The UK Government has announced landmark commitments on AI, semiconductors, space and more which form a key part of a new UK-Republic of Korea Accord. The two countries will work closer together than ever before to harness the potential of critical technologies like AI, quantum and semiconductors to create jobs and unlock economic growth, alongside a new £4.5m fund to create joint research and innovation partnerships. This builds on the recent international discussions on safe, responsible AI development at the AI Safety Summit, the next edition of which will be co-hosted by the Republic of Korea and the UK in 2024.
Japanese food ingredients producer and biotech Ajinomoto and US gene therapy development company Forge Biologics have entered into a definitive agreement for Ajinomoto to acquire Forge in an all-cash $620m deal.
US pharma Noramco, an active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) manufacturer specialising in controlled substances, has acquired the drug product business unit of US CDMO Cambrex, previously known as Halo Pharmaceuticals. Noramco is returning to the Halo Pharmaceutical brand as part of this acquisition.
Ceres, a UK developer of solid-oxide fuel cell technology and electrochemical technology, has announced that its first-of-a-kind solid oxide electrolyser is producing hydrogen at the German site of technology partner AVL.
German pharma Boehringer Ingelheim and US technology corporation IBM have announced an agreement that will enable Boehringer to use IBM’s foundation model technologies to discover novel candidate antibodies for the development of efficient therapeutics. Boehringer will use an IBM-developed, pre-trained AI model that will be further fine-tuned on additional Boehringer proprietary data.
German chemicals manufacturer BASF has announced the expansion of defoamer capacity at its Dilovasi plant in Turkey. The new production line increases the company’s on-site capacity, a response to rising demand for its Foamaster and Foamstar products in South-East Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Also Boehringer Ingelheim has acquired Swiss biotech T3 Pharmaceuticals for up to CHF450m. T3 Pharma has developed a proprietary therapy platform that uses live bacteria to deliver immune-modulating proteins to cancer cells and tumour micro-environments.
Japanese pharma Astellas and US biopharma Propella Therapeutics have announced that Astellas, through a US subsidiary, will buy Propella. Under the deal, Astellas will acquire PRL-02 (abiraterone decanoate), an androgen biosynthesis inhibitor being developed to treat prostate cancer.
Anglo-Swedish pharma AstraZeneca has launched Evinova, a provider of digital health solutions to meet the needs of healthcare professionals, regulators and patients. With long-term backing from AstraZeneca and strategic collaborations with US provider of biopharma services Parexel and US contract research organisation Fortrea, Evinova will offer digital products and services to the life sciences and healthcare sector. The application of digital health technologies is seen as a solution to reduce healthcare costs, while also helping to improve patient experience and outcomes. Evinova will, for example, use AI and machine learning algorithms to aid clinicians.
The University of Glasgow and Dutch science facilities company Kadans Science Partner, supported by Scottish Enterprise, are constructing a new Health Innovation Hub in Glasgow, UK. The Hub is due for completion in summer 2025 and will house commercial businesses as well as the University of Glasgow-led Living Laboratory for Precision Medicine – a programme supported by UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) Strength in Places Funding, which is focused on translating cutting-edge research and healthcare innovation into a real-world clinical setting.
Cancer Research UK and the KWF Dutch Cancer Society (KWF), two of the world’s largest charitable funders of cancer research, have announced a new multi-project strategic partnership to advance promising therapeutic agents for cancer through early clinical development. Under the partnership, KWF intends to provide funding to enable the development of select early phase clinical programmes through Cancer Research UK’s Centre for Drug Development (CDD).
$2.5bn
US pharma Eli Lilly has revealed plans to construct a new $2.5bn manufacturing site in Alzey, Germany. The facility will expand the company’s global parenteral (injectable) product and device manufacturing network and support an increased demand for Lilly’s medicines, including its diabetes and obesity portfolio.
750,000L/yr
The UK government has awarded £1.38m to UK e-fuels developer Carbon Neutral Fuels (CNF) and its partners to support the development of their sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) project via power-to-liquid and direct air capture (ASAP-DAC) technologies. The group, which comprises CNF, UK DAC technology firm Mission Zero Technologies, and UK development consultancy Io Consulting, will conduct feasibility studies for a UK-based e-fuels demonstration plant. The facility will be capable of producing 750,000L/year of Jet A1-compatible e-SAF using carbon removal with clean hydrogen technology.
2500t/day
Danish catalysis and process technology company Topsoe, which specialises in carbon emission reduction technologies, has signed a green ammonia contract with Australian sustainable energy infrastructure company Allied Green Ammonia for Allied’s project in Gove, Northern Territory, Australia. Allied’s facility is planned to start producing green ammonia in 2028/29 with a production capacity of 2500t/day.
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California governor Gavin Newsom has signed a bill banning the use of four common food additives linked to health problems. The new law makes California the first state to outlaw chemicals that are allowed by the US Food and Drug Administration. The California Food Safety Act goes into effect 1 January 2027, after which, any person or entity that manufactures, sells, or distributes food products containing the additives in question – Red Dye No. 3, potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil and propylparaben – will be fined.
Danish pharma Novo Nordisk is investing more than DK16bn (€2.1bn) to expand its existing production site in Chartres, France, for its current and future product portfolio within serious chronic diseases. The investment will increase the capacity of the manufacturing site, adding aseptic production, finished-product processes and an extension of the current quality control laboratory.
German science and technology company Merck KGaA and US preclinical biopharma Caraway Therapeutics have entered into a definitive agreement under which Merck, through a subsidiary, will acquire Caraway for a total potential price of up to $610m.
Brazilian polyolefins producer Braskem has announced its polymer recycling technology research partnership has been awarded a $600,000 research, demonstration and development grant from the Reducing Embodied Energy and Decreasing Emissions (REMADE) Institute, a public-private partnership established by the US Department of Energy. The project is focused on a new recycling process technology to extract pure polypropylene from PCR multilayer packaging waste that is hard to recycle. The project is a partnership between Braskem America, Michigan Technological University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
UK clinical-stage biotech Autifony Therapeutics, which is developing pharmaceutical treatments for rare central nervous system disorders and other serious brain diseases, has entered into an exclusive global licensing agreement with Irish biopharma Jazz Pharmaceuticals for up to $770.5m. The partnership aims to discover and develop drug candidates targeting two different ion channel targets associated with neurological disorders. Autifony will lead drug discovery and preclinical development activities on the two targets, and following successful completion of preclinical development, Jazz will lead all clinical development, manufacturing and regulatory activities and commercialisation.
German science and technology company Merck KGaA has completed the second phase of its new €29m Biologics Testing Centre in China. The first phase of investment provided testing services for viral clearance studies, a critical step in drug development. The second phase adds capabilities for cell line characterisation that support biopharma customers to ensure the safety, purity and identity of their cell banks.
Swiss specialty biopharma Basilea Pharmaceutica, a commercial-stage company working to meet the needs of patients with severe bacterial and fungal infections, has entered into an asset purchase agreement with US pharma Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, an affiliate of US pharma Pfizer, to acquire the rights to fosmanogepix, a clinical-stage broad-spectrum antifungal candidate. Fosmanogepix is a potential first-in-class antifungal treatment candidate with a novel mechanism of action. It is available in intravenous and oral formulations and has been evaluated for efficacy and safety in a Phase 1/Phase 2 programme, including three open-label Phase 2 studies for the treatment of Candidemia, including Candida auris, and invasive mould infections.
Swiss-German company Sandoz, which focuses on generic pharmaceuticals and biosimilars, has opened a new facility for the production of penicillin at Kundl, Austria, and a new biosimilar development centre in Holzkirchen, Germany. The €150m Kundl investment included a contribution of €50m from the Austrian federal government.
Flavour Specialty Ingredients, a UK $100m manufacturer of high-value, specialty base aromas – key inputs to the flavour and fragrance industry – is rebranding with a new name: Natara.
Orbia, a Mexican infrastructure company with a fluorination business, and Belgian chemical company Solvay have signed a joint venture agreement to create the largest polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) production facilities for battery materials in North America. This partnership brings together security of supply of US Inflation Reduction Act compliant materials and PVDF technology for the region’s transition to electric vehicles.
German pharma Bayer and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard universities in the US have extended their research collaboration of 10 years by an additional five years, to develop and advance innovative cancer treatments. The expanded agreement will focus on joint cancer target identification and discovery of new therapeutic approaches in oncology.
Swedish battery developer and manufacturer Northvolt has developed a new sodium-ion battery, a technology using less critical minerals which could lessen dependence on China. Sodium-ion batteries are viewed as a cheaper and in some respects safer alternative to the lithium-ion batteries widely used in both electronics and electric vehicles, but which pose a fire risk if damaged. The company said the new cell had a capacity of 160Whr/kg. In comparison, lithium-ion batteries seen in modern EVs have an energy density of over 250Whr/kg.
OXCCU, a UK carbon-to-value company converting CO2 and hydrogen into industrial and consumer products, has won a £2.8m grant along with the University of Sheffield Translational Energy Research Centre (TERC) and UK supplier of bespoke fuels Coryton. The capital will be used to demonstrate the world’s first direct CO2 hydrogenation process, turning CO2 directly into aviation fuel range hydrocarbons.
Safire Technology Group, a US venture-backed battery safety technologies company, and Glatfelter, a US supplier of engineered materials, have announced a strategic partnership to develop a new battery separator optimised for Safire’s SAFe Impact Resistant Electrolyte, designed for increased safety from Li-ion-powered applications. The new separator will first be integrated in Li-ion batteries being developed for the United States Air Force.
Glox Therapeutics, a UK company developing precision antibiotic therapies based on naturally occurring bacteriocins, has raised £4.3m in seed funding to develop effective targeted therapeutics against antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. Glox will use the funding to establish laboratories in Oxford and Glasgow and expand its team to accelerate its bacteriocin development programme.
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