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Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals 1999
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The information below comes from the UK Activity Report.
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Cambridge Antibody Technology is forming a partnership with Monsanto of the US to work on the development of therapeutic drugs, and Monsanto will acquire a 6.9% stake in CAT for £7.8m. 30-Dec-1999 ICI is to close its National Starch & Chemical factory in Braunston with the loss of 55 jobs, and a warehouse in nearby Daventry will also close. 30-Dec-1999 Nycomed Amersham has raised £37m from the sale to management of its Renselaer chemical manufacturing facility near New York. 23-Dec-1999 Bioglan Pharma is to buy a 19% stake in Winston Laboratories, the US developer of pain management products, for £15m. 17-Dec-1999 Williams has appointed JP Morgan to sell its North American paint companies, while negotiations are continuing to sell its Portuguese paints business. 14-Dec-1999 The government has announced plans to invest £320m in the improvement of scientific research facilities at universities throughout the country, in partnership with Wellcome Trust. 08-Dec-1999 The Roslin Institute and Lothian & Edinburgh Enterprise have announced a £5m expansion plan for the Roslin BioCentre, creating 250 jobs and space for a further ten biotechnology companies. 07-Dec-1999 Laporte is selling its chemicals site in Wolverhampton to Schenectady Europe for £20m, as part of a strategy to focus more on value-added products for the life sciences market. 07-Dec-1999 Johnson Matthey is seeking an acquisition to increase its focus on catalysts and pharmaceuticals, and has also announced the loss of 200 jobs and the closure of a tableware factory in Staffordshire. 03-Dec-1999 AstraZeneca is to cut 1,000 research jobs, including 300 at Alderley Park in Cheshire and 150 at Charnwood in Leicestershire. 01-Dec-1999 Quadrant Healthcare is forming a joint venture with MicroDose Technologies of the US to develop a new inhaler that will deliver peptides and proteins to the lungs. 01-Dec-1999 Yule Catto has bought the remaining 50% of the two Synthomer polymer joint ventures in the UK and Germany, from Reichhold for £59m. 01-Dec-1999 Phytopharm is raising £4.3m in a share placing in order to fund the development of three new plant-based biotechnology products. 01-Dec-1999 Galen has raised £37m in a share placing, and some of the cash will be used to acquire small pharmaceutical companies. 26-Nov-1999 Kemira Agro is considering plans to sell off its fertiliser factory at Ellesmere Port in order to focus on its core businesses of pulp and paper chemicals and paints and coatings. 24-Nov-1999 Greenhill Chemical Products, the manufacturer of washing-up liquid and car care products, is to merge with sister company Reabrook and set up a £4m warehouse at the former Rawdon Colliery near Swadlincote, with the creation of 100 jobs. 23-Nov-1999 British Biotech is considering plans to hire out its surplus laboratories to other research companies in order to raise up to £1m a year. 19-Nov-1999 Cyclacel has started work on the construction of a £3m biotechnology research centre at the Technopole science park in Dundee. 17-Nov-1999 Galen is to create a further 300 jobs at its pharmaceutical sites in Craigavon and Larne over the next three years, in a £40m investment. 17-Nov-1999 M&S Toiletries, the distributor of toiletries and cosmetics, is to relocate its headquarters and warehouse to the Europort distribution complex in Wakefield next May, and 150 staff will be transferred from Leeds. 16-Nov-1999 DuPont has opened a £78m Lycra plant at Maydown in Londonderry, with the creation of 100 jobs. 13-Nov-1999 Wellcome Trust is looking to build the £175m Diamond synchrotron for investigating biological structures at the Rutherford Appleton laboratory in Oxfordshire, but the government has chosen Daresbury in Cheshire as its preferred site. 13-Nov-1999 Procter & Gamble has confirmed plans to set up a new centre at the Cobalt Business Park in North Tyneside to provide finance, procurement and employee services, with the creation of 245 jobs. 12-Nov-1999 Reckitt & Colman is planning to relocate most of its household products division to Swindon following its merger with Benckiser, which will affect about 140 jobs in Hull. 10-Nov-1999 Oxford University has announced plans to become a leading centre for the development of nanotechnology, and is setting up the Begbroke Science Park on a 200-acre site north of the city. 05-Nov-1999 Procter & Gamble is said to be in discussions with Highbridge Properties about setting up a new European headquarters at the Cobalt Business Park in North Tyneside. 04-Nov-1999 Shell and BASF are planning to merge their commodity plastics operations into a new joint venture company with annual sales of $6bn. 04-Nov-1999 AstraZeneca is to shed 450 of the 8,500 jobs in its agrochemicals division, and is expected to sell or float the business. 29-Oct-1999 PPL Therapeutics is to cut 80 jobs, mostly in Edinburgh, in order to reduce costs in its biotechnology business. 28-Oct-1999 AstraZeneca has sold two heart drugs to Searle for undisclosed terms, in order to comply with European Commission conditions for last April's merger of the Anglo-Swedish group. 28-Oct-1999 Cortecs is changing its name to Provalis and is to adopt a lower-risk strategy of funding its biotechnology research from its profitable businesses. 28-Oct-1999 Blagden is looking to sell its remaining chemicals distribution business as part of a strategy to break itself up and return the proceeds to shareholders. 26-Oct-1999 SmithKline Beecham has had its Avandia diabetes drug rejected by the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicine, but will appeal against the decision. 22-Oct-1999 BP Amoco is to conduct a feasibility study for a world-scale ethylene cracker in Shanghai, in partnership with China Petrochemical Corporation. 21-Oct-1999 Shire Pharmaceuticals is planning to make a significant acquisition in continental Europe by the end of next year. 20-Oct-1999 Alcan Chemicals is to shed 120 of the 520 jobs at its alumina products factory in Burntisland, Fife, in order to help it compete in the export market. 14-Oct-1999 Hickson & Welch is opening a £3m training and research centre for the chemical industry at its Castleford site, in order to provide facilities for innovative small companies. 14-Oct-1999 BP Amoco is seeking buyers for its Ketonex aliphatic polyketone technology, which is used to produce polymers with a unique range of characteristics. 13-Oct-1999 Yorkshire Group is in negotiations to acquire an unnamed dyes company that would more than double its size. 13-Oct-1999 Cox Pharmaceuticals has unveiled a £4m extension at its factory in Barnstaple, which will enable tablet production to rise by 25% next year. 09-Oct-1999 Bespak is to cut up to 80 of the 650 jobs at its drug delivery business in King's Lynn, due to foreign competition. 08-Oct-1999 Glaxo Wellcome is to cut 1,500 jobs at Dartford in Kent and 200 jobs in Liverpool, as part of a move to shed 16% of its manufacturing workforce and reduce annual costs by £370m. 06-Oct-1999 BP Amoco and BASF have commissioned a new acetonitrile purification unit at the BASF nylon intermediates facility at Seal Sands, which will be owned by BP Amoco and operated by BASF. 02-Oct-1999 Oxford Molecular is to change the name of its Cambridge Combinatorial business to Cambridge Discovery Chemistry, in order to reflect its focus on the discovery of new chemical entities. 01-Oct-1999 British Biotech is to shed 66 jobs at its head office and research departments, reducing the total headcount to 235. 01-Oct-1999 Celltech Chiroscience is to sell its 70% stake in Chirotech Technology to Ascot for £59m. 30-Sep-1999 Peptide Therapeutics is to cut 16 of its 90-strong workforce in Cambridge, as part of a plan to split itself in two in order to cut costs and develop neglected areas of drug discovery. 28-Sep-1999 Glaxo Wellcome is preparing to announce plans to close a number of manufacturing plants and cut 4,000 jobs, including 1,500 in the UK, in order to reduce costs by about £400m a year. 27-Sep-1999 AstraZeneca is to cut 150 of the 1,200 jobs at its chemical works in Huddersfield over the next two years, due to a fall in demand for crop treatment products. 24-Sep-1999 Peptide Therapeutics is looking to sell off its drug discovery operations, in order to focus on its vaccine business. 21-Sep-1999 ICI is in negotiations to sell its acrylics business to Charterhouse Development Capital for about £500m, as part of a strategy to focus on speciality chemicals. 18-Sep-1999 Oxford Glycosciences is to collaborate with Pfizer of the US to study atherosclerosis, and has also formed a research agreement with Cellular Genomics of the US to study immunology. 16-Sep-1999 W Hawley & Son, the Derbyshire-based subsidiary of Bayer, is planning to transfer its colour pigment production to a new factory in Branston by the end of the year. 15-Sep-1999 Core Group, the drug delivery company, is in merger discussions with CeNeS, the Cambridge-based biotechnology company. 14-Sep-1999 Skyepharma is to develop a controlled release version of the Requip treatment for Parkinson's disease, in a £5m alliance with SmithKline Beecham. 14-Sep-1999 Vanguard Medica is forming an alliance with Menarini of Italy to distribute its frovatriptin migraine treatment in Europe. 14-Sep-1999 Monsanto is selling its alginates business to International Speciality Products for undisclosed terms, and all 170 workers at the facility in Ayrshire will be offered jobs with ISP. 09-Sep-1999 Elementis Chromium is cutting 70 of the 400 jobs at its Eaglescliffe chemicals plant on Teesside, due to the effect of competition from Russia and Kazakhstan. 09-Sep-1999 Medeva, the pharmaceuticals company, is in talks with an unnamed company that could lead to a takeover offer. 09-Sep-1999 Burmah Castrol has doubled its cost-cutting target to £60m by 2002, which will involve the loss of 1,450 jobs, but the company is also planning to strengthen its technological base through acquisitions. 09-Sep-1999 British Biotech is forming an alliance with Schering-Plough in which the US company will help finance and develop British Biotech's cancer inhibitors. 08-Sep-1999 Williams is planning to sell its North American and Portuguese paint businesses by the end of the year, in order to raise up to £300m to spend on acquisitions. 08-Sep-1999 Pfizer has awarded a contract to Laing for the construction of a £50m information technology headquarters in Tadworth, Surrey, where it will employ about 900 people. 02-Sep-1999 Quintiles of the US has confirmed plans to create about 1,500 jobs at its pharmaceutical services business in Scotland, with most of the jobs being related to new drug development at its site in Bathgate. 01-Sep-1999 BP Amoco, Air Products Kaemira and Hydro Agri have submitted plans to build a £10m chemicals pipeline under the River Humber between Saltend and Immingham, and work is expected to start next year. 26-Aug-1999 Glaxo Wellcome is to sell its Rhode Island biopharmaceutical plant in the US to American Home Products for £37m, having decided to stop producing its Wellferon drug. 26-Aug-1999 Wellcome Trust is considering plans to set up a £100m biotechnology park abroad, following the government rejection of its plans for the Genome Campus in Cambridge. 24-Aug-1999 ICI is said to have received more than 20 expressions of interest for the sale of its acrylics business, and the Belgium-based division could fetch up to £600m. 19-Aug-1999 Novartis is to cut 70 of the 670 jobs at its pharmaceuticals plant in Grimsby, due to a fall in demand for exports. 13-Aug-1999 Quintiles, the US provider of services to the pharmaceutical industry, is said to be planning to double its workforce in Lothian, creating a further 1,000 jobs. 11-Aug-1999 Cambridge Antibody Technology is to form an alliance with Human Genome Sciences of the US to develop medicines from human monoclonal antibodies. 11-Aug-1999 Hanson Logistics is to build a 50,000 sq ft chemicals warehouse in Huddersfield that will create 50 jobs, having won a major contract to store chemicals for Avecia. 10-Aug-1999 Elementis is to cut 300 jobs this year in order to reduce costs in its speciality chemicals business by £10m a year. 06-Aug-1999 Shell has received a $200m bid from Nova Chemicals of Canada for its worldwide polystyrene business, and other potential bidders are thought to include BASF and Atochem. 05-Aug-1999 BP Amoco is restructuring its European styrenics business, which will involve the closure of units at Baglan Bay in South Wales and at Wingles in Northern France. 05-Aug-1999 Genomic Solutions, the US biotechnology company, has opened a European headquarters in Huntingdon, including a sales centre and a manufacturing unit. 04-Aug-1999 Croda International is looking to expand its production and marketing facilities in the US, in order to meet the demand for speciality chemicals from the major personal care companies. 04-Aug-1999 AstraZeneca is to restructure its agrochemicals business, prompting speculation that it could be sold off in order to focus on pharmaceuticals. 04-Aug-1999 Argonex of the US is to set up a subsidiary in Dundee to develop drug screening products, working in conjunction with the University of Dundee. 03-Aug-1999 Laporte Minerals is closing its Cavendish Mill site at Stoney Middleton with the loss of 115 jobs, as its major customer, ICI, is to switch its business to Chinese fluorospar suppliers. 29-Jul-1999 Elan is forming an alliance with Merck of the US to develop Elan's Nanocrystal drug delivery system, and Merck will pay up to £19m for any resulting products. 28-Jul-1999 Oxford Asymmetry International is to invest £12m at its Abingdon headquarters in order to increase its capacity to produce new drugs for pharmaceutical companies. 28-Jul-1999 ICI is to shed 600 administrative and support staff over the next 18 months, and is still looking to move out of its Millbank head office in London. 23-Jul-1999 Medeva is to shed 60 jobs and close its London office in response to a fall in pharmaceutical sales. 22-Jul-1999 Banner Chemicals has received a £12m takeover offer from Petroferm of the US. 16-Jul-1999 Cantab Pharmaceuticals is opening a new corporate headquarters on Cambridge Science Park. 15-Jul-1999 Shire Pharmaceuticals is said to have been negotiating a merger with Medeva, but talks have stalled due to a disagreement over price. 15-Jul-1999 The Institute of Grassland & Environmental Research at Aberystwyth is to support a new company called MolecularNature, in order to create a library of plant extracts for the healthcare, agrochemical and cosmetic industries. 14-Jul-1999 BOC is considering a £7bn joint takeover offer from Air Liquide of France and Air Products of the US, which would involve Air Liquide controlling BOC's UK operations and most of its US business. 10-Jul-1999 SmithKline Beecham is to cut 240 jobs at its pharmaceuticals plant in Worthing, and some of the production will be moved to Irvine in Scotland where it will invest £17m. 09-Jul-1999 Goldshield is to increase its exports of pharmaceutical sales by acquiring the rights to 10 products from SmithKline Beecham at a cost of £17m. 08-Jul-1999 Glaxo Wellcome is said to be planning a worldwide restructuring programme that will involve the closure of a number of plants and significant job cuts. 03-Jul-1999 Medisys and Elan are forming a joint venture company to further the development of a re-usable blood glucose monitor. 03-Jul-1999 Xenova has raised £6.1m in a share placing in order to help it negotiate marketing deals with large pharmaceutical companies. 02-Jul-1999 ICI has completed the sale of the Wilton Centre, which houses almost 2,000 people working for various chemical companies, to Threadneedle Property Fund Managers. 01-Jul-1999 Pharmaceutical Profiles, the Nottingham-based clinical research company, is planning to recruit an additional 20 scientists as it prepares to move into a new £2.5m complex at Ruddington Fields. 01-Jul-1999 Biocompatibles International is to raise £18m in a share offer, and has also announced a distribution deal to sell its medical devices in Japan. 30-Jun-1999 Bioglan Pharma is to raise £23m in a share offer in order to help fund the purchase of a range of dermatological products from Medicis Pharmaceutical of the US. 30-Jun-1999 Alizyme is planning to raise £8m in a share placing to fund the development of treatments for obesity and gastrointestinal disorders. 29-Jun-1999 Birmingham City Council has given outline planning permission to Birmingham University for a £10m biomedical facility and European Research Institute, which is expected to lead to the creation of 500 jobs. 28-Jun-1999 Napp Laboratories is planning to develop the remaining 17 acres of its site at the Cambridge Science Park, in order to expand facilities for the development of new drugs. 25-Jun-1999 AstraZeneca has awarded a contract to Amec for the construction of a £29m 10,000 sq ft R&D laboratory at its Loughborough base, due for completion in July 2001. 25-Jun-1999 Avocado Chemicals has won permission to expand its chemicals factory in Heysham with the creation of up to 50 jobs. 25-Jun-1999 Novartis, the Swiss pharmaceuticals group is to cut 1,100 jobs worldwide, but has not yet revealed whether any jobs will be lost in the UK. 22-Jun-1999 BOC has rejected a joint takeover approach from Air Products of the US and Air Liquide of France. 22-Jun-1999 Dow Corning is close to completing a £150m expansion at its silicone plant at Barry, which has created more than 200 jobs and will more than double the production capacity. 21-Jun-1999 ICI is said to be planning to quit its Millbank head office, and is seeking a smaller property in central London. 21-Jun-1999 BioReliance of the US is creating 50 jobs through the £2.3m expansion of its biotechnology headquarters at Stirling University's Innovation Park. 19-Jun-1999 Elan is forming a joint venture with Quadrant in order to integrate their drug delivery technologies. 19-Jun-1999 Oxford Chemicals has completed a £2m expansion at its aroma chemicals factory at Seaton Carew on Teesside, in order to cope with rising demand from the fragrance market. 18-Jun-1999 Enterprise, the Staffordshire-based pharmaceuticals distribution company, is considering plans to expand its facilities in Talke, where it employs 360 people. 18-Jun-1999 Caledonia Investments is planning to expand its recently-acquired Amber speciality chemicals business by making more acquisitions, and intends to become a leading independent supplier of silicone. 18-Jun-1999 Shield Diagnostics' former building at Dundee Technology Park is set to be acquired by Upstate, the US biotechnology company. 16-Jun-1999 DyStar, the supplier of textile dyes, is to open a £1m office at the Pennine Business Park in Huddersfield, and 25 staff will be relocated from its existing headquarters in Stainland. 16-Jun-1999 BP Amoco and Elf Atochem are to combine their European polypropylene activities into a 50:50 joint venture, and they will also form a worldwide joint venture for polypropylene research and development. 16-Jun-1999 Oxagen is linking up with Lynx of the US to research the genes associated with inflammatory bowel disease. 15-Jun-1999 CP Pharmaceuticals is to expand its factory in Wrexham in order to meet rising demand for generic medicines in tablet form, and about 37 jobs will be created. 14-Jun-1999 SmithKline Beecham is said to have started merger talks with Novartis of Switzerland, in order to create a £110bn pharmaceuticals group. 14-Jun-1999 Scancem Energy & Recovery has acquired Chemical Manufacture & Refining, the north east-based processor of contaminated liquid solvents, for undisclosed terms. 14-Jun-1999 SmithKline Beecham is to develop a new £240m headquarters in Brentford, which is expected to house 2,200 staff when completed in two years time. 11-Jun-1999 Procter & Gamble is to create 200 new jobs at its headquarters in Gosforth over the next five years, despite a worldwide rationalisation programme that will cut 15,000 jobs worldwide. 09-Jun-1999 Apax Partners is paying £8m for a stake in Microscience, the vaccine development company spun out of London's Imperial College. 09-Jun-1999 Xenova has closed its MetaXen molecular design research facility in the US, with the loss of 12 jobs, as it failed to find a buyer. 09-Jun-1999 BTP has secured a long-term contract to supply pharmaceutical ingredients to Roche, which will involve the acquisition of a US plant in Missouri for $10m. 09-Jun-1999 DuPont is to cut up to 100 of the 650 jobs at its Wilton polyester business, due to global overcapacity in the market. 08-Jun-1999 Albright & Wilson is to cut about 460 jobs, including 240 at Whitehaven, 70 at Oldbury, and 150 at its headquarters, and is also considering plans to move to a site nearer the M42 motorway. 03-Jun-1999 L'Oreal is planning to expand its cosmetics factory in Llantrisant by 18,000 square metres, with the creation of up to 20 jobs. 02-Jun-1999 AstraZeneca is seeking to cut the amount of toxic waste produced at its Huddersfield plant by 70% over the next four years. 02-Jun-1999 BP Amoco has sold its 20% stake in a petrochemical plant on Teesside to the Huntsman ICI joint venture for undisclosed terms. 02-Jun-1999 BOC is to acquire Hyundai's air separation and compression plants at the Asan Bay petrochemical complex in South Korea, and will take on a £300m supply contract with Hyundai. 28-May-1999 SmithKline Beecham has won US approval to market its Avandia diabetes drug, and will co-promote the product with Bristol-Myers Squibb. 27-May-1999 AstraZeneca is looking to sell or float its agrochemicals division in order to focus on its core pharmaceuticals business. 27-May-1999 Hoechst Marion Roussel has assured the 426 staff at its pharmaceuticals plant in Swindon that their jobs are safe following the acquisition of the site by Patheon of Canada. 26-May-1999 IAWS Fertilisers is to build a £2.4m terminal at the Port of Ipswich, including equipment for the bagging and blending of fertilisers. 21-May-1999 Q-One Biotech, the Glasgow-based supplier of testing services for biotech and pharmaceutical companies, is to set up its first US plant in Boston next year. 21-May-1999 Aromascan is changing its name to Osmetech in order to reflect a change of strategy that will see it focus on the development of technology to detect micro-organisms. 21-May-1999 Oxford Biomedica is forming a joint venture with ViroMed of South Korea to develop gene therapies against cancer. 20-May-1999 Oxford Glycosciences is to expand into a new building at Milton Park near Abingdon later this year, from where it will develop databases for drug companies. 14-May-1999 Pall Europe has opened a new filtration laboratory in Portsmouth in order to help biopharmaceutical companies get new drugs on to the market faster. 13-May-1999 AH Marks is to cut 43 jobs at its chemicals factory in Bradford due to the introduction of new plant and machinery. 12-May-1999 Shire Pharmaceuticals is considering plans to spend up to £800m on a major acquisition in Europe. 12-May-1999 Procter & Gamble is to close its cosmetics factory in Wakefield with the loss of 380 jobs, and production will be transferred to Ireland. 12-May-1999 BOC is in merger discussions with Praxair of the US, which could lead to the creation of the world's largest industrial gases group. 11-May-1999 Unilever's DiverseyLever subsidiary is to build a £10m cleaning products distribution centre in Derby, creating about 70 jobs, in order to replace a facility at Port Sunlight. 06-May-1999 Weleda is opening a new dispensary at its homeopathic medicines factory in Ilkeston, in order to supply products to hospitals, clinics, doctors, pharmacies and the public. 04-May-1999 ICI is to sell its automotive refinishing paints and other industrial coatings operations to PPG Industries of the US for £425m, which will involve the transfer of 2,850 employees. 29-Apr-1999 Bioglan Pharma is looking to expand its drug delivery business in the US and Europe by building up a sales and distribution network and by acquiring new products. 29-Apr-1999 PPL Therapeutics is in discussions with two potential partners for its cystic fibrosis treatment, and is still looking for suitable sites for a production plant. 27-Apr-1999 AstraZeneca is expected to receive a £1.25bn bid from Investcorp for its speciality chemicals division, which employs 5,500 people at 35 sites worldwide. 24-Apr-1999 Brent International is to sell Swale Process, its inks and chemicals business, to Japanese-owned Sun Chemical for £8.4m. 24-Apr-1999 ICI is said to be in discussions to sell its chlorine operation at Runcorn to a management team. 23-Apr-1999 SmithKline Beecham has won US approval for its Avandia diabetes drug. 23-Apr-1999 SmithKline Beecham is abandoning the development of its potentially-important idoxifene drug as a treatment for osteoporosis due to concerns over side-effects. 21-Apr-1999 Genus has announced a £21m hostile takeover bid for VDC, the veterinary and dental healthcare products company, as part of a strategy to diversify into pharmaceuticals and nutrition. 20-Apr-1999 Shield Diagnostics has reached agreement with Gemini Holdings of Cambridge to develop a DNA test for osteoporosis. 20-Apr-1999 Scotia Holdings has announced an agreement to study the possibility of developing new formulations of compounds for Bristol-Myers Squibb, using its lipid technology. 20-Apr-1999 DuPont is to transfer its polyester operation at Wilton into a new joint venture company set up with Sabanci Holdings of Turkey. 19-Apr-1999 Glaxo Wellcome is to merge its Japanese subsidiary with its Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals joint venture, in order to create a single company and complete the consolidation of its Japanese operations. 16-Apr-1999 The government is to conduct a two-month review of the biotechnology sector in order to find ways of helping UK companies benefit from the growing European market. 16-Apr-1999 Laporte, the fine chemicals company, has ended talks about a possible £2bn takeover bid from Clariant of Switzerland, apparently due to Clariant's failure to win approval from its largest shareholder Hoechst. 14-Apr-1999 Zeneca is planning a £5m extension at its pharmaceutical intermediates plant in Huddersfield, which will enable it to mix trial batches for customers and allow the main plant to focus entirely on bulk manufacture. 09-Apr-1999 PPL Therapeutics is considering plans to set up a plant in the US to manufacture biotechnology-based products, but UK development agencies are hoping the company will decide to locate the facility nearer to its Edinburgh base. 09-Apr-1999 BOC is to acquire £19m of gas assets at the Asan Bay complex from Samsung General Chemicals, having agreed a long-term industrial gas supply contract with the South Korean group. 09-Apr-1999 Merlin Ventures is to merge with key members of the Rothschild Bioscience Unit to form Merlin Bioscience, which will aim to invest more than £150m in biotechnology companies around the world. 07-Apr-1999 Phosyn has applied for planning permission to expand its trace chemicals laboratory in Pocklington, East Yorkshire. 02-Apr-1999 Therapeutic Antibodies is in merger discussions in order to raise financing for its biotechnology business. 01-Apr-1999 Cambridge Antibody Technology is to collaborate with Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories in the development of a range of human antibody-based drugs. 31-Mar-1999 Scotia Holdings is planning to develop a weight loss drug using the technology behind its appetite suppressant food additive, and has also announced plans to spend £24m on research and development this year. 31-Mar-1999 Glaxo Wellcome is said to be looking for merger partners, having recently called off preliminary talks with Bristol Myers Squibb of the US. 29-Mar-1999 ICI is said to be close to agreeing the sale of about £2bn of assets to Huntsman of the US, which could include its Tioxide division and its Teesside-based petrochemicals business. 27-Mar-1999 Merck Sharp & Dohme is planning to expand its neurological research centre near Harlow, creating about 65 jobs. 26-Mar-1999 Zeneca has won approval from the US Federal Trade Commission for its £21bn merger with Astra of Sweden. 26-Mar-1999 British Biotech has abandoned further development of its Zacutex treatment for pancreatitis, one of its two key drug developments, due to poor clinical trial results. 26-Mar-1999 Kalon, the paints company, has reached agreement for Total of France to acquire the 34% stake it does not already own, in a deal that values Kalon at £439m. 26-Mar-1999 Alliance UniChem is planning to establish a pharmaceutical retailing business across Europe, and is seeking mergers and joint ventures in Germany and Spain. 25-Mar-1999 Croda International is planning to increase its focus on speciality chemicals as part of a cost-cutting campaign that will result in the closure of some plants and the sale of stakes in joint ventures. 24-Mar-1999 Hydro Agri is to cut 60 of the 430 jobs at its fertiliser factory in Immingham, due to a fall in demand. 23-Mar-1999 Warner Lambert is to end production at its healthcare products factory in Pontypool at the end of this year, and the site will be marketed by King Sturge and the Welsh Development Agency as the largest industrial site in Wales. 23-Mar-1999 Morgan Crucible is to step up its rationalisation programme with a further 1,100 job cuts this year at a cost of £17m, and non-core businesses with turnover of about £80m will be sold off. 23-Mar-1999 Peel Street Pharmacy is to close its warehouse in Accrington later this year with the loss of 60 jobs. 19-Mar-1999 Oxford Molecular is to close six of its nine US offices and restructure its operations into two divisions - software solutions and discovery solutions. 19-Mar-1999 ICI has announced a seven-year deal to outsource its global computing infrastructure to IBM. 19-Mar-1999 Zeneca has reached agreement with Monsanto that will enable it to market its Touchdown herbicide for use with Monsanto's genetically modified crops. 19-Mar-1999 BTP has announced a reorganisation that will combine its fine chemicals operations under the Archimica name, while its Nipa biocides business will be moved to the performance chemicals division. 18-Mar-1999 Bioglan Pharma is buying a portfolio of dermatological products from Medicis Pharmaceutical for £6.7m, as part of a strategy to expand its presence in the US. 18-Mar-1999 Shield Diagnostics is seeking to raise £12m in a rights issue in order to fund the proposed merger with Axis Biochemicals of Norway. 18-Mar-1999 Cortecs is looking to sell its food diagnostics, laboratory services and pharmaceutical sales companies, in order to reduce losses. 17-Mar-1999 Albright & Wilson has received a £455m takeover bid from Rhodia of France, which beats a £408m approach from Albemarle of the US. 17-Mar-1999 Kalon, the paints group, is to open 12 more trade outlets in the UK this year, and it also has plans to expand the network in France and Poland. 17-Mar-1999 DuPont is to close the customer services division at its Maydown plant in Northern Ireland, and the operation will be transferred to Geneva. 16-Mar-1999 Norbrook Laboratories, the veterinary pharmaceuticals group, is planning to create 100 jobs in Newry this year, and a further 120 next year. 16-Mar-1999 BASF has confirmed plans to cut 260 jobs at its Seal Sands chemicals plant on Teesside over the next 18 months, in order to secure the future viability of the site. 15-Mar-1999 Johnson & Johnson has confirmed that it will close its toiletries factory in Portsmouth by the end of 2000 with the loss of up to 160 jobs, and production will be transferred to Italy and France. 12-Mar-1999 Kalon is in discussions with Total which could lead to the French company buying the 34% stake in the UK paints company that it does not already own. 12-Mar-1999 Xenova is looking to sell stakes in its Xenova Discovery and MetaXen services businesses, as part of a plan to reduce losses and focus on drug discovery. 11-Mar-1999 Shield Diagnostics has secured rights from the University of Nijmegen for a new diagnostic test for rheumatoid arthritis. 11-Mar-1999 Nycomed Amersham is considering plans to sell Pharma, its pharmaceuticals division, in order to focus on biotechnology and imaging. 09-Mar-1999 Rhone-Poulenc Agriculture is to build a £15m agricultural chemicals plant in Norwich to produce NTBN for the manufacture of Isoxaflutole. 06-Mar-1999 Albright & Wilson is planning to bid for the US phosphates division of Solutia, which is said to be worth about £125m. 06-Mar-1999 Williams is looking to sell its paints business for up to £350m, and aims to spend up to £800m on acquisitions to expand its security and fire protection activities. 05-Mar-1999 Oxford Biomedica is planning to raise £3.6m in a rights issue to fund clinical trials for its gene therapy projects. 04-Mar-1999 Burmah Castrol, the lubricants and chemicals company, is planning to restructure its European operations at a cost of £110m, which will involve plant closures and an unspecified number of job losses. 02-Mar-1999 Axis Genetics has announced an agreement in which Roche of Switzerland will evaluate its Epicoat oral vaccines for use in animals. 02-Mar-1999 Chiroscience has regained the rights for the Chirocaine anaesthetic from Zeneca, in order to clear the way for Zeneca to win approval for its merger with Astra. 02-Mar-1999 Kvaerner has opened a £10m technology centre in Stockton on Tees to improve research and development in chemical manufacturing processes, and it will employ up to 125 staff. 01-Mar-1999 Oxford Asymmetry International, the supplier of chemical research services to the pharmaceutical sector, is to invest £6m in IT and other management areas over the next three years, and a further £5m completing its new laboratories. 24-Feb-1999 KS Biomedix is seeking partners to assist with the development of its osteoarthritis treatment. 24-Feb-1999 ML Laboratories has awarded US commercial rights for its Viraldon Aids treatment to General Medical Industries. 23-Feb-1999 Skyepharma has won US approval for an oral controlled release version of SmithKline Beecham's anti-depressant Paxil. 19-Feb-1999 Allied Coatings is creating 150 jobs at its plant in Whetstone, due to rising demand for resin-based coatings. 18-Feb-1999 Zeneca is planning to invest £7.5m in new facilities at its Avonmouth plant, including a purification plant for its new anti-cholesterol drug. 17-Feb-1999 Powderject has announced a £61m alliance with Ares-Serono of Switzerland to develop powdered fertility and immunology proteins for needle-free injection, and is raising £52m in a share placing. 12-Feb-1999 Medeva is to sell its Swiss pharmaceutical plant and development projects to RSP Pharma, a company controlled by Medeva's Swiss management, for £3.9m. 12-Feb-1999 BP Chemicals is cutting 400 jobs at Grangemouth near Edinburgh and 250 jobs at Saltend near Hull, in order to cut costs. 11-Feb-1999 SmithKline Beecham is planning to rationalise its supply chain and reduce the number of manufacturing sites, which will result in the loss of about 3,000 jobs worldwide. 10-Feb-1999 Glaxo Wellcome has won Swedish approval for its Relenza influenza drug, and EU-wide approval is expected to follow within 90 days. 10-Feb-1999 ICI is to almost halve its capital expenditure to about £375m a year, and is not looking to make any large-scale acquisitions this year. 05-Feb-1999 Hickson & Welch has won approval for the second stage of a £10m waste chemicals treatment plant at its Castleford site, and it will be built by BOC. 03-Feb-1999 Galen has announced plans for a £21m expansion of its pharmaceutical activities in Northern Ireland, which will lead to 63 new jobs at its Craigavon headquarters and 40 jobs in its SynGal division. 03-Feb-1999 Terra Industries has announced plans to cut 40 jobs at its Teesside operation and a further 35 in Bristol, due to overcapacity in the fertilizer market. 01-Feb-1999 Albright & Wilson has confirmed that it is in takeover talks, prompting speculation that it could sell its phosphates business. 30-Jan-1999 Peptide Therapeutics has announced an alliance with Rhone-Poulenc's Pasteur Merieux Connaught division in order to develop vaccines against viral infection. 30-Jan-1999 The government has announced a £13m Bio-Wise scheme to encourage industry to make more use of biotechnology, and it will start by targeting the chemicals, engineering and textiles sectors. 29-Jan-1999 BTG, the intellectual property manager, is launching the BeneFix treatment for haemophilia in the UK and Europe, and it will be distributed through Baxter Healthcare. 28-Jan-1999 BASF is to cut 260 of the 630 jobs at its acrylonitrile operation at Seal Sands, as part of a review of working methods. 22-Jan-1999 BP Chemicals has agreed a new pay deal with the TGWU union for its polyethylene plant at Wilton, which will involve the number of jobs being cut by almost 25% and the launch of performance-based pay and multiskilled, self-managed teams. 21-Jan-1999 Cortecs, the biotechnology company, has made 75 of its 270 staff redundant and its London and New York offices have been closed, as part of an ongoing cost-cutting campaign. 21-Jan-1999 The University of Durham has won approval to build an £8m research centre that will provide facilities for environmental and biomedical sciences. 20-Jan-1999 Watts Blake Bearne, the ceramic clays company, is in talks that could lead to its acquisition by SCR-Sibelco of Belgium. 20-Jan-1999 Britannia Pharmaceuticals has been put up for sale for about £50m, and says it needs investment of £6m over three years to help it research new uses for existing drugs. 19-Jan-1999 Glaxo Wellcome is to collaborate with St Mary's Hospital in London to identify potential treatments for CJD. 15-Jan-1999 Wyeth Manufacturing is to cut 50 jobs at its pharmaceuticals plant in Havant. 12-Jan-1999 English China Clays, the speciality chemicals and industrial minerals company, has rejected a £680m takeover bid from Imetal of France. 12-Jan-1999 Zeneca has shortlisted three companies to buy its speciality chemicals division for up to £1.5bn - Bayer, BASF and Rohm & Haas - and a deal is expected within two months. 11-Jan-1999 Glaxo Wellcome has begun construction of an £85m pharmaceuticals factory near Shanghai, following Chinese regulatory approval for its lamivudine treatment for hepatitis B. 09-Jan-1999 Cortecs is to cut 70 jobs at its pharmaceuticals headquarters on Deeside. 08-Jan-1999 Albright & Wilson is expected to make further job cuts this year following a slowdown in sales of surfactants. 08-Jan-1999 Gemini, the Cambridge-based biotech company, is planning a £100m flotation later this year. 07-Jan-1999 Norcros Adhesives has completed a £3m redevelopment of its Trentham headquarters, and is now planning additional investment in research and automation to increase efficiency. 06-Jan-1999 Pfizer has awarded a contract to Morris Material Handling of Loughborough to install a new automated warehouse at its pharmaceutical manufacturing site in Sandwich, Kent. 06-Jan-1999 Warner Lambert has sold the Remegal acid indigestion brand in Europe to Seton Scholl Healthcare for £5.9m. 06-Jan-1999 Kalon is expected to acquire Petrofina's Sigma paints division when the Belgian oil company is bought by Total later this year. 05-Jan-1999 ICI is to restructure its paints division and cut 1,000 jobs, including about 500 in the UK, and it has also announced the collapse of a deal to sell its Tioxide division to DuPont and NL Industries. 05-Jan-1999 Kalon is planning to acquire a 60% stake in Polifarb Cieszyn Wroclaw, the Polish coatings producer, for about £40m. 02-Jan-1999 The information below comes from the UK Activity Report. 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