WR Grace inks pact with Valliscor for fluorinated intermediates

These products are used in industries such as pharmaceuticals, electronics, and specialty chemicals

BS B2B Bureau Columbia, Maryland (USA)

Last Updated : Jun 27 2017 | 3:29 PM IST

WR Grace & Co has entered into an agreement with Valliscor, an Oregon (USA) based manufacturer of fluorinated building blocks, to provide fluorinated intermediates that are used in a variety of industries, including pharmaceuticals, electronics, and specialty chemicals.

The partnership brings together Valliscor’s proprietary fluoroalkylation technology with Grace’s cGMP manufacturing capability. The Albany (Oregon, USA) site has more than 30 years of custom manufacturing experience in multi-step organic, organometallic, and chiral chemistry, and integrated grams-to-kilos-to-tonnes production. The partnership with Valliscor brings the industry a strong US-based source for the manufacture of fluorinated intermediates.

“This agreement will allow Grace to expand our advanced intermediates business for active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturers and enable Valliscor to broaden its market for fluoroalkylation technology,” said Brett Reynolds, global business director (fine chemicals), WR Grace.

Recently, Grace opened a cGMP-compliant kilo suite at its Albany facility to produce advanced intermediates of high quality, consistency, and control. Last year, Grace opened a cGMP release quality control lab in Albany, to validate analytical methods and perform GMP release of starting materials and advanced intermediates.

“Our partnership with Valliscor and the additional capability it provides to our emerging and large pharma customer base reflects Grace’s growing commitment to this segment,” said Sandra Wisniewski, president, Grace Materials Technologies.

Founded in 2012, Valliscor is a privately held, smart chemical manufacturer of fluorinated building blocks based in Corvallis (Oregon). Valliscor has developed best-in-class, proprietary technology for the manufacture of high-purity, fluorinated building blocks. These innovations have enabled Valliscor to become one of the biggest global producers of bromofluoromethane (BFM), which is used in the manufacture of fluticasone (the active ingredient in Flonase, Advair and Breo).