Big chemistry news this week was the announcement of the first synthetic cell, which could provide a basis for designing organisms from scratch.

Understandably the news has caused some controversy in the media, with sceptics concerned for the future of humanity and even research rivals worried that if the technology is patentable, other research groups will lose out on a piece of the pie.

The research could have enormous commercial value in the future for applications in biofuels and chemical synthesis through chemical biology and should be viewed as another step towards a greater understanding of science.

PHARMACEUTICALS

Cheap cancer drugs say Asda

So from creating synthetic cells to destroying cancerous ones…
In a world first supermarket Asda has announced that it will permanently sell privately prescribed cancer treatment drugs on a ‘not for profit’ basis in the UK, which could save patients thousands of pounds.

With a post code lottery on cancer funding dictating how much money is allocated to the treatment of each cancer patient, and the variation in cancer drugs available on the NHS depending on where you live, sufferers also have to deal with pharmacy mark-ups that can cripple patients’ finances.

Cancer affects nearly 300,000 people every year in the UK and the cost of treatment is too much for many sufferers. According to Asda, some privately prescribed cancer drugs are being sold with a 76 per cent mark-up in some high street stores.

This move will see prices of drugs like Iressa (gefitinib) – licensed to treat lung cancer – fall in Adsa stores to £2167.71 compared with other high street stores such as Superdrug that sell it for £3253.56.

Asda is urging patients to shop around when buying privately prescribed cancer drugs, claiming that 63 per cent of people were unaware that prices vary between pharmacies.

Asda has called for industry to follow its lead and end the high price mark-ups on cancer drugs and is working with suppliers to negotiate further discounts on trade prices of privately prescribed cancer drugs that it can then pass onto the customer.

Aspen to acquire Sigma Pharmaceuticals

African drug giant Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd. has offered to buy leading Australian pharma firm Sigma Pharmaceuticals for A$1.49 billion (£850 million) in order to expand into Australia. The offer works out at A$0.60 per share and net debt of A$785 million.

The proposal is subject to conditions such as regulatory approval, and unanimous recommendation by the Sigma board – the company has confirmed that the approach has been made and is currently considering the offer.

Genzyme pays up

US firm Genzyme, the largest maker of genetic disease medicines, has agreed to pay $175 million (£121.5 million) in unlawful profits from the sale of products made at its Allston, Massachusetts, plant to the US federal government.

During an inspection in 2009, manufacturing quality at the Allston plant was found to be inadequate resulting in production delays, critical shortages of medically necessary products to consumers and drugs contaminated with metal, fibre, rubber and glass particles. These findings violated US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations. Genzyme also suspended manufacturing of some of its products due to viral contamination in one of its bioreactors.

Genzyme has agreed to make improvements to its manufacturing processes at Allston, starting with an independent inspection of the plant that will recommend changes and result in an improvement plan subject to FDA approval. If the approved plan is not met, Genzyme will have to pay a substantial fine. In addition, Genzyme will have to move its vial filling operations to another plant or risk paying further disgorgement fines in the future.

INDUSTRY

Shin-Etsu’s new leadership

Japan’s most profitable chemical company, Shin-Etsu Chemical, has announced a change of leadership. Chihiro Kanagawa, former president, will become chairman, a position that has been vacant for over 15 years, and the former vice president, Shunzo Mori, will become president.

Kanagawa joined the firm in 1962, becoming president in 1990 and steering the company through some bold moves that have resulted in the company’s expansion over the years. Shunzo Mori is 74 and been at the company since 1963. He trained as a mechanical engineer and has worked his way up the company.

Shin-Etsu has extended profits and developed new areas of business, expanding its semiconductor silicon business by building on the strength of products such as silicone resins, synthetic quartz, rare earth magnets, cellulose derivatives and photoresists. PVC output has also increased and record earnings have been reported year on year.

The plans for the future include increasing sales in developing markets such as China and investing in improvements to accommodate environmental challenges.

Borouge and Linde Group get cracking

The Linde Group – a world leading gases and engineering company and Borouge – a leading provider of innovative plastic solutions – have signed a $1.1 billion contract confirming that Linde will build a 1.5 million tonnes per year (t/y) ethane cracker at Borouge’s production site in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi, in the UAE.

This deal comes hot on the heals of the inauguration of the world’s largest ethane cracker operated by Ras Laffan Olefins Co., that took place earlier this month.

The new cracker is the third of its kind to be built by Linde for Borouge in the last decade and will complement the existing crackers at the plant. Once the construction is complete, the Borouge site will be the largest ethane cracking complex in the world.

It signals a milestone in the growth of the company and is hoped to have a great impact on the automotive and advanced packaging markets in the Middle East and Asia.

SMEs pay less for chemicals

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the chemicals sector are set to pay less in administrative charges following a decision by the European Commission. Small firms will pay less in fees to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in connection with Classification, Labelling and Packaging Regulations (CLP) due to a reduction in levies.

The fees apply when a company asks for an alternative name for a substance or requests harmonised classification or labelling for substances.

Microenterprises will have a 90 per cent reduction in fees, small businesses will see a 60 per cent reduction, whilst medium size businesses will see a 30 per cent reduction and all companies that comply with CLP regulations will be able to work in their own language as the ECHA has now translated its guidance documents.

In addition to reduced fees SMEs will also be able to gain assistance with Registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals (Reach) regulations and CLP regulations.

And finally….

It seems that if you are a Chartered Chemical Engineer in the UK and Ireland, you can sit back and smile smugly. Results from the IChemE 2010 UK and Ireland Salary Survey reveal that the median salary for a Chartered Chemical Engineer is now £60,400 per year compared to £57,500 in 2008 even in this economic climate. Indeed a Chartered Chemical Engineer aged 30-39 will typically earn £8500 a year more than a non-chartered chemical engineer.

Is it time for a change in career we ask ourselves….

Mike Brown