Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals 2000 - Company News Summary

Bradford Particle Design, the developer of new techniques to produce powdered pharmaceuticals, is to be acquired by Inhale Therapeutic Systems of the US for £137m.
22-Dec-2000

Pantherix, the drug discovery company, has raised a further £10m of venture capital to fund the construction of new laboratories and to double its staff from 23 to nearly 50 over the next two years.
20-Dec-2000

Celsis is to acquire Biotec Laboratories, the developer of a new test for TB, in order to move into the market for rapid healthcare diagnostics.
18-Dec-2000

Laporte, the speciality chemicals company, has accepted a £1.36bn takeover bid from Degussa-Huls of Germany, which is expected to lead to the loss of some of the 30 jobs at Laporte's head office.
18-Dec-2000

Northpoint, the Manchester-based manufacturer of anti-corrosion coatings, has undergone a £2.7m management buy-out.
13-Dec-2000

Shire Pharmaceuticals is to acquire BioChem Pharma of Canada for £2.7bn, in order to broaden its portfolio of speciality pharmaceutical products.
12-Dec-2000

ICI has sold three commodity chemicals businesses - Klea, Chlor-Chemicals and Crosfield - to Ineos of Belgium for £325m, which completes its transformation into a speciality chemicals group.
06-Dec-2000

Phytopharm has raised £11m in a share placing to fund the development of a new treatment for Alzheimer's disease.
30-Nov-2000

Advantage West Midlands and Birmingham University are considering plans to set up a £200m research park at Longbridge to specialise in the development of nanotechnology.
30-Nov-2000

Galen is looking to spend up to £700m on acquisitions to expand its pharmaceuticals business, and is particularly interested in US companies, small biotechnology groups and companies with a European salesforce.
29-Nov-2000

Aventis is planning to relocate its UK-based agrochemical research division and 300 staff to France and Germany, which will involve the closure of sites at Ongar, Essex, and Hauxton, Cambridgeshire.
27-Nov-2000

The government has announced plans to invest £110m in genomics research and £98m in new internet technologies, while a further £44m has been allocated to areas such as quantum computing, photonics and nanotechnology.
23-Nov-2000

Fraser Williams Pharma Systems, the pharmaceutical software company, has undergone a £7m management buy-out, and plans to move into larger premises in Birmingham soon.
21-Nov-2000

Revlon is planning to relocate its London headquarters from Mayfair to the Highgate Studio complex in Camden.
20-Nov-2000

Oxford Glycosciences is planning to raise £150m in a share offer, in order to develop new drugs, recruit 75 sales staff and fund acquisitions.
14-Nov-2000

Ellis & Everard, the chemicals distributor, is to accept a £310m takeover bid from Vopak of the Netherlands, although a rival bid could still be launched by another company.
10-Nov-2000

Tower Hamlets Council has approved plans from the University of London to build a £14m chemistry building at its Queen Mary's site.
09-Nov-2000

Bovis Lend Lease has set up a new division to manage projects for the pharmaceutical industry, and it will employ 6,000 people in 40 countries.
08-Nov-2000

Oxford Glycosciences is planning to create up to 40 jobs at its new drug discovery head office and factory near Abingdon.
02-Nov-2000

Unilever has sold its Elizabeth Arden perfume and skincare business to FFI Fragrances of the US for £155m.
01-Nov-2000

Croda International has sold its international adhesives operation to Sovereign Specialty Chemicals of the US for £30m.
01-Nov-2000

Biovation, the Aberdeen-based biotechnology company, has been acquired by Merck of Germany for about £20m.
30-Oct-2000

Brunner Mond is planning to transform the land around its chemicals site in Northwich, including the creation of an urban village with 700 homes, the transformation of a waste dump into parkland and the construction of a new energy plant.
30-Oct-2000

British Biotech is forming an alliance with Serono of Switzerland to develop new treatments for inflammatory diseases.
18-Oct-2000

Boots is to acquire Clearasil, the acne treatment, from Procter & Gamble for £233m, in order to expand its international skincare business.
18-Oct-2000

Genetix, the gene discovery company, is planning to raise £27m in a share placing, in order to fund research, acquisitions and an expansion in its sales force.
12-Oct-2000

Powderject is to lease part of its recently-acquired vaccines plant in Speke to Aviron, which will enable the US company to set up a plant to manufacture flu vaccines.
12-Oct-2000

Cambridge Antibody Technology is to relocate its Cambridgeshire headquarters from Melbourn to Granta Park in Great Abington over the next two years, which will involve the relocation of 180 jobs and the creation of 70 new jobs.
10-Oct-2000

SmithKline Beecham is to acquire Block Drug, the US toothpaste company, for £850m, in order to expand its dental care division.
09-Oct-2000

Norgine of the Netherlands is to invest £4m in the production of gastrointestinal tablets at its Caerphilly factory in South Wales, creating 50 jobs.
06-Oct-2000

Alliance UniChem is acquiring Interpharm for £122m in order to gain access to the Dutch pharmaceutical wholesaling market, and is now seeking acquisitions in Germany, Poland and Scandinavia.
06-Oct-2000

Fife College is forming a consortium with colleges in Falkirk, Greenock and Hamilton to invest £1m in the development of new centres of excellence for the biotechnology industry.
29-Sep-2000

Bioglan Pharma has acquired the remaining 50% of CS Laboratories, the French pharmaceutical company, and is now looking to further expand its activities in the US and Europe.
29-Sep-2000

BTG, the intellectual property manager, is planning to raise £121m in a rights issues, in order to set up a separate biotechnology group, expand into North America and fund joint ventures with other technology companies.
29-Sep-2000

Provalis is to raise £11m in a share placing, in order to fund the expansion of its Glycosal diabetes monitoring device.
29-Sep-2000

Intercare is to acquire Macarthy for £83m, as part of a strategy to become a leading manufacturer and distributor of generic drugs.
28-Sep-2000

Penn Pharmaceuticals, the Tredegar-based pharmaceutical services company, has undergone a £12m management buy-out, and plans to double the size of its outsourcing business over the next three years.
27-Sep-2000

Laporte is selling a number of non-core businesses to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts for £810m, including pigments, additives, water technology, timber and electronics.
26-Sep-2000

Aztec Chemicals is to create up to 15 new jobs following the recent merger of its chemical supply business with Aztec Aerosols on a new site in Crewe.
26-Sep-2000

Huntsman has confirmed plans to invest £50m at its titanium dioxide plant near Hartlepool, and is also planning to invest £75m at its Teesside petrochemicals sites over the next few years.
22-Sep-2000

Microbio Group, the developer of natural pest controls with 50 staff, has been bought by Becker Underwood of the US for undisclosed terms.
21-Sep-2000

Oxford Glycosciences is planning to seek a secondary listing on Nasdaq, in order to help with the expansion of its biotechnology business into the US.
20-Sep-2000

Durlacher is forming a £12m joint venture with BMP of Germany to invest in start-up life science companies.
18-Sep-2000

Elan has acquired Dura Pharmaceuticals of the US for £1.25bn, in order to strengthen its sales force and product portfolio in North America.
12-Sep-2000

Oxford Glycosciences is forming an alliance with Medarex of the US to develop new drugs using proteomics technology, and a separate alliance with Cambridge Antibody Technology to develop protein chips.
12-Sep-2000

Powderject Pharmaceuticals has agreed to acquire the UK vaccines business of Celltech for £55m.
08-Sep-2000

SmithKline Beecham has sold three pharmaceutical products in order to help secure approval for its merger with Glaxo Wellcome, with Famvir and Vectavir going to Novartis and Kytril to Roche.
01-Sep-2000

Scottish Enterprise is in talks with Quantum Biotechnologies of Canada about the development of a £3m biomanufacturing facility at Excell Biotechnology in Midlothian.
31-Aug-2000

Parexel International is considering plans to expand its Sheffield-based pharmaceutical services business by acquiring more office space for its 150 employees.
30-Aug-2000

Oxford Natural Products has raised £3m of private funding in order to finance the development of plant-based pharmaceutical products.
29-Aug-2000

Goldshield is to acquire Achievers Unlimited, the US marketer of slimming and nutritional products, for up to £6.3m, and is now seeking acquisitions in the UK pharmaceutical market.
29-Aug-2000

Mason Coatings has sold its transport coatings and graphics activities to Akzo Nobel for £9.4m, which is expected to lead to job losses at its Derby factory.
28-Aug-2000

Scottish Enterprise has won the go-ahead from the Scottish Executive for the construction of a £70m biotechnology manufacturing park at Gowkley Moss Farm in Midlothian, which could lead to the creation of up to 900 jobs.
28-Aug-2000

BioFocus, the pharmaceutical services group, has raised £4m in a flotation on Aim in order to fund the refurbishment of its Sittingbourne laboratory.
22-Aug-2000

Reckitt Benckiser is planning to set up a new headquarters at the Delta Business Park in Swindon, which could lead to a major recruitment drive.
18-Aug-2000

Xenova is seeking a merger partner in order to further the development of its biotechnology-based products.
15-Aug-2000

Oxford Biomedica has raised £8.5m in a share placing in order to set up a new gene division, and the proceeds will be spent on the recruitment of scientists and the marketing of two new technologies.
10-Aug-2000

Oxford Molecular has sold its software division to Pharmacopeia of the US for £18m, and the remaining business will now be liquidated.
10-Aug-2000

Oxford Asymmetry is to be acquired by Evotec of Germany for £285m, in order to create one of the world's leading suppliers of drug discovery services.
01-Aug-2000

AstraZeneca and Novartis are planning to dispose of a number of fungicide and herbicide products in order to win European approval for the merger of their agrochemicals businesses into a new company called Syngenta.
27-Jul-2000

ML Laboratories has raised £11m in a share placing in order to fund the development of its drug delivery business.
26-Jul-2000

Wolstenholme Rink, the supplier of chemicals to the printing industry, has accepted a £49m takeover offer from Rutland Trust, and the business will be split into two separate entities - pigments and printing materials.
26-Jul-2000

Elan is seeking acquisitions to build up a salesforce in Germany and France, as part of a strategy to expand its pharmaceuticals business throughout Europe.
20-Jul-2000

Huntsman has won approval from Hartlepool Council for a £50m expansion at its Tioxide pigments plant at Greatham.
19-Jul-2000

Hepworth has sold Hepworth Minerals & Chemicals to Watts Blake Bearne, a subsidiary of Belgium's SCR-Sibelco, for £86m.
19-Jul-2000

Octavius Hunt is planning to expand its pesticides factory in Bristol, by investing in new machinery and increasing the 30-strong workforce.
14-Jul-2000

Alizyme is raising £14m in a share placing in order to fund the development of obesity treatments.
13-Jul-2000

Reflec, the inks and coatings company, has raised £7.2m to fund three acquisitions - Corrosion Control International, a 75% stake in Reflective TV, and the global rights to the Kevlar anti-corrosion trademark.
13-Jul-2000

Ellis & Everard is looking to expand its chemicals distribution business in the US, and aims to spend about £20m on capital investment projects and £50m on acquisitions.
12-Jul-2000

Nycomed Amersham has sold its Nycomed Amersham Medical Systems subsidiary to a management buy-out team for £10m.
12-Jul-2000

Oxford Molecular is selling Cambridge Discovery Chemistry to Millennium Pharmaceuticals for £35m, in order to reduce debt.
07-Jul-2000

Hickson International is to be acquired by Arch Chemicals of the US for £97m, enabling Arch to expand its international operations and increase its presence in the biocides and performance urethanes markets.
07-Jul-2000

The Queen's University of Belfast is planning to build a £3.5m research centre to support Northern Ireland's pharmaceutical development base, and it will open in September 2001.
07-Jul-2000

Arrow Therapeutics has raised £11m to fund the development of new classes of antibiotics, and expects to sign up a pharmaceutical company as a development partner within the next few months.
06-Jul-2000

British Biotech is planning to focus on the development of antibiotics, in order to reinvent itself following the disappointing results from its marimastat cancer drug.
06-Jul-2000

Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals is planning to invest £30m in a new production facility at its Seal Sands site on Teesside, with the creation of 50 jobs.
03-Jul-2000

Oxford Cryosystems, the life sciences research group, has been acquired by Ferraris for £6.7m.
30-Jun-2000

Smith & Nephew is to sell its consumer products division to a management team and Beiersdorf of Germany, in order to raise £235m and focus on its more profitable high-tech activities.
29-Jun-2000

Pharmagene is planning to raise £30m in a flotation, in order to fund the expansion of its business providing biotechnology research services to pharmaceutical companies.
29-Jun-2000

BP Amoco is expected to invest up to £100m in improvements at its Grangemouth petrochemical plant, after it has conducted a full safety audit of the site.
23-Jun-2000

Bradford Particle Design has opened a £1m manufacturing plant to develop a new way of producing particles for the pharmaceutical industry, and is in discussions with potential partners to move into full production in the future.
09-Jun-2000

BTG, the intellectual property manager, is planning to invest £25m over the next five years on clinical trials for its Varisolve treatment for varicose veins.
08-Jun-2000

Shire has opened an operating subsidiary in Spain, as part of a strategy to develop a global pharmaceuticals business.
08-Jun-2000

SSL International is to open a new over-the-counter medicines factory in Peterlee, County Durham, which will employ about 200 people, while a plant in Blackburn will be closed with the loss of 50 jobs.
06-Jun-2000

Tees Storage Company is to invest £2.5m in the construction of 13 chemical storage tanks on Teesside, and is changing its name to Vopak Terminal Teesside.
05-Jun-2000

Skyepharma is to raise £60m through a convertible bond in order to fund the development of its own drugs, having decided to change its strategy away from developing products for other companies.
18-May-2000

BOC, the industrial gases company, has abandoned an agreed £7.4bn takeover by Air Liquide of France and Air Products of the US, having failed to win approval from the Federal Trade Commission for a series of asset disposals in the US.
15-May-2000

Wrafton Laboratories has won approval from North Devon District Council to double the size of its medicines factory in Braunton, with the creation of up to 500 jobs.
12-May-2000

Yorkshire Group has acquired the global textile dyes and the European industrial dyes business of Crompton & Knowles of the US, in a deal worth about £50m.
11-May-2000

Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham have won approval from the European Commission for their merger, provided they dispose of products with EU sales of £50m.
09-May-2000

Williams is to sell its US paint businesses for £300m, with North American Paint going to a management buy-out and Masterchem Industries going to Masco Corporation.
09-May-2000

United Drug, the healthcare services company, has acquired Ashfield Healthcare of Birmingham for up to £16m.
09-May-2000

Galen is to acquire Warner Chilcott, the US supplier of women's health products, for £190m.
05-May-2000

Dow Corning has completed a £200m expansion of its silicone factory in Barry, which has created 200 jobs and doubled the site's production capacity.
03-May-2000

Genzyme is planning to build a £12m plant in Haverhill, Suffolk, to produce the active chemical ingredient for Renagel capsules.
26-Apr-2000

The Automation Partnership, the Mid-Anglia-based supplier of drug discovery systems, is moving its research and manufacturing to a new £5m headquarters in Royston, creating 125 jobs over the next four years.
25-Apr-2000

Natural Options is to relocate the head office of its vitamin supplements business from Fleetwood to Bispham, Blackpool, with the creation of 60 jobs.
25-Apr-2000

Cambridge Drug Discovery is to collaborate with Teijin of Japan to develop new treatments for diabetes and obesity.
25-Apr-2000

Alstom is to acquire Sunvic of Germany, in order to expand its electrical contracting business into the petrochemical and chemical industries.
20-Apr-2000

Dundee University is to build a £4m biomedical research centre, as part of a £18m government investment in new research facilities at Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh universities.
05-Apr-2000

Peptide Therapeutics has sold its Mimetrix drug discovery business to Medivir of Sweden for up to £6m, prompting speculation that Peptide could become a takeover target.
28-Mar-2000

Skyepharma is forming a joint venture with PA Consulting to develop a new asthma inhaler.
27-Mar-2000

Norscot Pharmaceuticals, the Aberdeen-based pharmaceutical wholesaler with 56 staff, has been acquired by Germany's Phoenix Pharmahandel for undisclosed terms.
27-Mar-2000

Alliance UniChem is planning to invest £20m in the development of an internet-based drug wholesaling business, providing a link to manufacturers, pharmacists and consumers.
23-Mar-2000

Maelor is raising £6.6m in a share placing in order to fund the development of new healthcare products using sterile fluids and off-patent medicines.
23-Mar-2000

Clariant of Switzerland is planning to set up a new life sciences and electronic chemicals division based in Manchester, by combining the recently-acquired BTP fine chemicals business with its life sciences intermediates business.
22-Mar-2000

ICI is to relocate its London headquarters from Millbank to Manchester Square next year.
22-Mar-2000

Staveley Industries has announced the sale of its British Salt business to US Salt for £80m.
17-Mar-2000

Cleveland Potash is planning to build a £1m compaction and polishing plant at Saltburn-by-the-Sea.
16-Mar-2000

Nipa Laboratories is planning to invest £10m at its chemicals factory in Oswaldtwistle, in order to relocate the various production processes to a central modernised plant over a five year period.
15-Mar-2000

Wellcome Trust is to build the £175m Diamond synchrotron for investigating biological structures at the Rutherford Appleton laboratory in Oxfordshire, as the government has decided against the alternative site in Cheshire.
14-Mar-2000

Unilever is launching a home cleaning service called Myhome, which has been tested in London and will be extended to other parts of the country next year.
14-Mar-2000

Ascot is to acquire Specified Fuels & Chemicals, the US speciality chemicals group, for £14m.
13-Mar-2000

Biocompatibles International is to acquire Hydron, the contact lens manufacturer, for £38m, funded by a £31m share placing.
10-Mar-2000

Nalco is expected to create 300 new jobs at its water treatment chemicals business in Northwich following its acquisition by Suez-Lyonnaise des Eaux, but job losses are likely at the Wythenshawe and Windsor sites of sister company Aquazur.
03-Mar-2000

Cambridge Antibody Technology is forming an alliance with Human Genome Sciences of the US to develop new pharmaceutical products using CAT's technology.
02-Mar-2000

Oxford University is planning to build a £50m chemistry laboratory, and expects to appoint a preferred bidder in May.
02-Mar-2000

Ace Chemical is to relocate its animal health products business from Gretna to Lockerbie, with the creation of 32 jobs.
02-Mar-2000

KS Biomedix is raising £15m in a share issue in order to fund the development of new treatments for rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.
29-Feb-2000

Oxford Glycosciences is to raise £33m in a share placing in order to develop new techniques for identifying proteins in DNA testing.
25-Feb-2000

Abcam is to relocate to the Cambridge Science Park, in order to provide space for the expansion of its antibodies distribution business.
25-Feb-2000

Strakan Group, the Galashiels-based developer of prescription medicines, has received a £11m cash injection from a syndicate of investors and hopes to double the size of its 22-strong workforce over the next two years.
24-Feb-2000

PPL Therapeutics has announced plans to build a £42m drug manufacturing plant in Scotland with the creation of 150 jobs, and is seeking a suitable site in the Lothians.
23-Feb-2000

ML Laboratories is acquiring Cobra, the gene therapy company, for an initial £8m.
10-Feb-2000

Pfizer has reached agreement to acquire Warner-Lambert for $90bn, in order to create the second largest pharmaceuticals group in the world.
08-Feb-2000

Axis-Shield is acquiring the point-of-care testing business of Nycomed Pharma of Norway for £22m.
08-Feb-2000

Nycomed Amersham is creating 27 new research jobs at its Cardiff laboratories, to work on a number of new drug development projects.
04-Feb-2000

Aortech International is to raise £17m in a share placing, in order to fund the development of its cardiovascular devices.
02-Feb-2000

Smith & Nephew is buying Iruxol, the woundcare product, from BASF for £74m, and will seek approval to market the treatment in the UK, France, Australia and Japan.
02-Feb-2000

Scotia Holdings has raised £11m in a share placing in order to fund the development of its key projects.
26-Jan-2000

BTP, the fine chemicals company, has agreed to a £1.1bn takeover offer from Clariant of Switzerland.
25-Jan-2000

M&A Pharmachem has announced plans for the expansion of production facilities at its medicines business in Westhoughton, and a new customer services function has been set up with the creation of an unspecified number of jobs.
21-Jan-2000

Burmah Castrol has acquired Reax Industria e Commercio, the Brazilian supplier of construction chemicals, for £12m.
21-Jan-2000

BASF is to relocate its pharmaceuticals headquarters from Germany to London, prompting speculation that the division could eventually be sold.
20-Jan-2000

Oxford Biomedica has raised a further £5m in a share issue for the development of gene therapy, and is looking to move from the Alternative Investment Market to a full stockmarket listing.
19-Jan-2000

Glaxo Wellcome is to merge with SmithKline Beecham to create a combined pharmaceuticals group with market capitalisation of £107bn, and the operational headquarters will be moved to the US.
18-Jan-2000

Glaxo Wellcome has resumed negotiations for a merger with SmithKline Beecham, which could lead to the creation of the world's largest pharmaceuticals group.
15-Jan-2000

Ellis & Everard, the chemicals distributor, is looking to expand its geographic coverage in the US and has also announced plans to launch a business e-commerce site.
12-Jan-2000

Napp Laboratories is to cut 20 jobs at its pharmaceuticals research facility on Cambridge Science Park, while some employees will be relocated to other sites.
11-Jan-2000

Cambridge Drug Discovery has merged with Cambridge Genetics in a £2.7m deal involving Cambridge University, and the combined business will have 36 staff.
11-Jan-2000

Celltech has sold Rapigene, its US-based gene analysis contract service, to Qiagen for £7.3m.
11-Jan-2000

SmithKline Beecham has awarded a £5m contract to Walter Lilly for the refurbishment of laboratories in Harlow, Essex.
08-Jan-2000