Chemistry World Blog

Weight loss drug gets positive opinion – GSK tax questioned – And Merck KGaA targets €300m in efficiency

PHARMACEUTICAL – A US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) committee has voted in favour of approving weight loss drug lorcaserin from US drug maker Eisai and biotech Arena. The move makes it likely that the FDA will approve the drug, which would become the first weight loss drug to get onto the market in about a decade. Obesity and diabetes are attractive treatment areas for drug companies owing to the large and rapidly growing patient populations in both developed and developing countries. But they have struggled to get new drugs past regulators, who in recent years have become spooked by a string of instances in which once promising weight loss drugs revealed harmful side effects after approval. Lorcaserin was previously turned away by the FDA in October 2010 on account of its safety profile, and, in the intervening period, Eisai and Arena have generated more data to support their application.

CHEMICAL – The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ‘applauded’ the work of chemical companies in creating alternatives to nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs), widely used surfactants with a range of industrial applications and commonly found in consumer products, such as laundry detergents. Once in the environment, NPEs degrade into nonylphenol (NP), which tends to build up due to poor water solubility. This is problematic as NP is associated with toxicity and reproductive abnormalities in fish and other aquatic wildlife. NPEs have recently been the focus of environmental groups that have campaigned for big name brands, such as Nike and Adidas, to move to alternatives. The EPA report identifies eight safer alternatives to NPEs that meet the EPA criteria for safer surfactants.

CHEMICAL – The European Environment Agency has warned consumers about the dangers of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in many household products. It has highlighted in particular a ‘cocktail effect’ – whereby a complex mixture of chemicals leads to harmful outcomes that are greater than those of the isolated chemicals. This makes it difficult to establish safe thresholds for exposure. The agency says: ‘It would be prudent to take a precautionary approach to many of these chemicals until their effects are more fully understood.’ Its report looks at the last 15 years of scientific evidence.

CHEMICAL – Chemical giant BASF is getting together with the German government to launch a €5 million (£4 million) investigation into the long-term effects of nanoparticles in the lungs. The company will collaborate with the Federal Ministry for the Environment and the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health on a range of tests planned to run for four years. Environment minister Norbert Röttgen said that, with the ‘unique’ collaboration, Germany would assume the global leadership in safety research for nanomaterials. The researchers will look at, among other things, chronic effects in the low dose range which relates in particular to the workplace as well as the wider environment.

PHARMACEUTICAL – The BBC has gone after GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in a recent documentary about tax. It says that GSK avoided a potential £34 million in corporation tax by channelling its cash through Luxembourg, a well known tax haven, where it attracted a tax rate of less than 0.5% instead of the 28% rate the UK would have used. There is no question of legality – the clever tax tricks, devised by accountancy firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers, fall within the rules. GSK said in a statement: ‘GSK is a global company with 95% of its sales outside the UK, however 20% of the company’s tax bill is in the UK. In total, over the period covered in the broadcast, GSK paid around £1billion in UK corporation and business taxes, plus an additional £1.3bn through income taxes of its UK employees.’ But the move is likely to prompt questions about the relationship GSK has with the UK. In recent years, the government has proposed several measures to make the business environment in the UK more palatable to companies in general, but in particular companies such as GSK that generate much of their income from intellectual property. In return, GSK has promised significant manufacturing investment in the UK.

PHARMACEUTICAL – Merck KGaA has added further detail to its previously announced restructuring drive. The German healthcare and chemical company said in April that it was looking to close its Serono site in Geneva, Switzerland, and cut 580 jobs. To this it has now added that the closure is part of a drive to find €300 million in annual cost savings by 2014. The closure should return €120 million in cost savings – the rest will come from efficiency gains in commercial operations at Merck Serono, the pharmaceutical wing of the group.

Andrew Turley

Once prized by parfumiers for its musk-laden glands, the musk deer was heavily hunted. But today it can rest easy, thanks to canny chemists and their odorous alternatives to muscone. Josh Howgego is on the scent in this week’s Chemistry in its element podcast.

14 May 2012: Have something to say about an article you’ve read on Chemistry World this week? Leave your comments below… (more…)

Chemistry in theatre – Insufficiency, phallacy or both is the title of Carl Djerassi’s latest book. 

— Carl Djerassi

He is someone we’ve mentioned before in this blog as I selected him for the My Hero series but of course he is best  known as the father of the contraceptive pill. He is also an accomplished and prolific writer, who’s published, among other works, nine plays, five novels and an autobiography. (more…)

GSK goes to shareholders with HGS bid – BASF invests in omega-3 – And Abbott hit with $1.5bn Depakote fine (more…)

It could have all but eradicated malaria, but instead it became infamously synonymous with environmental damage. Silent Spring’s pesticide protagonist, DDT, is the subject of this week’s Chemistry in its element podcast.

Heading over to Google today (other search engines are available) I noticed the rather intriguing Google Doodle shown above. Now I love the way Google updates it’s logo on specific days, but I have to admit that it seems a bit odd to celebrate the 138th birthday of anyone, after all it’s not much of a round number. (more…)

7 May 2012: Have something to say about an article you’ve read on Chemistry World this week? Leave your comments below… (more…)

Novartis expands generics business with $1.5 billion purchase – new Gaucher drug – And DSM makes buys medical business

PHARMACEUTICAL – Novartis is expanding its generics activities with the purchase of US firm Fougera, which specialises in dermatology drugs. Novartis will pay $1.5 billion (£930 million) in cash for Fougera, currently owned by a group of private equity firms. The company already has a large presence in the generics industry through Sandoz, its generics subsidiary, which made 2011 sales of $9.5 billion. It says that the addition of Fougera, which made 2011 sales of $430 million, will make Sandoz the number one generics manufacturer in the dermatology area. Fougera employs 700 people across two main sites in New York, US.

PHARMACEUTICAL – US authorities have approved a new treatment for Gaucher’s disease: Elelyso (taliglucerase alfa) injections from Pfizer and Protalix. The dominant player in this area is Genzyme with its Cerezyme (imiglucerase) injections, approved way back in 1994. The Cerezyme brand has generated a lot of sales for Genzyme, $720 million in 2010, but the company has struggled to meet demand since a viral infection at its primary manufacturing site halted supply in 2009. Like Cerezyme injections, Elelyso injections are an enzyme replacement therapy, containing a form of human lysosomal enzyme glucocerebrosidase. But they’re quite distinct in another way: the active agent is the first of any for the treatment of any condition that is made from plants as biological factories. In this case, carrots cells have been genetically engineered to mass produce the foreign compound as they grow and divide. Pfizer gave a heavy nod to the supply problems at Genzyme in its press release: ‘To help minimize the possibility of supply disruptions, Pfizer is launching the “Supply Continuity Program,” which will endeavour to maintain a continuously restocked 24 months of supply at various stages of production for US patients prescribed Elelyso.’

CHEMICAL – Netherlands speciality chemical company DSM is set to buy US medical devices company Kensey Nash for $360 million. Kensey Nash specialises in regenerative medicine based on collagen and synthetic polymers. It employs 325 people, made 2011 sales of $72 million and is best known for its arterial closure device. DSM is looking to build a strong position in bio-passive (medical coatings and polymers) bio-active (resorbable polymers and drug delivery) and bio-interactive (regenerative medicine and tissue engineering) materials.

CHEMICAL – German chemical giant BASF has bought the polyamide (PA) polymer business of the Mazzaferro Group, strengthening its position in ‘engineering’ plastics and polyamide polymers in South America. The companies have agreed not to disclose financial details of the deal. BASF will take control of the polymerisation plant at São Bernardo do Campo in the metropolitan area of São Paulo, which has a capacity of roughly 20,000 metric tons per year. About 100 employees will transfer to BASF.

CHEMICAL – A new organisation has been established by the major photovoltaics manufacturers to ‘expand the global deployment of solar energy in a sustainable and cost-competitive way’. The Global Solar Council will be headed by Roland-Jan Meijer, who said: ‘The Global Solar Council is an important and timely industry initiative. It demonstrates a strong commitment by key players in the sector to work together to continue to make solar energy a global success.’ Applied Materials, Dow Corning, DuPont, First Solar, Lanco Solar, Phoenix Solar and Suntech have helped found the organisation, which will be complementary to regional trade associations.

Andrew Turley

We have just had the photos of the Chemistry World columnists turned into portraits by Australian artist Chelsea Gustafsson (you can see more of her work here). (more…)