NEWS
IN BRIEF
New investment for CatSci UK drug development firm CatSci has secured £ 4.5 million of investment from ‘ alternative lender ’ Boost & Co . The company will use the funding to install new equipment and expand its laboratories by adding capabilities in chemical and analytical development , material science , product formulation and GMP analytical testing in both Cardiff and London . Some will be used to refinance its existing debt .
IMCD opens Mexico HQ IMCD México , which comprises the former DCS Pharma and acquisitions from Milliken , Banner Química and Maquimex , has opened its new headquarters in a LEED Gold-certified building in Mexico City ’ s Torre Polanco development . It will be a centralised hub for digitalisation initiatives , formulation and business operations .
Brenntag into Israel Brenntag has entered the Israeli market by acquiring speciality chemicals distributor Y . S . Ashkenazi Agencies and its subsidiary Biochem Trading . Y . S . Ashkenazi is located at Kibbutz Netzer Sereni , close to both Ashdod Harbour and Tel Aviv airport . Its portfolio includes more than 500 products , plus value-added services and technical support . In 2021 , it had sales of about € 39 million .
Dorf Ketal buys Khyati Dorf Ketal of Mumbai , which claims to be India ’ s largest researchbased speciality chemicals manufacturer , with revenues of about € 300 million / year , has agreed to buy Khyati Chemicals . Based in Ahmedabad , Khyati has sales of about € 27 million / year , and is India ’ s second largest maker of optical brightening agents .
Sumitomo Chemical to build API plant
Sumitomo Chemical has announced plans to build a new plant for active APIs and intermediates to come onstream in September 2024 at its Oita works on the southern tip of Honshu ( pictured ). This comes in response to growing demand from the small molecule sector . No financial details were given . Oita , the company said , “ can manufacture a wide variety of APIs and intermediates that require complex chemical reactions and also flexibly scale from development to commercialisation ”. It is also compliant with EU , US and Japanese GMP standards . Sumitomo , which also began construction of a plant for drug substances for nucleic acid drugs at Oita in October 2021 , said that it “ will continue to enhance Oita Works as the core manufacturing site for the Sumitomo Chemical Group ’ s life science operations ”. It makes APIs and intermediates at other domestic sites in Gifu and Okayama .
ECHA proposes PFAS foam ban
The European Chemicals Agency ( ECHA ) has proposed to ban all per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances ( PFASs ) in fire-fighting foams in the EU . A six-month consultation period with stakeholders began on 23 March . This followed an investigation the agency carried out at the request of the European Commission into the strengths and weaknesses of five different options . It concluded that the risks posed by PFASs are currently not adequately controlled and that releases should be minimised . “ The restriction would prevent further groundwater and soil contamination and health risks for people and the environment ,” ECHA said . It added that all PFASs and their breakdown products are very persistent and some are known to harm human health or the environment . Under the proposal , makers of fire-fighting foams containing
PFASs would have a transition period to replace them and ensure that those released to the environment during that period are minimised . Expired foams and any waste foams would also need to be disposed of appropriately . It is estimated that the restriction would reduce PFAS emissions by more than 13,000 tonnes over 30 years at a cost of about € 7 billion . This includes modifying equipment , cleaning it to remove PFAS foam residues and the price difference between PFASs and alternative foams . Five Member States - the Netherlands , Germany , Denmark , Sweden and Norway - are separately working on a restriction proposal that will cover all PFASs in other uses . This is planned for submission to ECHA in January 2023 , using the same risk assessment methodology as in the proposal on fire-fighting foams .
10 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981