NEWS
IN BRIEF
Bigger in Brazil Innospec has acquired Brazilian speciality chemicals company QGP and will integrate it into its Performance Chemicals business . With this acquisition , Innospec said it “ now has a meaningful manufacturing , customer-service and product development base in South America ”, one of its key markets . QGP also adds new surfactant and other chemistries in important growth markets like agriculture .
Biocatalysis deal Johnson Matthey has formed a partnership in biocatalysts with Basecamp Research , which maps biodiversity for AI-driven computational bio-design . This will focus on accelerating biocatalyst development for small molecule manufacturers and will cover such key chemical transformations as asymmetric reductions of ketones and chiral reductive amination .
Eurofins agro boost Eurofins Scientific is to acquire the operations of SGS Crop Science in 14 countries , subject to required consultation with local stakeholders . The business has locations in Europe , North America , South Africa and Brazil , with activities in agroscience contract research , agricultural input testing , precision farming and agronomy . It had sales of about € 49 million in 2022 .
Barentz buys Indian firm Netherlands-based Barentz International , a distributor of life science and speciality ingredients , has acquired Radian Chemical Products of India , which is mainly active in niche applications in colour cosmetics and personal care . Barentz thus expects to reinforce its portfolio and achieve “ significant growth potential ” across the Asia-Pacific region .
AGC completes largescale line
AGC ’ s subsidiary AGC Wakasa Chemicals has held a formal ceremony for the completion of a large-scale , multi-purpose production line at its Kaminaka plant in Japan . Scheduled to begin operations in within Q1 , the new line will add 50 % to AGC Wasaka ’ s capacity for CDMO services for agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals .
The company said that this line , “ together with the existing small and medium-scale facilities will be able to meet demand for a wide range of production volume and chemical synthesis ”. The plant had also strengthened its development function in 2022 , to enhance collaboration between process development and manufacturing .
AGC subsequently announced plans to spend € 20 million to expand its biopharmaceutical CDMO capabilities at the Yokohama technical centre . Development services for gene and cell ( C & GT ) therapies will begin in 2025 , to be followed by development and manufacturing services for mRNA pharmaceuticals , mammalian cell cultures and C & GT in 2026 .
Under its medium-term management plan , AGC plus-2023 , the AGC Group has positioned its life science business including pharmaceutical and agrochemical CDMO services , as one of its strategic businesses . There will be further expansions as demand for both grows , the company added . The business is largely based on strengths in halogen chemistry .
Piramal Pharma Solutions has held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the expansion of its antibody-drug conjugate ( ADC ) facility in Grangemouth , Scotland . This increases capacity by 70-80 %, enabling the scale-up of commercial manufacturing batches , with two new ADC suites to complement the existing three . It also includes ADCelerate , the company ’ s rapid early-stage ADC development offer , which combines the development of the monoclonal antibody , linker / payload , conjugation and sterile fill / finish into a single integrated programme across four sites worldwide .
12 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981