French-based CDMO EuroAPI has reached an agreement with Sanofi to finance the implementation of its Focus-27 restructuring programme through a €200 million perpetual subordinated hybrid bond. Sanofi, from which EuroAPI was originally spun out, remains its main shareholder and customer. It also agreed in principle to reserve minimum available capacities for selected products manufactured by EuroAPI through a €54 million payment.
CHT has held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new container cleaning and recycling plant at its site in Dusslingen, Germany, costing about €5 million. The company describes itself as a medium-sized global player for speciality chemicals that focuses on “sustainable chemical products and process solutions”, mainly in textile and general industrial applications.
Following an expansion and qualification phase, the consortium formed by Wacker Chemie and CordenPharma in Germany officially entered ‘pandemic readiness’ for the production of mRNA-based vaccines as of 1 June. They are now in stand-by phase and will receive a fee from the government for keeping their capacity and expertise available for at least five years. In all, they will be able to produce 80 million doses/year at short notice.
Veranova has initiated a “significant” expansion of its ADC and highly potent compound development and manufacturing capabilities at Devens, Massachusetts, at a cost of about $30 million. The company said that this will address growing demand for strong US-based capacity for ADCs and other potent small molecules.
Drug development services supplier CatSci has acquired its UK compatriot Reach Separations. No financial details were disclosed but the company said that this deal was supported by Keensight Capital, a private equity manager dedicated to pan-European growth buyout investments. The whole of the Reach Separations will transfer and the companies will be fully integrated.
Wacker Chemie has symbolically broken ground for a new 23,000 m2 silicones plant at its site at Karlovy Vary, Czechia. The investment volume “is in the low triple-digit million-euro range”, the company said. When fully operational, it will make around 20,000 tonnes/year. The facility will produce customised room-temperature-curing silicones for applications including electromobility, health and medical care, and electricity grid expansion when the first phase is complete at the end of 2025. High-consistency silicone will also be produced from 2028.
The European Commission has informed India’s Alchem International and its Hong Kong subsidiary of its preliminary view “that they have breached EU antitrust rules by participating in a long-lasting cartel concerning an important pharmaceutical product”. If the EC ultimately concludes that there is sufficient evidence of an infringement, it can impose a fine of up to 10% of the company's worldwide turnover.
