Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals

https://staging1.creamermedia.com

Advertise on this page? Click Here to Learn More

Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals News

Ascendis narrows losses, continues with recapitalisation plan

By: Marleny Arnoldi 18th February 2022 JSE-listed Ascendis Health managed to narrow its normalised operating loss by 49% year-on-year to a loss of R94-million for the six months ended December 31. The basic loss a share from continuing operations improved by 29% to 102.1c, compared with a basic loss a share of 144c posted for the... →

Supplier commits to more sustainable packaging

11th February 2022 A year after the launch of the Quartz Xtra range – which was developed to meet the needs of the latest generation of engines, such as hybrids and downsized, and provide significant fuel savings up to 4% - lubricant supplier TotalEnergies Lubricants is taking another step forward. The company is... →

Use of synthetic lubricants growing in local industry

By: Cameron Mackay 11th February 2022 Synthetic lubricant use in the local industry as a viable alternative to conventional, hydrocarbon- and mineral-based lubricants is gaining momentum, says industrial equipment and consumables supplier BMG fluid technology business unit manager Willie Lamprecht. The lubricants are engineered... →

Image of a synthetic lubricant and gears 1

LOCAL MARKET UPTAKE While the ratio of full synthetic lubricants to conventional lubricants is still low, it is growing yearly by 5% to 8%

Commission asks Tribunal to prosecute Roche for alleged excessive pricing of breast cancer treatment drug

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 9th February 2022 The Competition Commission on February 8 filed a referral with the Competition Tribunal for prosecution of Switzerland-based multinational healthcare company Roche Holding and its subsidiaries F Hoffman La Roche AG (Roche Basel) and Roche Products (Roche SA) for alleged excessive pricing of a... →

UPL highlights progress in clean up from Cornubia warehouse arson attack

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 8th February 2022 The Portfolio Committee on Environment, Forestry and Fisheries on February 8 received an update on the July 2021 arson attack on chemical company UPL’s leased Cornubia warehouse, which led to a chemical spill. The specialist team appointed by UPL to manage the clean-up of the spill, has been... →

Strong Brent crude oil, chemicals prices drive Sasol's interim Ebitda higher

By: Schalk Burger 8th February 2022 Chemicals and energy multinational Sasol expects to report a 66% to 76% increase in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) to between R30.9-billion and R32.7-billion for the six months ended December 31. That compares with Ebitda of R18.6-billion reported... →

Siemens South Africa, Aspen enhancing vaccine production for Africa

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 7th February 2022 Siemens South Africa, Aspen Pharmacare Holdings subsidiary Aspen SA Operations and private sector development financier Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG) have entered into an agreement to enable the use of digital technologies to enhance the efficiency of Covid vaccine... →

Ramaphosa, billionaire Soon-Shiong open Cape Town vaccine production campus

By: Irma Venter 4th February 2022 The NantSA vaccine manufacturing campus at Brackengate, in Cape Town, could soon produce its first Covid-19 vaccine, says NantWorks founder and CEO Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong. President Cyril Ramaphosa and Soon-Shiong in January officially opened the NantSA facility. →

Boiler, burner maintenance key to company success

By: Halima Frost 4th February 2022 The instrumental job of cleaning an industrial boiler or burner prior to maintenance has proven to be an integral part of rope access company Skyriders’ offerings, says marketing manager Mike Zinn. “In essence, boiler and burner maintenance is one of our bread and butter jobs.” →

An engineer using rope access to asses and clean inside a boiler prior to the start of maintenance, with headlamp on

INSIDE JOB The work maintenance conducted inside large industrial boilers can often be dangerous for operators so the correct safety precautions must be implemented

Aspen expects to report higher interim earnings

By: Schalk Burger 1st February 2022 JSE-listed pharmaceuticals company Aspen has advised shareholders that its normalised headline earnings per share (NHEPS) from continuing operations for the six months ended December 31 are likely to be between 798c to 825c, which is 18% to 22% higher than the NHEPS of 676c reported for the six... →

Omnia successfully sells majority stake in Umongo

By: Darren Parker 1st February 2022 JSE-listed diversified chemicals company Omnia Holdings has successfully concluded its divestment from petroleum products producer Umongo Petroleum, which Omnia had identified as noncore during a strategic review last year. The divestment plans were announced in October 2021, when Omnia and... →

Omnia CEO Seelan Gobalsamy

Adcock expects to report up to 30% improvement in earnings

By: Darren Parker 26th January 2022 Pharmaceutical company Adcock Ingram has advised shareholders that its earnings per share (EPS) and headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the six months ended December 31, were expected to show an improvement of between 27% and 30%, or between 50.4c and 56c, year-on-year. This compares with the... →

Logistics companies ally to enlarge African healthcare network

By: Darren Parker 24th January 2022 Logistics companies Imperial and UbiPharm have joined forces to create an expansive healthcare distribution network across Africa. This strategic alliance is aimed at providing complementary continental route-to-market solutions to healthcare principals and clients, enabling both companies to... →

Modern disruptions priming chemicals industry for new way of doing business – Chieta

By: Donna Slater 19th January 2022 Despite the chemicals industry being the fifth hardest-hit industry globally as a result of supply chain challenges, oil price fluctuations and deglobalisation, the disruption has “primed” the industry for new business models, new partnerships and a new approach to problem-solving, says Chemical... →

Chieta CEO Yershen Pillay

Ramaphosa, billionaire Soon-Shiong open NantSA vaccine production campus in Cape Town

By: Irma Venter 19th January 2022 The NantSA vaccine manufacturing campus at Brackengate, in Cape Town, could soon produce its first Covid-19 vaccine, says NantWorks founder and CEO Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong. President Cyril Ramaphosa and Soon-Shiong on Wednesday officially opened the NantSA facility. →

President Cyril Ramaphosa and Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong cut the ribbon on the NantSA facility

Local lab awarded licence to produce active ingredients for cannabis meds

By: Marleny Arnoldi 14th January 2022 The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) has issued a licence to GESlabs to manufacture cannabinoid pharmaceutical ingredients for use in therapeutic medicines. The company built a R20-million pharmaceutical laboratory in Cape Town, which will serve local, regional and... →

Photo by Bloomberg
Cannabis plant

Toxic fumes ship will be dumping chemicals off St Helena Bay until March - maritime authority

By: News24Wire 13th January 2022 Around 1 500 tonnes of chemicals on the NS Qingdao bulk carrier were being dumped into the sea about 250km off St Helena Bay in an operation expected to end in March, the SA Maritime Authority (Samsa) said on Thursday. In October 2021, the ship was evacuated from the Port of Durban to St Helena... →

Africa joins race to acquire Pfizer's Covid-19 Paxlovid pills

By: Reuters 13th January 2022 Africa's top public health body said it was in talks with Pfizer about securing supplies of its antiviral Covid-19 pills for the continent, the latest to join the race for a drug seen as a potential game changer in fighting the virus. The Paxlovid medication was nearly 90% effective in preventing... →

Chieta, Sapref supporting chemicals industry skills development

By: Schalk Burger 11th January 2022 The partnership between chemicals industry education and training authority Chieta and oil refinery the South African Petroleum Refinery (Sapref) is providing skills development programmes in the sector, at an investment of R6-million by Chieta. Sapref, meanwhile, is providing 160 students a year... →

South African study to compare J&J, Pfizer Covid-19 boosters

By: Bloomberg 7th January 2022 Researchers have started recruiting South African health workers to take part in a vaccine trial that will compare the use of Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer Covid-19 shots as boosters. The health workers being targeted for the study were part of an initial trial known as Sisonke that saw almost... →

Tie pharma CEO pay to fair global Covid-19 vaccine access, investors say

By: Reuters 7th January 2022 A group of institutional investors representing $3.5-trillion in assets under management on Thursday called on pharmaceutical companies to link their executives' pay to making Covid-19 vaccines available around the globe. While the majority of citizens of wealthy nations are vaccinated and many... →

Adcock expects to report higher interim earnings

By: Donna Slater 14th December 2021 JSE-listed pharmaceutical company Adcock Ingram reports that, owing to an improvement in the trading environment, its earnings a share and headline earnings a share for the six months to December 31 are likely to be 37.3c higher than the 186.5c reported for the six months ended December 31,... →

Chevron committed to growing Caltex brand in South Africa, Botswana

By: Simone Liedtke 14th December 2021 Chevron Africa-Pakistan and Chevron Brands International have a committed strategy to maintain and grow the Caltex-branded service station network across South Africa and Botswana, beyond the expiration of the current licence agreement in 2024. This development is aligned with its licensing... →

A newly branded Caltex service station

Sasol confirms major downward revision to Secunda’s output amid ongoing coal problems

By: Terence Creamer 14th December 2021 Chemicals and energy group Sasol has announced a significant downward revision to its 2022 production forecast from its Secunda operations in Mpumalanga, owing to ongoing coal production problems. The JSE-listed company told shareholders on Tuesday that output from Secunda would be between... →

Sasol Secunda

Sahpra approves affordable, locally developed Covid-19 antigen test

By: Yvonne Silaule 9th December 2021 South Africa's fight against Covid-19 has received a boost with the approval by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) of a locally developed Covid-19 antigen detection kit. The approved antigen detection device is a rapid visual immunoassay for the qualitative detection... →

Local cannabis group to list on Germany’s FSE

By: Marleny Arnoldi 6th December 2021 JSE-listed cannabis holdings group Labat Africa’s share price on the JSE rose by 56% on Monday after the company announced it had been approved for a listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FSE). Labat is one of two cannabis businesses listed in South Africa, with a focus on... →

Aspen strikes deal with J&J to launch own vaccine, called 'Aspenovax'

By: News24Wire 30th November 2021 Aspen will manufacture and sell its own branded Covid-19 vaccine in Africa, following an agreement with Johnson & Johnson. Johnson & Johnson is granting Aspen an intellectual property licence to produce its vaccine under the new brand name "Aspenovax". According to the deal, Aspen will... →

Aspen SA closer to launching own-branded vaccine, called Aspenovax, for Africa

30th November 2021 Pharmaceutical company Aspen’s wholly-owned South African subsidiary, Aspen SA Operations, has signed a nonbinding term sheet with Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, two of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, that will form the basis for the negotiation... →

Pic of Covid-19 Vaccines with South African flag in background.

Competition Commission prohibits sale of Sasol’s cyanide business

By: Simone Liedtke 30th November 2021 The Competition Commission has prohibited the sale of Sasol’s sodium cyanide business to Czech Republic-based specialty chemicals company, Draslovka. The commission’s approval was a key condition precedent to the transaction. →

Urgent interdict filed against Shell’s Wild Coast seismic survey

By: Simone Liedtke 30th November 2021 Four environmental and human rights organisations have filed an urgent interim-interim interdict against Shell in the Eastern Cape Division of the Grahamstown High Court to prevent the fossil fuel company from starting seismic testing along the ecologically diverse and sensitive marine... →

Chemicals, media Setas team up to drive digital transformation

By: Schalk Burger 24th November 2021 The Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority (Chieta) and the Media, Information & Communication Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority ((MICT Seta) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to encourage greater cross-Seta collaboration on digital transformation... →

Unilever South Africa pioneers purple carbon in its homecare products

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 23rd November 2021 Consumer products company Unilever South Africa has become the first manufacturer in the world to introduce purple carbon into its range of homecare products. For the entire month, Sunlight Dishwashing Liquid with purple carbon was used as a demonstrator product, a pioneer in its category. →

Sasol aims to begin producing green hydrogen in Sasolburg from 2023

By: Terence Creamer 22nd November 2021 Energy and chemicals groups Sasol aims to begin producing 6 t/d of green hydrogen at its facility in Sasolburg by 2023, VP for climate change Shamini Harrington reports. In a presentation delivered during the Africa Green Hydrogen Forum, Harrington said that the green hydrogen would be produced... →

Sasol also aims to repurpose Secunda to produce sustainable products

Omnia highlights supply chain successes as it records strong interim performance

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 22nd November 2021 JSE-listed Omnia Holdings says it delivered a strong financial and operational performance for the six months ended September 30, having successfully navigated a complex global environment characterised by slow recovery of economic activity, steep increases in commodity prices and global... →

BME used oil truck

Ascendis Health continues to consider nonbinding proposals, EoIs for shares

By: Simone Liedtke 12th November 2021 South African pharmaceuticals company Ascendis Health’s board of directors continues to consider nonbinding proposals and expressions of interest (EoIs) for the acquisition of Ascendis Health shares. The company on November 12 said it continues to receive a number of these, though it advised... →

Opinion: Embracing green energy industrialisation to tackle climate change and drive inclusive growth

10th November 2021 In this opinion article, Boston Consulting Group MD and partner Lucas Chaumontet writes about the need for South Africa to coordinate its climate change adaptation and mitigation plans with its broader national reindustrialisation plans. →

Omnia expects to report higher interim earnings

By: Schalk Burger 8th November 2021 JSE-listed chemicals company Omnia expects to report an 89% to 109% year-on-year increase in earnings a share to between 287c and 317c for the six months ended September 30. Headline earnings a share are expected to be between 95% and 115% higher at between 291c and 320c. →

About

Engineering News is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa
Polity

Newsletters

Sign up for our FREE daily email newsletter

Receive daily sector news alerts

More

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Engineering News is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options

Subscribe