Ethisphere has named Lonza and Ecolab among the 136 publicly traded companies in 45 industries in 22 countries in its ‘World’s Most Ethical Companies’ listing. These have outperformed a comparable index of large cap companies by 24.6 percentage points over the past five calendar years.

Lonza, which appeared for the second time was one of thee in the Pharmaceuticals category, along with Pfizer and Eli Lilly. The company said that the aware “acknowledges its successful efforts in combining performance with integrity and accountability”.

CDMO and API manufacturer Seqens has announced a “multi-million dollar” investment in its R&D laboratory in Devens, Massachusetts, which is due to be completed in October. The firm said that this will ensure that the new facility can operate at the highest standards of safety and quality.

Following on from the examples of other major chemicals companies, such as Bayer and DuPont, Solvay is reviewing plans to separate into two independent publicly traded companies. The process is expected to be completed in 2H 2023.

The company said that the separation “would establish two strong industry leaders that would benefit from the strategic and financial flexibility to focus on their distinctive business models, market and stakeholder priorities”.

CDMO Flamma has acquired a third API manufacturing facility in Italy from Teva. The Sicor Bulciago site at Lecco has had multiple regulatory inspections. Terms were not disclosed.

“This allows us to rapidly enhance our CMC offerings to our customers by providing further flexibility between sites,” said CEO Dr Gianpaolo Negrisoli. “Having the ability to produce more generic APIs in Italy is in line with the European pharmaceutical strategy aiming to reshore.”

Spectrum Chemical has added 12 new products to its BioCertified quality management system and chemicals portfolio for biopharmaceutical manufacturing, which was originally launched in 2019. They include sugars and carbohydrates, organic and inorganic salts, and preservatives used in a wide range of bioprocessing applications from upstream cell culture development to downstream purification, polishing and final fill production.

Together for Sustainability (TfS), the industry initiative for sustainable chemical supply chains, is launching the TfS Academy. It calls this a “free capability-building and learning offering for its member companies and their suppliers”, enabling them to keep on top of the latest recommendations and expectations in the area of sustainable procurement.

Drug development firm CatSci has secured £4.5 million of investment from ‘alternative lender’ Boost & Co. This is described as a continuation of the Cardiff-based firm’s £3 million investment, which was started in 2021.

CatSci will use the funding to install new equipment and expand its laboratories by adding capabilities in chemical and analytical development, material science, product formulation and GMP analytical testing in both Cardiff and London. Some will be used to refinance its existing debt.