Solway joins fund to boost pharma sustainability

Pharmaceutical and chemical group Solvay has joined Capricorn Cleantech Fund (CCF), it has announced.

It joins investors including the EU’s European Investment Fund and French-Belgian ban Dexia and will act as a strategic partner.

CCF is a venture capital fund aimed at supporting early and development stage investments in clean-based technology growth in Europe.

Solvay indicated it wishes to “foster new business opportunities in sustainable technologies”, chiefly chemistry based on renewable materials, sustainable energies and environmental technologies.

It noted its own most recent advanced projects have included making epichlorohydrin from natural glycerine, vinyls derived from salt and sugar cane and the development of membrane electrode assemblies for fuel cells.

Jean-Michel Mesland, general manager of research and technology (R&D), said: “We are confident that our participation in CCF will stimulate the expansion of Solvay’s portfolio of cleantech activities.”

In its pharmaceuticals division, which receives 75 per cent of the group’s R&D budget, the company targets unmet medical needs in cardiometabolic and neuroscience.