The local hardware store appears to be an endangered species. In my area, two recently put up “going-out-of-business” signs. A couple of years back, a hardware store where I used to swap empty propane tanks for full ones closed its doors after a century of operation. In a demonstration of the creative destruction of the free-market economy, the location became a cannabis dispensary.
Such scenes are playing out all over the country. The reasons are familiar: competition from big-box stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot and online retailers like Amazon. Proprietors may have been able to scratch out a living, but they can’t sell the business or pass it on to willing family members when they retire.
Such stores are outlets for chemical products: paints, stains, adhesives, solvents, bug spray, detergents, weed killers, and fertilizers to name a few.
These products are sold online or at big retailers, but those retailers are really for large projects planned in advance. The local hardware store is great for the impromptu tinkering and sudden crises: the pneumatic piston needed to close the screen door, the odd screw required to hang a shelf, and yes, the propane gas that ran out in the middle of your barbeque.
We are losing community assets.
Send any questions, comments, or tips to me, senior correspondent Alex Tullo, at [email protected].
Top stories from C&EN
A scientist (in lab coat) at Atinary Technologies’ Boston facility with an employee of ABB at Atinary’s self-driving lab. There were no ongoing experiments. Credit:
Atinary Technologies
Business in brief
Fuller defies activist shareholder to buy AMS
Adhesives maker H.B. Fuller has agreed to purchase England-based Advanced Medical Solutions (AMS) in a deal that values the wound-care materials firm at nearly $950 million. AMS generated about $300 million in revenues in 2025 supplying products such as surgical sealants and incision adhesives. Fuller had about $3.5 billion in sales last year, and executives see the medical market as a growth sector. But the activist investor Ancora Holdings Group, which owns more than 2% of Fuller, isn’t happy with the transaction. It has been lobbying against it since Fuller disclosed negotiations with AMS in May. In a statement, Ancora says Fuller previously promised to reduce debt and not make acquisitions. It also calls the purchase a “poison pill” meant to ward off any firms interested in acquiring Fuller. “We hope it is clear to the market that H.B. Fuller’s purported fiduciaries opted for what amounts to an entrenchment maneuver,” it says. In May, Ancora said in a statement that “based on our diligence and discussions with long-standing industry contacts, we are highly confident that leadership has been approached by credible buyers.”
—Alex Tullo
Covestro plans MDI plants for China, UAE
The German chemical maker Covestro plans to build an integrated facility to make the polyurethane raw material methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) at its complex in Shanghai and is conducting a feasibility study for a similar project in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The project in China will have 660,000 metric tons of annual capacity. Covestro isn’t disclosing the cost of the plant, but a company spokesperson notes in an email to C&EN that typical industry estimates for new integrated MDI plants are $1.7 billion–$2.3 billion. Covestro says the plant in the UAE would be around the same size. XRG, an international investment affiliate of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC), completed the purchase of Covestro last December. In May, another ADNOC affiliate, Ta’ziz, unveiled a proposal for a $10 billion chemical complex including an MDI plant.
—Alex Tullo
Dow plans silicones investments
Dow is expanding specialty silicones at many of its facilities, including the one shown above at Zhangjiagang, China. Credit:
Dow
Dow is investing $100 million to boost specialty silicone production in the US, China, and Japan, by 2027. Dow completed an expansion at its thermal management labs in Shanghai and Midland, Michigan, and will finish capacity increases later this year for engineered silicones in Songjiang, China, and Fukui, Japan. Further engineered silicone volumes will come on line in Auburn, Michigan, and Zhangjiagang, China, in 2027. Dow will also add capacity for liquid silicone rubber that year in Carrollton, Kentucky, and Zhangjiagang. The expansions are targeted at electronics, medical, and mobility applications. Dow says that demand for silicone coatings, sealants, adhesives, and components in these three sectors is outpacing overall economic growth.
—Craig Bettenhausen
PVC maker Kem One gets lifeline from creditors
The French polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producer Kem One has obtained $80 million from investors and secured a new $34 million credit line. The recapitalization has reduced Kem One’s debt burden by 80% and improved its cash flow. Monarch Alternative Capital and Arini—new investors in Kem One—provided $34 million of the $80 million, with existing shareholder Apollo Global providing the rest. Under the agreed terms, Monarch and Arini are set to be represented by a new supervisory board that will oversee Kem One. The refinancing reflects the confidence of Kem One’s financial partners “in the company’s industrial fundamentals, the quality of its teams, and its ability to continue its recovery in a constrained market environment for the European chlorovinyls industry,” Kem One says in a press release. The European PVC sector has encountered trouble recently. Competitor Vynova declared its German plant insolvent in December and is seeking a sale. It is also closing a plant in the Netherlands. Ineos’s Inovyn unit is selling chlor-alkali plants in Italy to Esseco Industrial.
—Alex Scott
US Army to allow critical mineral processing on bases
The US Army plans to let private companies build mineral-processing facilities at Army bases to ensure that the military has reliable access to the materials, many of which are processed in China. Under the plan, Titan Mining would build graphite-processing plants at Army facilities in Alabama and Arkansas; EnergyX would start processing lithium at a depot in Texas; Ioneer would build boron processing capability in Utah; and REalloys would develop dysprosium and terbium refining in Utah. The companies would finance, build, and operate the facilities, and the Army would lease land. These minerals are growing increasingly important for war. Boron is used to make bulletproof plating. Lithium and graphite are used to make batteries for small drones. Dysprosium and terbium are needed for magnets used in precision-guided missiles and other military equipment. The plants are scheduled to start operating by 2028.
—Matt Blois
Energy Fuels buys German magnet maker for $1.9 billion
Vacuumschmelze makes magnets from rare earth elements that are used in electric vehicles and other applications. Credit:
Shutterstock
Energy Fuels is acquiring the German rare earth magnet manufacturer Vacuumschmelze (VAC) in a deal worth about $1.9 billion. Energy Fuels historically focused on mining and refining uranium but has recently started moving into the rare earth industry. Refining uranium requires a solvent extraction technique similar to the process for separating rare earths. Energy Fuels is developing rare earth mines in Madagascar and Australia. In June, the firm received conditional approval for a $725 million loan from the US Department of Defense to scale up a rare earth separation facility at a Utah facility. In January, Energy Fuels announced plans to acquire Australian Strategic Materials—a firm that converts rare earth oxides into metals, a step that precedes magnet manufacturing. With the acquisition of VAC, Energy Fuels will be developing projects that span every part of the rare earth supply chain, from mining to final magnet production. The US government has been offering major support for companies trying to establish domestic rare earth production to reduce the country’s dependence on China.
—Matt Blois
SI Group and Shengxiao plan biphenol production in China
The specialty chemical maker SI Group has formed a joint venture with Shengxiao Group that will increase capacity for the intermediate chemical biphenol in China. Biphenol is a monomer used to synthesize liquid crystal polymers, polyphenylene sulfone, and other products. SI already produces biphenol in Newport, Tennessee. Shengxiao produces the monomer and other liquid crystal polymer intermediates in Quzhou, China. The partners say the venture will combine Shengxiao’s established biphenol plant with SI’s technology and biphenol expertise. They don’t indicate how the new capacity will be added. The venture is the first significant initiative announced by SI since it revealed a recapitalization and new ownership in December.
—Michael McCoy
FMC sells R&D center property to pay down debt
Under pressure from recent losses and high debt obligations, FMC has signed an agreement to sell its property in Newark, Delaware, where it operates its main R&D center, for $114 million and lease the property back. The agricultural chemical company says the sale will not disrupt operations at the facility. In February, FMC said it was seeking strategic alternatives, including a sale of the entire company. It is also attempting to reduce its debt obligation by $1 billion. In addition to the Newark property sale, the company recently signed an agreement to sell its crop protection business in India to Crystal Crop Protection for $252 million. It has also raised $1.2 billion in new bonds to pay upcoming short-term debt commitments.
—Alex Tullo
Quote of the week
“As a patient or as a doctor, you just want the best therapy that is available, regardless of where it has been sourced. I don’t think you can regulate yourself out of this. If another ecosystem produces strong innovation, you have to embrace that.”
NorthLinks Bio launches with $34 million and Phase 2 antiviral nasal spray
Pneumagen, a Scottish biotechnology company, is reorganizing and launching its US-based operations as NorthLinks Bio with $34 million in financing. The new firm will be advancing its broad-spectrum antiviral nasal spray, HEX17, to Phase 2b clinical trials and beyond. The drug platform uses engineered carbohydrate–binding molecules that target sialic acids, which are present on the surface of respiratory epithelial cells and are exploited by viruses to enter cells. The drug candidate has already proceeded through Phases 1 and 2a. In a Phase 2a trial, HEX17 demonstrated a 50% reduction in symptomatic flu infections, along with overall reduced symptoms and viral shedding. The company will retain some of its operations in Saint Andrews, Scotland.
—Max Barnhart
Novartis, Antares sign $1.9 billion agreement for cancer small molecules
Novartis has partnered with Antares Therapeutics to discover small molecules for what it calls “undruggable” oncology targets. Novartis will pay $105 million up front, and Antares is eligible for up to $1.8 billion in further milestone payments. The firms did not disclose specific targets. Antares spun out of Scorpion Therapeutics last June after Eli Lilly and Company bought that firm for up to $2.5 billion. CEO Adam Friedman told C&EN in June that Antares would investigate targets beyond oncology. Antares will still pursue its own projects outside the Novartis collaboration.
—Sarah Braner
Struggling Passage Bio reverse-merges with Remix Therapeutics
Passage Bio is slated to combine with Remix Therapeutics after a series of setbacks related to a clinical trial for a dementia drug candidate. Launched in 2019 by gene therapy pioneer Jim Wilson, Passage aimed to develop treatments for rare central nervous system diseases and had clinical trials ongoing in frontotemporal dementia (FTD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer’s disease, and Huntington’s disease. But the start-up’s work progressed slowly. Passage laid off about 13% of its workforce in 2022 in an effort to conserve cash. In April this year, the firm laid off almost all its remaining employees after it failed to come to an agreement with the US Food and Drug Administration about an appropriate design for a clinical trial in FTD. The reverse merger with Remix is effectively a financing mechanism for Remix, which will now move forward with its own RNA-targeting molecules for various cancers.
—Rowan Walrath
Zymeworks to buy Theravance for $929 million cash
Zymeworks is expanding beyond cancer with a new purchase. The Canadian company has agreed to buy Theravance Biopharma, maker of the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) drug Yupelri (revefenacin), for $929 million in cash. Yupelri brought in $266.6 million in sales in 2025, its best year since the US Food and Drug Administration approved the drug in 2018. Theravance has had less success with its other programs: ampreloxetine, a small molecule, spelled trouble for the company when it failed in a Phase 3 trial for a blood pressure disorder in 2021. Theravance retooled and launched another trial in a subset of patients, but that failed, too, sparking additional layoffs and an urgent search for business alternatives. Zymeworks says in a release that it plans to finish carrying out the restructuring plan and focus on Yupelri’s commercialization.
—Rowan Walrath
US lawmakers investigate Big Pharma trials in China
A bipartisan group of US Congress members is opening investigations into five Big Pharma firms over whether clinical trials they’ve sponsored in China have helped the Chinese military, Reuters reported Tuesday. Lawmakers reportedly sent letters to Merck & Co., AbbVie, Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Eli Lilly and Company asking them to provide information about due diligence and data protection standards. The companies have until July 17 to comply. The investigations mark the latest in a mounting collection of concerns over whether the actions of Chinese biomedical industry and academic centers pose a national security risk to the US. US politicians have tried in recent years to limit collaborations between US and Chinese life sciences centers. For instance, the 2023 Biosecure Act sought to prevent federally funded US pharmaceutical companies from working with Chinese services firms, although its final form was ultimately watered down from the initial proposal. More recently, lawmakers introduced an amendment to the 2025 COINS Act that would subject outgoing US biotechnology investments to reviews by the Departments of Treasury and Defense. These initiatives could stanch the rapid flow of dealmaking activity between US and Chinese biotech firms: 32% of pharmaceutical out-licensing deals worldwide in the first half of 2025 involved China-made assets, according to Jefferies, and pharma companies have only ramped up their cross-Pacific dealmaking since then.
—Rowan Walrath
