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Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals 1997
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The information below comes from the UK Activity Report.
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Biocompatibles has won European approval to sell its stents, which keep arteries open, and is now looking to set up a distribution network. 30-Dec-1997 Shire Pharmaceuticals is to re-acquire the worldwide rights to Carbatol, the anticonvulsant, from Elan Corp for £15m. 27-Dec-1997 Oxford Molecular is acquiring a 20% stake in Cambridge Drug Discovery, the rapid drug screening company, for up to £5m as part of a strategy to become a low-risk provider of drug services. 18-Dec-1997 Onyvax has secured £4.3m of funding from a group of investors including SmithKline Beecham to develop vaccines that help the immune system attack cancer tumours. 18-Dec-1997 Celsis has won UK approval for its contamination-detection systems to be used by Wyeth in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals. 18-Dec-1997 Zeneca is buying chlorothalonil, a leading fungicide, from ISK of Japan as well as the distribution rights to four other ISK products for a total £300m, in an effort to become on of the world's leading manufacturers of fungal control products. 18-Dec-1997 Cambridge Antibody Technology has announced a new technology called ProAb that enables scientists to scan the body for concentrations of proteins that could be contributing to the progress of disease. 16-Dec-1997 Elan Corp of Dublin is acquiring Sano, the US developer of transdermal drug delivery systems, in a £227m all-share deal. 16-Dec-1997 Nomura International has bought a 17.1% stake in Phytopharm, the biotechnology group, from Ethical Holdings. 13-Dec-1997 ICI has sold its 51% stake in AEL, the South African explosives business, to its partner AECI for £71m. 13-Dec-1997 SmithKline Beecham is linking up with MedImmune of the US to develop human papillomavirus vaccines for the prevention of genital warts and cervical cancer. 12-Dec-1997 Xenova Discovery is forming a joint venture with EC&G Wallac of Finland to provide R&D services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. 12-Dec-1997 Pfizer of the US is planning to invest £110m on the expansion of its pharmaceuticals site at Sandwich, Kent, creating 1,000 jobs. 12-Dec-1997 Powderject Pharmaceuticals is to link up with InSite Vision of the US to develop a technique for painlessly delivering drugs to the inside of the eyeball. 11-Dec-1997 Phytopharm has been given US FDA approval to start clinical trials of an eczema cream made from plants, which could result in the development of many traditional herbal remedies even though explanations cannot be given as to how they work. 08-Dec-1997 Chiroscience is seeking European approval for Chirocaine, its new anaesthetic. 05-Dec-1997 Holliday Chemical is in discussions that could lead to an offer being made for the company, and analysts believe it could be worth up to £260m. 03-Dec-1997 Zeneca has announced plans to double its drugs research output over the next five years in order to take 87 projects to the market. 02-Dec-1997 Cambridge Combinatorial is to link up with Bioprocessing to jointly offer their biotechnology products for sale to pharmaceutical companies. 29-Nov-1997 Euromed, which supports a number of biomedical companies, is to go-ahead with plans to set up a biomedical business park in Bellshill, Lanarkshire, creating 150 jobs. 29-Nov-1997 Glaxo Wellcome is to sell its Geneva Biomedical Research Institute to Ares-Serona of Switzerland, and although no money is involved, the deal will result in Ares-Serona assuming the $22m a year running costs. 28-Nov-1997 Brunner Mond is to acquire the soda ash operations of Akzo Nobel of the Netherlands. 28-Nov-1997 Zeneca has won US FDA approval to market Zomig, its migraine drug, in tablet form. 27-Nov-1997 ICI India is planning to double paint output to 100m litres a year by early next century, with a fourth plant starting up next year and a fifth by 2001. 26-Nov-1997 Allied Colloids has rejected a £1.1bn hostile takeover bid from Hercules of the US, prompting speculation of a bidding war for the speciality chemicals company. 25-Nov-1997 Glaxo Wellcome has won clearance from Europe's committee for proprietary medicines for its Combivir treatment for Aids. 22-Nov-1997 Allied Colloids, the speciality chemicals company, has received an approach that could have lead to an offer being made, but the potential bidder has failed to make a formal proposal. 22-Nov-1997 Allied Colloids has sold its superabsorbents business to AMCOL International for £2m, although its superabsorbents joint venture with Courtaulds will be unaffected. 21-Nov-1997 Courtaulds has postponed plans for the construction of a plant to make its new Tencel clothing fibre in Asia, prompting concern about the long-term success prospects for the product. 20-Nov-1997 The government and the Chemical Industries Association have agreed a voluntary pact that requires the chemical industry to cut fossil fuel consumption by 20% by 2005. 19-Nov-1997 BOC is planning to build up its industrial gases business by investing in its factories, and does not expect to make any more acquisitions or disposals. 19-Nov-1997 Albright & Wilson is investing £10m in the acquisition and expansion of a surfactants manufacturing business near Chicago, previously owned by Witco. 13-Nov-1997 Vanguard Medica, the biotechnology company, is to raise £26m in a share placing in order to finance the development of migraine and asthma drugs. 13-Nov-1997 Anglo United, the fuels and chemicals trading company, has announced restructuring plans that will involve the privatisation of its Coalite business and a listing on the London Stock Exchange for its Falkland Islands' subsidiary. 06-Nov-1997 Allied Colloids is to invest £45m in its US business, with the construction of a cationic monomer plant in Arkansas and a flocculant plant in Virginia. 06-Nov-1997 Cortecs International has reported promising initial trial results for an oral form of insulin called Macrulin. 05-Nov-1997 Biotrin Holdings, the Irish biotechnology group, has raised about £7m through a private placing and expects to come to market next year. 05-Nov-1997 ICI has vowed to continue its battle to take a 9% stake in Asian Paints, despite a ruling by the Indian industry ministry that the move cannot go-ahead without the support of Asian Paints' board. 04-Nov-1997 Laporte is selling its cat litter manufacturing business, withdrawing from activated earth production at Widnes, and selling similar businesses in Spain. 30-Oct-1997 Asda has announced 25% price cuts on a range of children's healthcare products as part of its campaign against price fixing of over-the-counter drugs. 28-Oct-1997 ICI is expecting to announce further disposals over the next few months, including businesses involved in petrochemicals, fertilisers, explosives and halochemicals. 24-Oct-1997 Ethical Holdings, the pharmaceuticals company, is aiming to conclude talks with potential buyers over the next few months having drawn up a list of possible partners. 23-Oct-1997 Shell International Chemicals and BASF are having to delay their planned polyethylene joint venture following a request by the European Commission for more details. 23-Oct-1997 Harrisons & Crosfield is to be renamed Elementis, and plans to focus on speciality chemicals when it has found buyers for its agricultural businesses such as BOCM Pauls. 22-Oct-1997 Medeva has announced encouraging trial results for its Hepagene hepatitis vaccine, which could generate sales of £100m a year by 2002. 17-Oct-1997 Reckitt & Colman is forming a joint venture company with Nicholas Piramal, called Reckitt Piramal, which will be the largest over-the-counter medicines company in India. 16-Oct-1997 Hickson International is selling its German and Dutch joinery coatings operations to Gilde Investment Management of the Netherlands for £9m. 14-Oct-1997 A consortium led by BOC has won a £610m contract to build the world's largest nitrogen generation complex for Pemex, the Mexican national oil company. 13-Oct-1997 Vanguard Medica has licensed VML252, a drug for patients with kidney disease, to Sankyo of Japan, and the deal is expected to bring in up to $10m. 11-Oct-1997 Croda International is close to agreeing the sale of its industrial paints division, and is also in discussions with BP about the sale of its bitumen business, with the two disposals expected to raise a combined £50m. 10-Oct-1997 ICI is cutting 200 support jobs at its Runcorn site as part of a programme to save £20m a year. 10-Oct-1997 BTP is looking to sell its Mydrin industrial adhesives and textile coatings business for about £90m as part of a strategy to focus on performance chemicals. 10-Oct-1997 Cleveland Laboratory has acquired SCL Bioscience Services for £700,000 which takes it into clinical trials and veterinary services for the first time. 09-Oct-1997 Victrex, the thermoplastics producer, is forming a joint venture with Mitsui Toatsu Chemical to streamline its sales and development in Japan. 08-Oct-1997 ICI's sale of its polyester and European titanium dioxide businesses to DuPont has been approved by the European Commission, which should help ICI push ahead with further disposals. 07-Oct-1997 Johnson Matthey is to set up a facility in Taiwan to supply ultra high purity metal fabrications, as well as a facility in Washington State to supply thermal management products to the semiconductor industry. 07-Oct-1997 BOC is to merge its two divisions that sell gases and vacuum pumps to the semiconductor industry in order to increase sales to US and east Asian customers. 07-Oct-1997 British Biotech has cancelled development of its BB-2983 arthritis drug, a project it was working on with Glaxo Wellcome. 04-Oct-1997 Chiroscience is in discussions with a number of potential partners for the marketing of Chirocaine, its new local anaesthetic which will be launched next year. 02-Oct-1997 Stanford Rook has admitted that its new tuberculosis treatment has failed trials in South Africa, prompting a big fall in its Aim-listed share price. 01-Oct-1997 UFC Pharma, the drug discovery company, is planning a flotation in order to raise £5m to fund expansion. 29-Sep-1997 ICI has formed a joint venture with CCM of Malaysia to supply explosives to the mining and quarrying industries in Malaysia. 26-Sep-1997 Scotia Holdings, the biotechnology company, is looking at ways to raise more cash, including a listing on Nasdaq, more licensing deals, and the sale of non-core businesses such as food emulsifiers. 25-Sep-1997 Cookson is selling its antimony products business to Great Lakes Chemical of the US for undisclosed terms, thus completing its withdrawal from the manufacture of plastics additives. 25-Sep-1997 SmithKline Beecham has won US approval to market Requip, the treatment for Parkinson's disease, which is expected to achieve worldwide sales of £200m a year. 24-Sep-1997 British Biotech has announced successful early trials for its new cancer drug, marimastat, when used with existing treatments. 24-Sep-1997 Vanguard Medica is dropping a new treatment for ulcerative colitis due to insufficient efficacy, but expects to seek approval for a new migraine treatment later this year. 24-Sep-1997 Oxagen is being created as the UK's first genomics company by former British Biotech executives, in order to study the links between genes and disease. 22-Sep-1997 W Canning, the speciality chemicals company, has acquired a 48% stake in Taskem, the US surface finishing company, for £1.6m, and plans to follow it up with further expansion in the US. 19-Sep-1997 Yoshitomi Pharmaceutical and Taisho Pharmaceutical have both announced plans to set up UK research centres that focus on treatments for schizophrenia, in Glasgow and London respectively. 19-Sep-1997 Scotia Pharmaceuticals has sold US and European marketing rights for its Foscan anti-cancer drug to Boehringer Ingelheim of Germany and Japanese rights to Kyowa Hakko, for a total £33m. 17-Sep-1997 Laporte is examining opportunities to spend up to £450m on acquisitions as the worldwide chemicals industry continues to restructure. 16-Sep-1997 Chiroscience is linking up with Geron of the US to study diseases associated with ageing. 16-Sep-1997 Yorkshire Group is looking at the possibility of acquisitions and joint ventures in the dyes sector in south-east Asia, and has £50m of net cash following recent disposals. 16-Sep-1997 Monsanto is planning to run a publicity campaign in the UK, France and Germany, aimed at improving the image of biotechnology and increasing acceptance of its genetically modified soyabean. 16-Sep-1997 Shire Pharmaceuticals has announced "excellent" initial trial results for Galantamine, a new drug for Alzheimer's disease. 16-Sep-1997 Shell is buying out Montedison's 50% stake in their Montell polypropylene joint venture for £1.25bn and is setting up a polyethylene joint venture with BASF, as part of a major restructuring of its chemicals business. 13-Sep-1997 Skyepharma, the biotechnology company, has raised £7.4m from a share placing but says it now needs to raise more cash to help fund it into profit, following delays in drug development. 13-Sep-1997 Cortecs International has begun seeking approval for its first drug, the Macrotonin treatment for osteoporosis, in a number of European countries starting with Ireland and Finland. 12-Sep-1997 Powderject has agreed a £9m deal with Boehringer Mannheim of Germany for the development and commercialisation of its alternative to needle injections. 10-Sep-1997 Croda International is planning to sell its cosmetics, coatings, adhesives, distillates and colourings businesses, in order to focus on animal and vegetable oil products. 10-Sep-1997 Johnson Matthey has won US FDA approval for methylphenidate, the treatment for hyperactive children, which it will make in collaboration with Schein Pharmaceutical of the US. 04-Sep-1997 PPL Therapeutics has announced a deal to supply FibroGen of the US with animals whose milk contain collagen, the human protein. 03-Sep-1997 SmithKline Beecham is setting up a joint venture with Incyte of the US called Diadexus, which will develop diagnostic tests based on genes identified by SB's drug discovery work. 03-Sep-1997 Quadrant Healthcare has agreed to license its biotechnology-based method to dry and store blood platelets to Pall Corporation of the US. 30-Aug-1997 Kalon, the paints company, is planning a major sales drive, which will include an expansion of its trade outlets and acquisitions in new markets such as Germany. 28-Aug-1997 Biocompatibles is negotiating a deal with Johnson & Johnson of the US concerning the licensing of its new medical coating which prevents adverse reactions to implants. 28-Aug-1997 ICI is trying to buy a 9.1% stake in Asian Paints for £23m, but the move has been attacked by the Indian company as being illegal. 23-Aug-1997 Albright & Wilson has raised its stake in its A&W Troy Mexican joint venture from 50% to 75% at a cost of £23m. 22-Aug-1997 Kalon has bought a 75% stake in Circle, the Dutch private label paints company, for undisclosed terms. 21-Aug-1997 Cortecs has won a US patent for Flustat, its oral influenza vaccine. 19-Aug-1997 DuPont is to expand its Lycra plant in Londonderry at a cost of £78m, creating 100 jobs. 14-Aug-1997 Cambridge Antibody Technology has won UK approval to start clinical trials for a treatment for proliferative vitreo retinopathy, an eye disease. 09-Aug-1997 SmithKline Beecham is taking a 10% stake in a new biotechnology company called Adprotech, and will spin off some of its non-core patents into the company. 08-Aug-1997 Cortecs has announced promising trial results for Macritonin, the osteoporosis treatment, and hopes to launch it on the market next year. 07-Aug-1997 Oxford Molecular is planning to transform itself from a pharmaceutical software designer into a drug designer, and has taken an option to acquire Cambridge Combinatorial, the new biotechnology company. 05-Aug-1997 Zeneca has won UK approval for Seroquel, a new schizophrenia drug. 05-Aug-1997 Glaxo Wellcome has won German approval for Raxar, an inhaled antibiotic. 05-Aug-1997 ICI has won approval for a £245m chemical plant in Shanghai, which will produce raw material to make polyurethane, in partnership with Shanghai Tianyuan Chemical Works and Nippon Polyurethane Industry. 04-Aug-1997 Pestax, the biotechnology company with a range of plant patents, has put itself up for auction, and the proceeds could be anything up to £50m. 04-Aug-1997 Oxford Biomedica is seeking additional funds of up to £10m to fund research into cancer treatments, following its failure to raise sufficient funds when it launched on the Alternative Investment Market in December. 04-Aug-1997 Inspec has agreed two separate deals with Air Liquide and Kuraray to build plants on its chemical site in Antwerp, Belgium, one of which will make EVAL ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer resins. 01-Aug-1997 BOC has won a £30m contract to build and operate an air separation unit and liquefaction plant for Zaklady Azotowe Kedzierzyn in Poland. 28-Jul-1997 JCI of South Africa has sold its 8.6% stake in Johnson Matthey for £104m in order to fund the acquisition of a stake in Lonrho. 26-Jul-1997 BOC is planning to sell Ohmeda, its anaesthetic gases business thought to be worth up to £1bn, in order to raise funds to expand its core industrial gases business. 24-Jul-1997 SmithKline Beecham has won the US marketing rights for Baycol, the cholesterol-lowering drug developed by Bayer. 23-Jul-1997 Sanofi Winthrop is to cut 130 jobs at its pharmaceutical plant in Fawdon, Newcastle, due to the loss of a contract with SmithKline Beecham. 18-Jul-1997 Cortecs International, the biotechnology company, is moving its primary listing from Australia to London and creating a new holding company called Cortecs plc. 14-Jul-1997 British Biotech is delaying US clinical trials on Zacutex, its pancreas disease drug, as results so far have not been as expected. 10-Jul-1997 ICI has arranged the sale and leaseback of its Millbank head office in London, in order to help fund its acquisition of Unilever's speciality chemicals business. 10-Jul-1997 Chirex is acquiring a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Annan, Scotland, from Glaxo Wellcome for £40m. 08-Jul-1997 Ethical Holdings, the biotechnology company, has abandoned its flotation plans due to competition from similar companies coming to market. 08-Jul-1997 Burmah Castrol is planning to sell off its adhesives division, which includes Industrial Adhesives of the UK and Columbia Cement of the US, in order to concentrate on its core chemicals business. 03-Jul-1997 Chiroscience is linking up with Schering-Plough of the US to develop a treatment for asthma at a cost of £23m. 28-Jun-1997 Polymasc is linking up with NOF Corporation of Japan to develop techniques for the oral delivery of peptides and proteins. 26-Jun-1997 SmithKline Beecham is stopping trials of a rheumatoid arthritis drug due to adverse side-effects on the immune system. 25-Jun-1997 Glaxo Wellcome is creating a dedicated genetics research and development arm with a budget of over £30m. 18-Jun-1997 ICI Fertilizers has been forced to slash fertilizer prices, with Nitram falling to £110 a tonne, due to cheap Russian imports. 16-Jun-1997 Glaxo Wellcome has acquired Spectra Biomedical, the Californian company that studies links between genetics and illness, for £5.5m. 14-Jun-1997 Amersham International has confirmed plans to take a 55% stake in a joint venture with Pharmacia Biotech of Sweden, which will be called Amersham Pharmacia Biotech. 11-Jun-1997 Hickson International is merging its Ashwood Chemicals division in Yorkshire with its US-based DanChem business to create a new organic chemicals division which will also include Hickson & Welch. 10-Jun-1997 ICI has had to close a Tioxide titanium dioxide factory near Hartlepool following an emission of potentially toxic gas. 09-Jun-1997 ICI has agreed to give up its paints business in Australasia, including the Dulux brand, in order to push through the sale of its 62.4% stake in ICI Australia through a public offering. 06-Jun-1997 Zeneca has won US approval for the use of its Abound fungicide on crops. 05-Jun-1997 Chiroscience, through its Darwin Discovery subsidiary, is linking up with Hewlett-Packard to develop a new system for DNA analysis. 02-Jun-1997 Amersham International is in discussions with Pharmacia & Upjohn to merge its life sciences operation with Pharma Biotech, to create the largest biotechnology supply business in the world. 31-May-1997 SmithKline Beecham has won FDA approval for Coreg, its treatment for congestive heart failure, which will be marketed in collaboration with Boehringer Mannheim. 30-May-1997 IAWS of Dublin has acquired PB Kent, the fertiliser maker, for £9m, and sold its Lisburn Proteins by-products facility to Glenfarm Holdings for £7.7m. 28-May-1997 Peptide Therapeutics is to start clinical trials on an innovative allergy vaccine, having been granted a US patent. 28-May-1997 Ethical Holdings is planning to acquire Clonmel Healthcare, the Irish pharmaceuticals company, for £14m, conditional on the success of a £20m share placing in London. 27-May-1997 Laporte is expecting to announce the sale of its US adhesives and sealants business for about £90m over the next four months. 27-May-1997 Celltech is dropping its treatment for septic shock due to poor trial results, causing share prices of many UK biotechnology companies to fall sharply. 22-May-1997 Alizyme has acquired exclusive rights from Yakurigakru Chou Kenkyusho of Japan for the medicinal use of a product derived from rice that is said to inhibit fat digestion. 22-May-1997 Courtaulds has complained to the EU competition commissioner about Spanish government aid that is being given to Sniace to re-open a viscose plant. 22-May-1997 ICI Australia is to merge its vinyls business with that of Auseon, part of Geon of Ohio. 22-May-1997 Shield Diagnostics has won a licence to develop a test for thrombosis that uses technology developed at the University of Glasgow. 20-May-1997 Galen, the pharmaceuticals concern, is planning to float on the stock market in order to raise about £20m to fund the expansion of its Clinical Trials Supplies business and set up a chemical synthesis facility near Belfast. 19-May-1997 Biocure, the healthcare and drug discovery company, has announced plans for a reverse takeover by an unnamed UK healthcare company worth about £25m. 17-May-1997 Zeneca is linking up with Amersham International and Molecular Dynamics of the US to develop high-speed tests and reagents for gene analysis. 16-May-1997 Phytopharm has won an EU grant of £500,000 to develop a biotechnology-based treatment for osteoarthritis and Crohn's disease using the spice turmeric. 16-May-1997 British Biotech is setting up sales subsidiaries in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the Nordic region in preparation for the launch of its acute pancreatitis drug Zacutex. 13-May-1997 Ethical Holdings, the biotechnology company, is to list on the London market in order to raise £20m to expand manufacturing facilities and reduce debt. 13-May-1997 Shire Pharmaceuticals is to start trials on Galanthamine as a treatment for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. 07-May-1997 BOC has started work on a new £40m air separation plant at Teesside, which will supply oxygen and nitrogen to British Steel. 06-May-1997 ICI Chemicals and Polymers is to be prosecuted by the Environment Agency for the alleged discharge of organic effluent into a canal last October at its Runcorn site. 03-May-1997 Glaxo Wellcome has won UK approval for Naramig, a new anti-migraine drug. 03-May-1997 Allied Colloids has acquired Imdex Chemicals, the Australian polymers concern, for £6.7m. 02-May-1997 Powderject Pharmaceuticals is planning a flotation in June in order to raise about £30m to develop a patented device for painless injections. 30-Apr-1997 Zeneca is to collaborate with Oxford University to identify genes that cause ischaemic heart disease. 30-Apr-1997 British Biotech is investing in a research programme being carried out by SynPhar Laboratories of Canada in order to develop potential drugs known as cysteine proteinase inhibitors. 29-Apr-1997 Chiroscience has announced plans to start clinical trials later this year of a cancer compound that could rival British Biotech's marimastat. 29-Apr-1997 Glaxo Wellcome has granted a licence to Novopharm of Canada to manufacture a generic form of Zantac from July 10, thus ending Glaxo's monopoly on the active ingredient, ranitidine. 25-Apr-1997 Rhone-Poulenc and Merck have chosen London as the headquarters for their new animal health joint venture known as Merial. 23-Apr-1997 Chiroscience has announced successful trial results for levobupivacaine, a local anaesthetic. 16-Apr-1997 Glaxo Wellcome has reported encouraging trial results for lamivudine, a drug for the treatment of hepatitis B which could generate sales of £600m a year. 11-Apr-1997 Capital spending by the UK chemical industry fell by 0.6% in 1996 to £2.15bn according to a survey by the Chemical Industries Association. 10-Apr-1997 Zeneca has launched Zomig, a new migraine drug. 08-Apr-1997 Zeneca is to acquire the remaining 50% of Salick Healthcare, the US operator of outpatient clinics, for £147m. 29-Mar-1997 Merck of the US is to reduce the UK price of Crixivan, its Aids drug, by 9% in order to match prices in other European countries. 20-Mar-1997 Zeneca and Xenova have reached agreement to jointly develop pharmaceuticals from natural compounds. 20-Mar-1997 Cambridge Antibody Technology has raised £41m in a share placing and will use the funds to develop its own range of therapeutics. 20-Mar-1997 Cantab Pharmaceuticals is planning to increase its range of drugs under development and will raise the number of staff from 100 to 125 with a new research facility. 20-Mar-1997 Glaxo Wellcome is acquiring a 4% stake in Cantab Pharmaceuticals for £6m, and paying £5m for the worldwide rights to market Cantab's Disc HSV treatment for genital herpes. 19-Mar-1997 ICI has acquired a 40% stake in an unnamed Polish paints company, and plans to increase the stake to 75% over the next three years. 17-Mar-1997 Scotia has failed to win UK approval for Tarabetic, its promising treatment for nerve damage suffered by diabetics. 12-Mar-1997 Zeneca has won UK approval for Zomig, a new migraine drug which is expected to compete against Glaxo Wellcome's new Naramig drug. 12-Mar-1997 ICI is to invest £15m in a 60% stake in a joint venture with Dongsung Chemical to convert MDI into polyurethane parts in South Korea. 06-Mar-1997 British Biotech has requested European approval for Zacutex, a pancreas disease drug which represents its first product. 06-Mar-1997 Chiroscience plans to start clinical trials of a potential cancer therapy later this year, which is based on the technology used in British Biotech's Marimastat. 03-Mar-1997 Zeneca has been warned by the US FDA that it must sort out problems with the sterile manufacturing area at its Macclesfield plant in order to gain approval for any new drug applications. 01-Mar-1997 SmithKline Beecham is setting up research alliances with Evotec BioSystems of Germany and Cadus Pharmaceutical of the US, in order to increase the rate of new drug discovery. 28-Feb-1997 Courtaulds is to close a viscose factory in Grimsby with the loss of 90 jobs in response to an oversupply in the market caused by rising competition from Asia. 27-Feb-1997 Core Group, the Scottish drug developer, hopes to raise £23m from a flotation next week in order to fund clinical trials. 26-Feb-1997 PPL Therapeutics has linked up with the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh to patent a way of creating clones from adult animals. 25-Feb-1997 SmithKline Beecham has agreed a £200m settlement with US regulators concerning allegations that its Pennsylvania laboratories has falsely claimed payments from Medicare, the state-funded health plan. 25-Feb-1997 Unilever is looking to sell its speciality chemicals business for about £5bn and will use the proceeds to expand its food and personal products business worldwide. 12-Feb-1997 Peptide Therapeutics has reached agreement with SmithKline Beecham for the marketing of its new allergy vaccine. 11-Feb-1997 ICI is to float its Tioxide pigments business in order to raise up to £700m for shareholders and for the funding of acquisitions. 07-Feb-1997 Glaxo Wellcome is selling a pharmaceuticals plant in North Carolina to Catalytica Fine Chemicals, and the two companies have also agreed a 5-year sales contract. 06-Feb-1997 ICI has acquired Superior Paint Manufacturing, the Puerto Rican paint maker, for up to £18m. 05-Feb-1997 Oxford Biosciences is planning to raise about £25m in a stock market listing later this year. 04-Feb-1997 Babcock International has won a £43m order to build a petrochemicals plant in Henan Province, China. 04-Feb-1997 Scotia is to move its Efamol nutritional products operation into a separate group company, prompting speculation that it could later be sold off. 03-Feb-1997 BOC is launching a liquid form of air, which will be the first cryogen that allows people to breathe normally. 31-Jan-1997 Antisoma, the biotechnology company, is planning to raise about £30m from a flotation later this year in order to fund the development of new products. 30-Jan-1997 Zeneca has made a licensing agreement with Pharmacopeia of the US in which Zeneca will have access to Pharmacopeia's library of molecules. 30-Jan-1997 Burmah Castrol is acquiring the US releasants operation of Air Products and Chemicals. 29-Jan-1997 Xenova has announced a new collaboration in which Bristol-Myers Squibb will fund drug research and Xenova will get royalty payments related to the success of new products. 28-Jan-1997 Cambridge Antibody Technology is planning to raise up to £35m in a flotation in the first half of this year, but expects that further funds will be needed before it can launch one of its biotechnology products. 27-Jan-1997 Medeva has acquired a 3% stake in Peptide Therapeutics for £3m, and the two companies are to co-operate on the development of new vaccines. 24-Jan-1997 Skyepharma has announced a licensing deal in which Abbott Laboratories of the US will use its geomatrix slow-release drug delivery technique to produce the asthma drug Zileuton. 21-Jan-1997 Cortecs International is to launch oral calcitonin into Spain through a distribution deal with Ferrer Internacional. 16-Jan-1997 BP Chemicals is planning a joint venture with Salim to build a naphtha cracker in Indonesia at a cost of up to $1bn. 16-Jan-1997 ICI is planning to build a £12m paints factory in northern India. 15-Jan-1997 Cambridge Antibody Technology has agreed to license its library of human single chain antibodies to Eli Lilly in return for a fee. 09-Jan-1997 Unilever has sold Unipath's microbiology business to Cinven, the venture capitalist, for undisclosed terms, and the Basingstoke-based business will be renamed Oxoid. 09-Jan-1997 Merck is expanding its pharmaceuticals plant in Cramlington, Northumberland, in a £8.5m investment that will create 66 jobs. 08-Jan-1997 ICI is acquiring Rutz and Huber's refinish and transport paints business in Switzerland for undisclosed terms. 06-Jan-1997 The information below comes from the UK Activity Report. 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