At Pharmapack 2012, SABIC Launches New Resins to Reinforce Strong Portfolio of Thermoplastics for Healthcare
Sittard, the Netherlands, 20120130 — Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) will be at Pharmapack Europe (Paris, February 15-16), the annual European Healthcare event, with a wide range of polyolefins and engineering thermoplastics developed specifically for the global healthcare industry. The company plans to reinforce its position as a “one-stop shop” for high quality-thermoplastics, with a growing portfolio compliant with the strict regulations of this industry.

In target applications such as drug delivery device internal components and external housings, typical industry requirements range across biocompatibility, sterilizability, chemical resistance, impact resistance, wear resistance and anti-static properties, through ease of processing and aesthetics, to constancy in product formulations. SABIC has numerous options to meet these challenges, including grades based on ABS, polycarbonate, thermoplastic polyesters (PET and PBT), polyphenylene oxide and siloxanes, as well as high and low density polyethylenes and polypropylene. The company has cost-effective solutions for syringes, injection pens, inhalers and other related products.

To emphasize this point, SABIC is using Pharmapack as a launchpad for new grades, including a high-density polyethylene (HDPE) resin featuring high flow properties that can significantly reduce injection moulding cycle times for various healthcare products. With a melt flow rate of 30 g/10 min, SABIC® HDPE PCG300054 provides important processing advantages that yield lower system costs for healthcare product manufacturers.

SABIC® HDPE PCG300054 resin is typically suitable for injection moulding thin-wall, long flow parts such as disposable syringe pistons, as well as caps and closures for medical and pharmaceutical packaging. High flow facilitates complete mould filling and enables the use of thin-wall geometries that cool rapidly for cycle time reduction. This translucent resin balances stiffness with good levels of environmental stress cracking resistance to ensure durability under a variety of use conditions.

SABIC’s broad product offering of more than 50 high performance materials is backed up with the security of a strong logistical network and ample material supplies to ensure continuous, global availability.

In addition, the company has developed a comprehensive healthcare product policy designed to help OEMs achieve regulatory compliance. The policy aims at ensuring high consistency and biocompatibility of SABIC healthcare grades. Specifically, SABIC’s healthcare product policy provides device manufacturers with: * Compliance with EP 3.1.5 and USP Class VI; * Compliance with 21 CFR par. 177.1520 of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); * Drug Master File listing; * Healthcare product nomenclature for easy identification; * Products subject to formula lock and change management process.

“Our leadership in healthcare materials can benefit customers who are seeking new ways to accelerate processing while maintaining high performance and quality,” says Philippe Rasquin, Technical Marketing Engineer at SABIC.

Successful purchase of trait platform with extensive product pipeline: Purchase price of USD 365 million plus milestones
Monheim, November 2, 2009 – Bayer CropScience announced today the completion of its purchase of Athenix Corp., a privately-held independent biotechnology company headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA. The company was purchased for USD 365 Million (about EUR 250 million). Further cash payments based upon the achievement of certain development milestones may amount up to USD 35 million (about EUR 24 million).

The acquisition of Athenix and its innovative technology platform significantly boosts Bayer CropScience´s ability to make available to growers worldwide novel technology and complete agricultural solutions. Athenix has an extensive herbicide tolerance and insect control trait development platform. The company has the largest collection of Bt genes in the industry – genes that are crucial for insect resistance of plants. Athenix is working on nematode resistance as well, a field where current chemical options are limited. Additionally, the company has a valuable collection of proprietary microbes that will provide a long-term source of novel and commercially important genes for future trait development.

Bayer CropScience is currently already pursuing a total of 56 BioScience research projects involving six crops. The acquisition bolsters this research and development (R&D)-pipeline and the trait platform of Bayer CropScience. Athenix complements the fast growing BioScience business of Bayer CropScience by significantly extending its R&D-presence in North America. Athenix employs some of the world’s leading researchers in the agricultural biotech industry and has a workforce of about 65 employees who have extensive expertise in commercial gene discovery, commercial trait generation, and product development.

The acquisition will allow Bayer CropScience to strengthen its attractiveness as a partner to other stakeholders in the seed business worldwide. It will generate additional trait fee income beyond the income streams from Bayer CropScience`s current trait technology due to license agreements with major agricultural companies. Bayer CropScience already expects the combined sales potential of its four most important licensing agreements, which will bear fruit in the coming years, to exceed EUR 500 million – and Athenix will add further to this revenue stream from the middle of next decade.

“We are investing heavily in our BioScience business to strengthen our position in the global seeds and traits market”, said Professor Friedrich Berschauer, Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer CropScience. “Within the last year, we have announced business expansions involving three new state-of-the-art research and development facilities in the United States and Canada. Athenix is a leading independent plant biotechnology company. The acquisition of Athenix therefore underpins this expansion, and allows Bayer CropScience to further expand its strong research and development capacity in North America, the most important seed technology market of the world.”

“We are pleased to become part of Bayer CropScience, a global agribusiness leader that is fundamentally driven by the spirit and practice of innovation. The combined talents and capabilities of Bayer CropScience and Athenix will serve to accelerate the market introduction of highly innovative new products for farmers worldwide that will directly address the global demand for superior agricultural productivity,” said Mike Koziel, Chief Executive Officer for Athenix.

Drug discovery companySCYNEXIS, Inc. today announced that it has received a payment from Merck & Co., Inc. for achieving a preclinical milestone resulting from a collaboration to discover and develop novel oncology agents.

“We are pleased to celebrate success in reaching another milestone with our valued partner, Merck,” said Yves Ribeill, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of SCYNEXIS. “This milestone provides further validation of our long-term relationship with Merck in a number of therapeutic areas through discovery research and innovation.”

About SCYNEXIS
SCYNEXIS is a premier drug discovery and development company headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. SCYNEXIS’ mission is to be the leader in delivering effective and innovative drug pipeline solutions to its pharmaceutical partners.

SCYNEXIS research teams integrate medicinal chemistry, advanced biological screening, computational chemistry, bioanalysis and analytical chemistry and use powerful, proprietary technologies such as the HEOS® Software Suite and MEDCHEM-FACTORY® to advance molecules to candidate selection. SCYNEXIS development teams have been tailored to be especially effective in moving customer projects from the discovery phase to the clinic. SCYNEXIS process chemistry and bioanalytical departments operate under current GMP/GLP guidelines and have a strong track record of success. SCYNEXIS is registered with both the FDA and DEA. www.scynexis.com