Company Dynamic

A seismic shift is occurring in the global manufacturing landscape as over 60 major US corporations have descended upon Vietnam, bringing with them investment worth trillions.

On March 28, Lexicon Pharmaceuticals announced a significant exclusive licensing agreement with Novo Nordisk for the development of LX9851, the first oral non-incretin-based candidate drug aimed at treating obesity and related metabolic disorders.

On March 26, 2025, Merck and Roche Pharmaceuticals officially announced a strategic partnership aimed at accelerating the commercialization of Tepotinib (brand name: Togetican®) in the mainland Chinese market. I

Eisai has significantly revised its sales expectations for lecanemab, the Alzheimer's treatment developed in collaboration with Biogen, cutting its forecast for the fiscal year 2027 by as much as 50%.

Merck announced a significant investment of nearly $2 billion to acquire rights to HRS-5346, a novel oral small molecule inhibitor targeting lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)], developed by Hengrui Medicine.

Kemira and IFF have made a final investment decision and will proceed with the formation of a joint manufacturing company to produce renewable bio-based products on a commercial scale.

• Kemira
• IFF

BASF announced the launch of the world’s first commercial Loopamid® production unit. Located at the Caojing site in Shanghai, China, the unit has an annual production capacity of 500 metric tons.

• BASF
• Loopamid®

PPG announced the launch of a waterborne automotive coatings manufacturing plant in Samutprakarn, Thailand.

• PPG
• Thailand
• waterborne automotive

U.S. healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has unveiled plans to invest more than $55 billion in the United States over the next four years. The company said the massive investment is a 25% increase over the previous four years.

• Johnson & Johnson

Amin Nasser, president and CEO of Saudi Aramco, said the company is exploring new opportunities in China's energy, chemical and technology fields.

• Saudi Aramco

In order to coordinate the company's green electricity supply and demand, BASF is streamlining its current portfolio of renewable energy projects.

• BASF
• Vattenfall
• Nordlicht

Ashland Inc. announced that it has completed the sale of its Avoca business to Mane, effective March 14, 2025. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

• Ashland
• Avoca

Sinopec announced on March 23 that due to the drop in crude oil prices and the accelerated development of the new energy vehicle industry, its net profit in 2024 was 50.3 billion yuan (6.94 billion US dollars), a year-on-year decrease of 16.8%.

• Sinopec

Brazilian cosmetics group Natura announced leadership changes on Thursday as well as a restructuring proposal that would replace entities listed on the local stock exchange.

• Natura
• leadership change
• Natura&Co

Röhm, one of the world’s leading chemical manufacturers of methacrylates, announces the successful start-up of its new plant in Bay City, Texas, USA, implementing its proprietary C2-based LiMA technology on a large industrial scale.

• Röhm
• MMA

BASF’s Coatings division has successfully expanded its polyester and polyurethane resin capacity at its Caojing site in Shanghai.

• BASF
• polyester
• polyurethane
• production capacity

AstraZeneca, a British company, hopes to invest $2.5 billion to establish its sixth global strategic R&D center in Beijing.

• AstraZeneca
• Beijing
• R&D Center

The Estée Lauder Companies has announced that it has partnered with Startup India, an Indian government initiative, in a “first-of-its-kind” deal to strengthen India’s innovation ecosystem and empower the next generation of Indian entrepreneurs.

• Estee Lauder
• Startup India

L’Oréal and Tru Diagnostic have entered into a research partnership focused on the relationship between epigenetic markers and skin and hair health. The partnership aims to find new approaches to beauty through epigenomic data.

• L’Oréal
• Tru Diagnostic

BASF is investing in its Puebla, Mexico, site to increase production capacity for amine antioxidants for lubricants.

• BASF