size, which will supply more than $4 bn of downstream derivatives and speciality chemicals units; the INEOS plants will be part of the project.
Swiss colour and speciality chemicals company Archroma, headquartered in Reinach, has opened a global competence centre for automotive and synthetic dyeing at its Korschenbroich site in Germany. The site will continue to operate as a production and laboratory facility, specialising in dyes and auxiliaries for synthetic fibres and wool.
Joint funding initiative for the UKI2S innovate accelerator, by UK seed-stage investor UKI2S and Innovate UK to encourage growth of early stage science and engineering companies. The two- year-project aims to back around 25 companies across a range of technologies. Grant sizes will be from below £100,000 up to £1m, with matching equity funding from syndicates led by UKI2S.
$1.15bn 12 06 | 2019
Outlay by Chugai Pharmaceuticals on a new R&D site in Yokohama, Japan. The site will combine the work of two Japanese drug discovery research labs, one in Gotemba and the other in Kamakura, both of which have increased their use of artificial intelligence and automation. Chugai expects to finish construction in August 2022, with operations running in January 2023.
BASF 3D Printing Solutions, a subsidiary of BASF New Business, headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany, and San Francisco- based Origin, a US open platform additive-manufacturing printer provider, are together collaborating with Danish footwear manufacturer, ECCO, to develop a new approach to footwear production. In addition, BASF 3D Printing Solutions is collaborating with US-based original equipment manufacturer Paxis to develop advanced applications and materials for Paxis’ proprietary 3D printing platform, WAV, currently under development. Meanwhile BASF is launching three Creation Centers in Shanghai, China; Tokyo, Japan; and Mumbai, India. Customers will work with BASF scientists at these centres to develop materials through to advanced prototyping, using interactive digital tools, and participate in various material workshops. BASF has also announced it will build engineering plastics and thermoplastic polyurethanes plants at its Verbund site in Zhanjiang, China. In addition, under its carbon management programme, BASF has applied for a patent to its process
for producing methanol from syngas with zero greenhouse gas emissions. Finally, the company together with The Estée Lauder Companies and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil is partnering with the civil society organisation Solidaridad to promote a sustainable palm oil production supply chain in Lampung, Indonesia.
The Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage will lead the UK’s new energy storage research network. The Supergen Energy Storage Network+ 2019, which has received £1m funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, will connect 19 researchers from 12 UK institutions focused on energy storage solutions. A further 60 organisations from the UK and abroad have pledged support for the network, 40 of which are associate partners with the network.
Global speciality chemicals company Clariant, headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, is opening a state-of-the-art consumer care innovation centre near New York City, US, later in 2019. The centre will aim to provide more differentiated and tailored products for personal, home and health care.
Dutch science-based company Royal DSM is moving into 3D printing. The company will collaborate with the Dutch-based CEAD, a supplier of 3D printing equipment, to co-develop pellet materials and explore the potential of the fused granulate fabrication printing technology for tooling and applications in the automotive industry. DSM is also partnering with Origin to develop new materials for additive manufacturing and explore new applications. Meanwhile, DSM has acquired the engineering plastics business of Indian chemicals manufacturer SRF. The acquisition is expected to close in Q3 2019.
US biopharmaceutical company Parvus Therapeutics, headquartered in California, has entered into a worldwide collaboration and license agreement with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, to develop, manufacture, and commercialise Parvus’ proprietary treatment for inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune liver diseases, and celiac disease. Parvus will receive an undisclosed upfront payment and is eligible to receive certain milestone payments within the collaboration.
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