BOOTS/HOECHST CELANESE TO COLLABORATE ON BULK IBUPROFEN

BOOTS/HOECHST CELANESE TO COLLABORATE ON BULK IBUPROFEN production in the U.S. via a 50/50 joint venture, the companies announced in an April 21 press release. "The partners expect to install in the United States a commercial facility which will use Hoechst Celanese technology. The facility is expected to come on stream in 1991," the two companies said. An ibuprofen production line will be built in one of Hoechst Celanese's three existing manufacturing plants in Texas. The installation of the ibuprofen manufacturing line is expected to require capital costs of $ 35 mil., the companies noted. The new plant will have the capacity to produce 2,500 metric tons of bulk ibuprofen annually, Boots predicted. Boots, which discovered ibuprofen, currently supplies the worldwide market for bulk ibuprofen from a 3,000-ton-per-year facility in Nottingham, England, the company said. The Nottingham plant provides bulk ibuprofen to Boots Pharmaceuticals in Shreveport, Louisiana for the production of Rufen and to American Home Products for the manufacture of Advil. Boots used to supply Upjohn with bulk ibuprofen. Boots' primary competitor in the U.S. bulk ibuprofen market is Ethyl Corp., which is currently the only U.S. manufacturer of bulk ibuprofen. Ethyl also exports its bulk ibuprofen. Ethyl noted that it will soon have the capacity to produce over 2,300 metric tons of ibuprofen annually.