India’s Navin Fluorine International has officially launched its CDMO division under the name Navin Molecular. The company has been providing chemistry services since 2010 and is launching the band “to showcase the broad platform that Navin Molecular can offer” in terms of geographical diversity and expertise in a range of complex chemistries.

Lonza has extended two ongoing collaborations with unnamed major biopharmaceutical companies. One covers the commercial-scale filling of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), the other bioconjugation. Financial details were not disclosed in either case.

As part of the former partnership, Lonza will build a dedicated line at its site in Stein, Switzerland, for the aseptic filling of highly potent ADCs and lyophilisation under containment. The new line is expected to be operational in 2027 and to create about 115 new jobs at peak capacity.

Venator Materials has completed its Chapter 11 recapitalisation process and claims to have “emerged with an improved balance sheet and lower debt”. It had entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May and had the recapitalisation plan confirmed by the Bankruptcy Court in July, after reaching agreement with “the overwhelming majority of its lenders and noteholders”. As a result of the deal, the company’s debt has fallen from more than $1 billion to about $200 million by converting it to equity.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2023 to three US-based scientists for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots. According to the academy they “planted an important seed for nanotechnology” by “producing particles so small that their properties are determined by quantum phenomena”.

Cambrex has completed a $38 million expansion at its small molecule API facility in High Point, North Carolina. This doubles capacity, with new analytical and chemical development laboratories, two new clinical manufacturing suites and a small-scale commercial manufacturing operation with three work centres and 2,000 litre reactors. Work originally began in 2021. This has created about 70 jobs.

Kensing, an Illinois-based manufacturer of natural vitamin E, plant sterols, anionic surfactants and esters for applications in personal care among other things, has acquired Advanced Organic Materials (AOM). Terms were not disclosed. AOM supplies non-GMO plant-based vitamin E, mixed tocopherols and phytosterols derived from sunflower and rapeseed out of facilities in Spain and Argentina.

Dr Hans-Joachim Jacob, senior expert - process & applications, at Ystral, looks at some key trends changing production processes

New technologies, changed requirements in production and ever more frequent product changes, but also more strict specifications with regard to occupational and environmental protection are significantly changing many production processes. Below, five examples are discussed from a longer white paper on the subject.

Process intensification