BUSINESS

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Investigation ends at Ferro Ferro says the second independent investigation into its ac­counting procedures has been completed. The inquiry, conducted by accounting firm Venable LLP and Navigant Consulting, a forensic accounting company, found evidence that Ferro's accounting per­sonnel spread expenses and otherwise misapplied generally accepted accounting practices (GAAP) to achieve internal forecasts, but it did not find that this was done with the intent to affect reported earnings in away that misleads the investing public. The investigators also found a "lax tone" with respect to GAAP compliance among certain former members of Ferro's finance organization, but that current senior management sets a "positive" tone with respect to accounting practices. In the first inquiry into inappropriate accounting at Ferro's polymer additives division, investigators concluded that almost all the irregular entries were made by a subordinate divisional employee who has since left the firm, and that the entries were made without the knowledge or involvement of senior management.

DSM invests in China, India DSM is investing in vitamins and antibiotics in China and antibiotics in India. Cementing an arrangement first announced late last year, DSM will obtain a 49% interest in two joint ventures with Nor th China Pharmaceutical Group—one involving vitamin C and vita­min B-12 and the other involv­ing β-lactam antibiotics. DSM will invest $164 million in the ventures, which will have com­bined sales of about $275 mil­lion annually. Separately, DSM will expand its antibiotics plant in Toansa, India, using its pro­prietary enzymatic technology. The project will take place next year, the firm says, and lead to a doubling of capacity for amoxi­cillin and the penicillin-related intermediate 6-APA.

Merck wins Vioxx case Merck & Co. won a victory in its battle over the painkiller Vioxx last week when a New Jersey state court jury returned a verdict rejecting the claims of an Idaho man who suffered a heart attack after taking Vioxx.

The case is the second involv­ing the drug to go to court. In the first case, in Texas, a jury awarded the widow of a Vioxx patient $253 million in dam­ages. Merck General Counsel Kenneth C. Frazier said last week that "there will be other Vioxx trials, and we will vigor­ously defend them one by one over the coming years."

Altana seeks drug partner Germany's Altana says it is seeking a strategic partner for its pharmaceutical business. The announcement follows the firm's decision, revealed earlier this year, to separate its chemical business into a separate division to be listed on the stock exchange. Al­tana CEO Niko-

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laus Schweickart ° says the partner < search will com- | plementaplanto spend up to $1.3 billion to buy and in-license prod­ucts. He promises that splitting the company is not an Schweickart option. "Neither do I accept an auction to sell off the company to the highest bid­der," Schweickart says.

Danisco sells drug business Danisco has sold much of its health care business to Cam­bridge Antibody Technology for $14 million, making good on a promise to exit the busi­ness, which it obtained with the April acquisition of Ge-nencor. The sale involves two compounds being developed for hematological malignancies. Cambridge Antibody says it has hired 10 former Genencor staffers in Palo Alto, Calif, giv­ing it a U.S. operation for the first time.

Kraton expands elastomers... Kraton Polymers is building a new polyisoprene latex plant in Paulmia, Sao Paulo, Brazil. The plant, which will have capacity of 1,500 metric tons per year, is set to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2006, dou­bling the firm's capacity for the product. The company says the expansion will address demand for polyisoprene in medical and consumer products.

...as does ExxonMobil ExxonMobil Chemical is dou­bling capacity for its Exxpro specialty elastomer in Baytown,

Texas. The expansion for the brominated isobu-tylene/>-methylstyrene copolymer is set for com­pletion in late 2006 and will support new tech­nologies for vehicle tire inner liners, the company says. One technology employs nanocomposites to yield lighter weight tires with improved in­

flation pressure retention and durability. Another technology, dynamically vulcanized alloys,

also improves air retention and permits thinner inner liners.

Chinese company to buy Qenos China National Chemical Corp. is purchasing Qenos—the polyethylene joint venture be­tween Orica and ExxonMobil Chemical. The terms of the deal for Qenos, Australia's only polyethylene maker, are not be­ing disclosed, but it is expected to be completed early next year. Qenos employs about 850 peo­ple and operates two plants, one in Altona and another in Botany. Earlier this year, Basell purchased Qenos' polypropyl­ene business.

Merck and BMS license drugs to a nonprofit Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb have separately licensed new antiretroviral compounds to the International Partner­ship for Microbicides, allowing the nonprofit to develop the compounds for resource-poor countries. The companies say the agreement marks the first time that drugmakers have li­censed anti-HI V compounds as microbicides so early in de­velopment. A study just pub­lished in Nature reports that the compounds, called entry inhibitors, protected macaque monkeys from infection by a virus similar to HIV.

Wisconsin firm backs malaria R&D in Congo Cambridge Major Laborato­ries, a Wisconsin-based provid­er of chemistry services to the pharmaceutical industry, plans to support research performed

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by K. M. Taba at the University of Kinshasa, in Congo. Taba is studying plant-based remedies that show high inhibition of the plasmodiums that keep the malaria parasite alive in the body. Cambridge Major CEO Michael W. Major says his firm will provide financing, equip­ment, and services. University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, chem­istry professor James Cook has pledged to help with structural elucidation studies.

Borealis makes catalyst moves Borealis and Novolen Tech­nology—a joint venture be­tween ABB (80%) and Equi-star (20%)—have signed a joint development agreement for metallocene-catalyst-based polypropylene. Under the deal, Borealis will also license Novo-

len's metallocene technology. Separately, Borealis is launch­ing its Borstar PE 2G technol­ogy, which consists of a new catalyst system and process im­provements to its conventional Borstar bimodal polyethylene process. The company says the technology permits the tailoring of polyethylene for applications such as flexible packaging.

Cytec regroups and expands Cytec Industries has named Shane Fleming to head a new specialty chemical unit that combines its surface special­ties and performance chemical businesses. Ben Van Assche, president of the surface special­

ties unit, has left the firm. Van Assche came on board earlier this year when Cytec bought UCB's surface specialties busi­ness for $1.8 billion. CEO David Lilley attributes the changes to the need to deal with weak eco­nomic conditions in Europe and North America, along with high raw material and energy costs. Separately, Cytec has complet­ed a 50% increase in mining chemicals capacity at the Mount Pleasant, Tenn., site it bought from Avecia in 2003.

Dow closes a plant, sells a business

Dow Chemical will close its polystyrene plant in Barry, South Wales, by the end of 2005 . The site employs 24 people and has capacity to make 75,000 metric tons of polysty­rene annually. Dow says it will supply customers from one of its six other polystyrene plants in Europe. Separately, Dow's Hampshire Chemical unit has sold its businesses in glycine and Daxad brand naphthalene sulfonate formaldehyde conden­sate dispersant to Geo Specialty Chemicals.

Two companies win biodefense contracts

The U.S. government has awarded two contracts relat­ed to enzymes as biodefense agents. Genencor International has secured a $2 million con­tract from the Department of Defense to develop an en­zyme-based decontamination product targeting chemical and biological warfare agents. The firm will work with the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemi­cal & Biological Center to develop enzymes capable of

decontaminating agents such as mustard gas, anthrax, and botulism. Meanwhile, Lybra-dyn has been awarded a Phase ISBIR grant from N I H to de­velop new organophosphorus hydrolases for the biocatalytic degradation of warfare agents and pesticides.

Ineos buys cumene plant

Chevron Phillips Chemical has sold its Port Arthur, Texas, cumene plant to Ineos Ameri­cas, where it will become part of Ineos' phenol division. Cumene is used as a feedstock for phenol and acetone. The unit was idled in 2003 because of poor market

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• BASF has sold its global Phorate insecticide line to Am-vac Chemical, a subsidiary of American Vanguard. The in­secticide, which had 2004 sales of about $17 million, is used on crops to protect against chewing and piercing-sucking insects.

• Honeywell has completed the sale of its U.S. nylon carpet fibers business to Shaw Indus­tries. The sale includes manu­facturing operations in Clemson and Columbia, S.C., and a 50% stake in Evergreen Nylon Recy­cling in Augusta, Ga.

• Microbia has struck a sec­ond research collaboration with Ranbaxy Laboratories to lower the cost of a drug biomanufac-turing process. Microbia says an earlier pact led to higher yields in a Ranbaxy process for mak­ing a statin drug.

• Hewlett-Packard will elim­inate the brominated flame-retardant tetrabromobisphenol A from the external cases of all H P brand products by the end of next year. The company says

conditions. This is the first U.S. cumene plant for Ineos, which says it is the world's largest man­ufacturer of phenol.

DuPont, Kronos settle dispute

DuPont and the titanium diox­ide maker Kronos Worldwide have settled patent litigation surrounding the production of certain T i0 2 pigments. The two have agreed to cross-license each other's patents covering the technology, which is used to produce pigments such as Du­Pont R-104 and Kronos 2500. The agreement also covers the use of these pigments in poly­mer applications.

it eliminated 95% of all bro­minated flame retardants and polyvinyl chloride from external cases a decade ago.

• Singapore's Institute of Chemical & Engineering Sci­ences has opened a chemical synthesis laboratory at the coun-try's Biopolis biotechnology complex. The lab is intended to support local chemical and phar­maceutical companies and train future Ph.D. researchers.

• Sud-Chemie has acquired a majority interest in a joint ven­ture for polymerization catalysts in China. The venture, which will be called Shanghai Sud-Chemie Jinhai Catalyst Co., op­erates an R&D and production facility near Shanghai.

• Epichem, a U.K. provider of chemicals to the semiconductor industry, has received an invest­ment from the venture-capital arm of Intel. Epichem says the funds will allow it to expand R&D and manufacturing for a wide range of precursors used in semiconductor production.

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