French-based CDMO Novasep has announced two sales. Henagen, its Belgium-based viral vectors operation, has been sold to Thermo Fisher Scientific for about €725 million, while, in a much smaller deal, it also intends to sell its chromatography equipment division to Sartorius Stedim Biotech.

The need to obtain REACH authorisation before using harmful chemicals “has sped up substitution and reduced risks to people’s health and the environment - at a reasonable cost”, according to a recent study by ECHA that was based on information from 2010-20.

Ineos has given £100 million, one of the largest ever donations given to a UK university, to launch a new research institute to combat the growing global issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) at Oxford University. It will be based at two sites linking the Department of Chemistry and the new Life & Mind Building, which is currently being built.

From 1 February, Sumitomo Chemical will establish a strategy council and a cross-functional team led by executive officers supervising research planning and coordination, Responsible Care and related functions to promote and formulate strategies for achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. This will be based on four approaches:

* Minimising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with its production activities through innovation, and deploying new technologies to that end

Big Pharma giant Sanofi has revealed that the name of its new subsidiary in third party API manufacture, as originally announced in February 2020, will be EuroAPI. It has also recruited Karl Rotthier from Centrient Pharmaceuticals, formerly DSM Sinochem, to be CEO. “

Addressing recent increasing medicine shortages that critically impact patient care, EuroAPI will ensure additional API supply capacities for Europe and beyond, and help balancing the industry’s heavy reliance on API sourced from other regions,” Sanofi stated.

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has revealed that about 2,900 registrations of 268 chemicals by UK-based manufacturers, importers and only representatives under REACH have now been revoked and become void, because a transfer from a UK- to a EU-based registrant was not started by the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020.

This equates to about 3% of all registrations and about 1% of all registered substances. Of these, about 60% were registered only for intermediate use, meaning that the market impact of their registration being revoked will be limited.

Solvay Group has agreed to sell its North American and European amphoteric surfactant business to Los Angeles private equity firm OpenGate Capital. This is expected to close by the end of March, subject to consultation and regulatory approvals. Terms were not disclosed.