NEWS
IN BRIEF
Cambrex hits milestone Cambrex has completed initial engineering studies for its largescale API plant in Charles City, Iowa. Groundbreaking is scheduled for late 2026. The expansion will add 20 % to the site’ s large-scale manufacturing capacity via a new plant with 140 m 3 of capacity, including large- and mid-scale reactors, advanced Hastelloy agitated filter-dryers and enhancements to existing suites.
Fermentation growth Novonesis is to acquire an advanced fermentation facility at Rayong, Thailand, from Meihua for around $ 50 million. The company expects this to be commercially operational in 2027 and can be further expanded to support the production of human milk oligosaccharides and other products. It follows previous regional expansions in the US, China and Brazil.
Lubrizol opens up Lubrizol has inaugurated a new‘ beauty research institute’ in São Paulo, complementing others in Barcelona and Shanghai. This will carry out in vivo clinical testing for skincare and haircare products and will be Lubrizol’ s only facility worldwide to integrate an application laboratory and dedicated clinical testing infrastructure within the same space.
New markets for bile acids Italy’ s ICE Pharma has announced a strategic expansion to its vertically integrated bile acid platform that will take it beyond its core API business into higher-value ursodeoxycholic acid-based finished dosages, nutraceuticals and speciality excipients. CEO Agostino Barazza said that this“ reflects a deliberate strategy to increase value creation and strengthen long-term growth”.
Neuland to open peptide facility this summer
India’ s Neuland Laboratories has announced that it will open the first of four planned modules at the new peptide facility at its Bonthapally site. This will add commercialscale capabilities up to multi-tonne to the existing clinical-stage S-Block facilities.
Module One( artist’ s impression pictured) will provide 6,370 L of solid- and liquid-phase peptide synthesis( SPPS / LPPS) reactor capacity for sizes of 250-3,000 L in LPPS, plus SPPS reactors at up to 500 L scale. The company said that it has secured firm commitments of about $ 30 million.
The site has been designed for ongoing expansion, with space to accommodate additional 2,000 L SPPS synthesisers and multiple 5,000 L LPPS reactors as future modules come online. Neuland expects R & D employee numbers to grow by > 10 % this year and the manufacturing team to more than double to support the ramp-up.
The facility includes expanded downstream capabilities, such as commercial-scale, multicolumn prep-HPLC systems, lyophilisers and dryers, enhanced solvent-handling, tank farm infrastructure, dedicated warehouses and upgraded waste management systems. The plants will also feature digital operation systems and scalable peptide technologies across synthesis, purification and drying.
Evonik launches successor to Creavis
Evonik is realigning its strategic research unit, Creavis, with the launch of the Evonik Innovation Factory. This, it said,“ operates as an entrepreneurial development unit, accelerating the transition of technological breakthroughs into industrial applications … it has a clear mandate: innovation with speed, market focus and application relevance”.
At the heart of this is a mandatory average timeframe of five years for a programme to be developed to the point where Evonik can transfer it to a business line, ready for operations and production. The company will draw on its own expertise and external partners from academia, start-up ecosystems and industry partners.
The Innovation Factory focuses on areas where Evonik has established strengths and the market is demanding new concepts. Among those highlighted are rhamnolipids biosurfactants, which are already used in cosmetic and cleaning products. The company is also pursuing the development of biopolymers to replace fossil raw materials and anion exchange membranes for the green hydrogen economy.
8 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981