O

SPECIALTY CHEMICALS of proteins. Merck will also share in prof- N NH

▸ Hexion to split in two
Hexion Holdings plans to split itself
into two companies later this year. One
firm will run Hexion’s adhesive and ver-
satic acid business. It will have about
$1.4 billion in annual sales and keep the
Hexion Holdings name. As previously
stated, it plans an initial public stock of-
fering on the New York Stock Exchange.
The other firm will include Hexion’s
coatings and composites business, which
makes epoxy-based materials. It will have
about $1.1 billion in sales and be named
later; its stock will be distributed to Hex-
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its of Acceleron’s anemia drug Reblozyl,
which it is developing with Bristol Myers
Squibb.—RYAN CROSS
NEUROSCIENCE
▸ Expansion raises
$80 million to drug RNA
Expansion Therapeutics has raised
$80 million in series B financing to devel-
op small-molecule drugs that target RNA.
The start-up is based on the work of its
founder, Scripps Research chemist Mat-
N N
HH N
N 2
H3C F
Dovitinib
the Danish biotech firm Allarity Therapeu-
tics. Under the contract, active ingredient
production and particle reduction by
micronization will take place at Lonza’s
facility in Visp, Switzerland. Lonza will
make the finished drug in Tampa, Florida.
Novartis licensed dovitinib to Allarity in
2018 after disappointing trials as a kidney
cancer drug.—RICK MULLIN

ion’s current private shareholders. Last
year, Hexion sold its phenolic resins busi-
ness to Black Diamond Capital Manage-
ment for $425 million.—ALEX TULLO
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
▸ Merck buys Acceleron
for $11.5 billion
Merck & Co. will acquire Acceleron Phar-
ma for $11.5 billion to expand its cardio-
vascular disease portfolio. Acceleron is
developing sotatercept, which is in mul-
tiple Phase 3 clinical trials for pulmonary
arterial hypertension, a rare blood vessel
disorder. Sotatercept is a recombinant
fusion protein that traps ligands of the
transforming growth factor-β superfamily
thew Disney, who discovered compounds
targeting repetitive sequences of RNA that
cause myotonic dystrophy type 1, a genetic
muscle disease. Expansion Therapeutics is
now developing drugs for that condition
and multiple neurodegenerative diseases,
including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,
frontotemporal dementia, and several
tauopathies.—RYAN CROSS
OUTSOURCING
▸ Lonza to make cancer
drug for Allarity
The pharmaceutical services firm Lonza
has agreed to manufacture dovitinib, an
investigational pan-tyrosine kinase inhibi-
tor for metastatic renal cell carcinoma, for
VACCINES
▸ Sanofi ditches mRNA
vaccine for COVID-19
Just 2 months after agreeing to spend
$3.2 billion to acquire Translate Bio, Sanofi
says it will stop developing Translate’s
messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine for
COVID-19. Although the vaccine looked
promising in its Phase 1/2 clinical trial,
Sanofi says it doubts that it would be able
to finish tests of the shot in time to help
with the pandemic. Instead, the firm will
focus on developing mRNA vaccines for
the flu and other diseases. Sanofi will also
continue developing its own protein-based
vaccine for COVID-19, which is in a
Phase 3 trial.—RYAN CROSS

Business Roundup previously had a cross-license

agreement to use the patents.
a biologics services facility in
Shanghai.

▸ Maire Tecnimont will
furnish technology for an
83,000-metric-ton-per-year
green ammonia plant to be
built in the midwestern US.
The developer of the project,
Greenfield Nitrogen, aims to
build a series of such plants,
which will use renewable
energy to make hydrogen
feedstock.
▸ Danimer Scientific and
Chevron Phillips Chemical
will work to make the bio-
degradable resin poly(3-hy-
droxypropionate) in CP
Chem’s slurry loop reactors,
typically used for polyeth-
ylene. Danimer recently
bought Novomer, which has
technology to make the poly-
mer from carbon monoxide
and ethylene oxide.
▸ Polypore International
has formed a joint venture
with Shanghai Energy New
Materials Technology to
produce polypropylene sep-
arator films for lithium-ion
batteries. Polypore expects
the venture to open a plant
in China in 2022.
▸ Gevo has acquired patents
from Butamax Advanced
Biofuels related to making
octane, other chemicals, and
fuels from isobutanol. Gevo
▸ Givaudan will join a Swiss
technology accelerator for
cultured meat along with
the food-processing equip-
ment maker Bühler and the
grocery retailer Migros. The
Cultured Food Innovation
Hub will offer product de-
velopment, cell culture, and
fermentation services to
companies looking to create
cell-based meat products.
▸ Asymchem has agreed to
provide small-molecule and
biologics research and manu-
facturing services to LaNova
Medicines, a Shanghai-based
cancer drug developer.
Asymchem recently opened
▸ Hexagon Bio, one of
C&EN’s 10 Start-Ups to
Watch in 2018, has raised
$61 million to advance its
preclinical pipeline of drugs
based on compounds made
by microbes. Its initial focus
is on cancer and infectious
diseases.
▸ AstraZeneca will ac-
quire Caelum Biosciences
for $150 million, getting a
monoclonal antibody that is
in Phase 3 clinical trials for
treating light chain amyloi-
dosis, a rare blood disease.
Caelum’s investors could
earn up to $350 million in
milestone payments.

OCTOBER 4, 2021 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN 15