NEWS
IN BRIEF
Gland, Neuland partner
Under a long-term strategic CDMO partnership agreement, Gland Pharma will establish a dedicated manufacturing suite at its JNPC facility in Visakhapatnam, India, to support Neuland Laboratories’ requirements for complex sterile APIs. The new suite is expected to add about 1,400 kg / year of capacity and manufacture multiple sterile products, expanding Gland ' s contractmanufacturing footprint in high-value injectable APIs.
Evonik to upgrade Lafayette
Evonik is to invest $ 100 million over the next five years to modernise key equipment at its API facility at the Tippecanoe Labs site in Lafayette, Indiana, including large reactors and other critical systems. The aim is to enhance reliability and enable greater automation so as to meet growing demand for US-based CDMO services for drug substance.
Nitroguanidine boost
Alzchem has picked Bushy Park, South Carolina, to host a site to make nitroguanidine for military propellants under a contract with the US government, which is contributing to the $ 150 million investment alongside state and county authorities. Construction will start in 2027, with commissioning planned for 2029. Alzchem has also recently commissioned of additional nitroguanidine capacity in Germany.
Alphora expansion
CDMO Alphora, which is owned by Eurofins, has added 58 m 3 of new suites at its facility in Mississauga, Ontario, to meet growing demand for both standard and high-potency APIs. These feature walk-in fume hoods that support glass reactors up to 100 L, an analytical lab and aGMP warehouse. This also further expands the site’ s kilo lab capacities, the company said.
LG Chem enters semiconductor strippers
South Korea’ s LG Chem has begun the mass production and supply of semiconductor strippers to Amkor Technology, a global player in outsourced semiconductor assembly and test. This marks LG Chem’ s first entry into this specific market, which it has done via the capabilities it developed through its display stripper business.
Semiconductor strippers are critical process materials that are used to remove photoresist and residue remaining on semiconductor substrates after circuit patterning. This has become increasingly important as semiconductor circuits continue to shrink, directly affecting manufacturing yield and product reliability.
LG Chem demonstrated the technology’ s competitiveness by passing Amkor’ s qualification process. The stripper it is supplying has been customised and optimised for the Amkor’ s new production line. It is claimed to reduce the process time required to remove photoresist and process residue by about 50 %.
Sudarshan buys aluminium dyes site
Via a European subsidiary, Indian colours and pigments giant Sudarshan Chemical Industries has signed a definitive asset sale and transfer agreement to buy Clariant Additives’ aluminium dyes and chemicals manufacturing plant in Muttenz, Switzerland. Terms were not disclosed.
The deal, which should close on 4 January 2027, essentially converts a supply relationship into direct ownership as the plant has manufactured Sudarshan’ s aluminium dyes portfolio, including the Sanodal, Sanodure, Sanodye and Anodal brands, plus organic intermediates, for many years. The workforce will continue at the site.
Aluminium dyes are used to colour anodised aluminium, giving finished surfaces their colour and durability in automotive and consumer electronics components, packaging and industrial parts. Sudarshan covers the segment worldwide in cooperation with regional partners.
This follows on from the opening in June of Sudarshan’ s second global head office at Schwalbach am Taunus, near Frankfurt, where it acquired the Heubach Group in 2025. The company now operates across over 120 countries, with 19 manufacturing sites.
Subsequently, Sudarshan sold its VP4 Frankfurt subsidiary to Celanese in order to focus wholly on pigments. VP4 Frankfurt came as part of Heubach. It mainly toll-produces diketene, an intermediate for functional food ingredients, on behalf of Nutrinova, an affiliate of Celanese and Mitsui. Nutrinova will continue to supply Sudarshan with the small volumes of material it still requires.
8 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981