Subject to regulatory approval, Glenmark Pharma has agreed to sell a 75% stake in its Glenmark Life Sciences (GLS) business unit to its India compatriot, Nirma. Nirma is a conglomerate which mainly makes detergents and cement but which also acquired sterile contact lens solutions maker Stericon Pharma in April. GLS is mainly active in the manufacture of APIs.

“Synergies between Glenmark Pharma and GLS the business have been rapidly disappearing and companies have had divergent pathways,” said chairman Glenn Saldanha.

Ami Organics, an Indian maker of pharmaceutical intermediates, API and speciality chemicals, has signed a multi-year, multi-tonne agreement with Orion subsidiary Fermion. Under this, it will supply another intermediate in addition to the one agreed in November 2022.

Financial details were not disclosed but Ami said that, based on supply projections by Fermion, “the total minimum contract value is expected to be multi-million dollar” across multiple years. The product is expected to start contributing "meaningfully" to revenue from the 2025 financial year.

Evonik has completed the relocation and expansion of its precious metal powder catalyst plant in Shanghai Chemical Industrial Park. Production is scheduled to commence in Q4. No financial details were disclosed.

This completes the upgrade of the company’s global network of five precious metal catalyst plants. Evonik sells the catalysts under the Noblyst P brand name mainly for applications in APIs and agrochemical AIs. China is one of the fastest-growing markets for them.

CordenPharma has begun commercial peptide production with additional capacity at upgraded facilities at its site in Colorado, which is the world’s largest solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) facility. About 60 new jobs have been created with more potentially to follow. 

The company had begun capital investments in early 2023 as part of a general worldwide expansion that also includes sterile injectables and LNP formulation and fill-finish capacity at other sites. New additions at the Colorado site include: 

EuroAPI has agreed to acquire BianoGMP, a CDMO focused on small-scale, early-stage oligonucleotides, for about €10 million. The deal is expected to close in Q4. Created in 2017 by Professor Tobias Pöhlmann and Dr Rolf Günther, Biano is based in Gera, Germany, with a client base in Europe and Asia.

CRO Inotiv has completed the sale of its business in Israel, which it described as part of the site optimisation plan for its Research Models & Services segment that it launched last year. The buyer was not named. Further assets remain for sale, which have been closed as part of the process.

Minafin, owner of Minakem, Pennakem, Minagro and related brands, has revealed that it acquired Montréal-based Delmar in July. Terms were not disclosed. Delmar’s site, which will be rebranded Minafin Montréal, employs 100 and is approved by the US FDA and other regulatory agencies for API manufacture