Merck KGaA has revealed at its latest Capital Markets Day that it will continue to focus on its ‘Big Three’ businesses of Process Solutions and Life Science Services, new products in Healthcare and the Semiconductor Solutions arm.

By 2025, these are expected to generate about 80% of targeted sales growth, and more than 50% of total sales. The company remains on track to achieve its mid-term growth target of €25 billion that year and expects to increase sales organically by at least 6%/year on average, about €1 billion/year.

Peptides giant Bachem has agreed to acquire an undeveloped site covering 155,000 m² in Sisslerfeld, north-western Switzerland, from DSM in order to manage growing demand. It has already acquired the first plot and others will follow in time. Terms are not being disclosed.

Italian CDMO and API supplier Olon has presented a two-year, €30 million plan to expand its Settimo Torinese Biotech Hub near Turin. This focuses on microbial fermentation and is claimed to have “some of the most extensive know-how” on the subject in Europe”. The plan focuses on therapeutic peptides based on Olon’s expertise in the development of rDNA peptides and proteins.

Lonza has completed the expansion of a multi-purpose. kilogram-scale HPAPI manufacturing suite at its main site in Visp, Switzerland. This adds development and manufacturing capacity for ADC payloads, “supporting the entire development and manufacturing pipeline from feasibility studies to commercial supply”.

The proposed acquisition of US-based Snapdragon Chemistry by the Chinese CDMO Asymchem Laboratories has been abandoned. The two firms were unable to agree mitigation terms that would satisfy the US Treasury’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

SK Capital Partners have made an investment in VanDeMark Chemical in partnership with Comvest Partners, which has been a co-owner since 2019. The amount involved was not disclosed but VanDeMark said that this would “serve as a catalyst for a new strategic direction as the company seeks to deepen and expand its presence in fine chemistries for the global life science market”.

Evotec has bought the German manufacturing operations of Japan’s Central Glass for a nominal €1. The deal is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close on 1 November. The business will be renamed Evotec Drug Substance (Germany).