Chemical industry – Page 104
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Business
Business roundup: November 2008
Huntsman wins Hexion court fight Huntsman has won its legal battle to force Hexion to honour its $10.6 billion (?5.4 billion) takeover deal, originally agreed in July 2007. In June 2008, Hexion declared that it was taking legal action in a bid to back out of the deal, claiming that ...
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Business
Business roundup: October 2008
BASF to buy Ciba Struggling Swiss speciality chemicals group Ciba has agreed to a SF6.1 billion (£3 billion) takeover deal by Germany’s BASF. Source: © AP PHOTOS Jurgen Hambrecht of BASF and Armin Meyer of Ciba On 15 September BASF announced its offer to buy Ciba shares ...
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Opinion
A means to an end
Derek Lowe remembers leaving the ivory towers of academe to trade 'unusual and beautiful' for 'useful'
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Business
Business roundup: September 2008
Agrochemicals companies make hay The booming global farming sector made agrochemicals the business to be in for chemical companies in the second quarter of 2008. The latest financial results show crop protection product sales continue to grow strongly - although earnings in other areas fared less well. US giant Dow’s ...
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Opinion
Reaction variety – the spice of life?
Derek Lowe is looking for a little more variety among his reactions
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Business
Business roundup: August 2008
Dow’s $19 billion merger Dow Chemical has announced a $19 billion (£9.5 billion) deal to buy Philadelphia-based speciality chemicals firm Rohm and Haas, a move Dow claims will make it the world’s leading speciality chemical and advanced materials company. Source: © AP PHOTOS The deal will create the ...
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Business
Business roundup: July 2008
Squeezed margins push up prices Rising energy, feedstock and transportation costs are squeezing the chemical sector’s profit margins - and triggering some dramatic price rises as companies try to pass the costs on. On 28 May US chemicals giant Dow announced it would raise price across its entire product portfolio ...
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Opinion
Divided by a common language
Derek Lowe dreams of the day when chemists and biologists can understand each other
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Business
Business roundup: June 2008
Bisphenol A studies spark mixed messages As bottle makers and retailers move to pull products made with bisphenol A (BPA), law makers and health regulators continue to argue over the compound’s safety. Source: © GETTY IMAGES Do polycarbonate bottles pose a health risk? On 18 April, ...
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Business
Business roundup: May 2008
Experts’ damning Vytorin verdict Already troubled by disappointing clinical trial results and an ongoing investigation, US drug giants Merck and Schering Plough’s combined cholesterol treatment Vytorin has now received a damning review from leading cardiologists. Source: © MERCK / SCHERING-PLOUGH PHARMACEUTICALS Trials show Vytorin’s dual action works ...
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Opinion
A dose of realism
The recent row over antidepressants reminds us how little we know about the brain, says Derek Lowe
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Business
Business roundup: April 2008
Declining dollar yet to bite The chemicals industry has yet to feel the impact of the slowing US economy, and rising costs of energy and feedstocks (see Chemistry World, March 2008, p19). Some of the biggest players in the industry, including the world’s largest chemical company BASF, have now added ...
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Business
Business roundup: March 2008
Can biologics go generic? US President George Bush has called for legislation to enable the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve generic versions of biologic (typically protein-based) drugs (see also Chemistry World, January 2008, p16). But a key lawmaker, Representative John Dingell, chairman of the House Energy and ...
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Business
Business roundup: February 2008
Chemical blasts A spate of accidents in chemical plants around the world in the last two months - including in the US and Japan - has caused the deaths of 20 plant employees, and left dozens more injured. On 19 December a blast and fire in the US ...