CDMO SK Pharmteco has announced plans to invest $260 million in a new small molecule and peptide facility in Sejong, South Korea, the fifth in its home country and the cornerstone of its global manufacturing network. This is scheduled to begin operations in late 2026, creating over 300 jobs.

At its Capital Markets Day in Ludwigshafen, BASF presented a corporate strategy that, it said, “is setting a new direction”. ‘Winning Ways’ is set along four strategic levers of Focus, Accelerate, Transform and Win.

Cambrex’s Snapdragon Chemistry subsidiary has developed a new liquid-phase peptide synthesis (LPPS) technology that uses traditional API batch reactors and continuous flow, obviating the dependency on specialised, solid-phase reactors.

Kemira and IFF have completed the construction of a renewable polymer plant as part of their strategic cooperation in providing alternatives to fossil-based products.

Japan’s Fujifilm Electronic Materials is to invest about $140 million to enhance the development, production and quality evaluation functions for advanced semiconductor materials at two sites in Japan.

Ravindra Heraeus is to acquire the business of Arora Matthey in Vizag, India, and will continue its operation with over 70 employees.

SI Group has announced its plans to cease manufacturing operations at its alkylphenol manufacturing facility at Jurong Island, Singapore, in 2H 2025. It will continue supplying alkylphenols from its other sites in Europe and the Americas.

Barentz International has acquired distributors in two different regions in short order. The acquisition of Insuqui in Paraguay followed a few weeks after that of the Anshul Life Sciences Group in India.

The CDMO operation was not the main attraction when Arxada was formed but has turned out to be one of the most promising. Andrew Warmington met Olivier Lambrechts, president of the NCE business