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Phillip Broadwith

@broadwithp.bsky.social
227 followers 403 following 68 posts

Business editor at Chemistry World magazine

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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Ineos is halting production at its UK acetic acid, acetic anhydride and ethyl acetate plants. According to the company, these are some of the most efficient in the world, but cannot compete because UK gas prices are 8-12 times higher than in the US or China. www.chemistryworld.com/news/ineos-t...
chemistryworld.com
Ineos temporarily closes UK acetyls plants
Owing to high high gas prices, the plants are uncompetitive, despite their high efficiency
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Data is the lifeblood of an AI model, and some of the best data on how proteins bind to molecules is held by pharma companies. Using that data makes better models. But companies don't want to give up their proprietary data to train an AI without safeguards. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/feed...
chemistryworld.com
Feeding AI’s appetite for data
Tapping companies' archives makes for better predictions of how proteins bind drugs, but any data inputs need to be transparent and attributed
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
2 incidents at uni labs - a student death from HF exposure in Japan, and a potential exposure to dimethylmercury in the US - give us a stark reminder that chemists sometimes have to work with hazardous materials, and safety should be paramount. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/dead...
chemistryworld.com
Deadly reminders of the importance of risk assessment
Serious incidents in two university labs highlight the importance of knowing what to do when things go wrong
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Not every problem has an AI solution, but there certainly are areas where well-designed tools can have an impact. Chemistry is rooted in the physical world, and there are holes in the data needed to build reliable models. But those holes are closing over time. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/arti...
chemistryworld.com
Artificial intelligence or clever artifice?
It's important to be realistic about what AI can, and can't, achieve, across the chemistry enterprise
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
The rumoured megamerger between AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb has evaporated. This is almost certainly a good thing - while pharma megamergers can look good from a finance viewpoint, they rarely have positive outcomes for R&D. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/mess...
chemistryworld.com
Messy megamergers
Rumoured merger between AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb has collapsed, and that's probably a good thing
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Donald Trump has threatened to introduce punitive import tariffs on generic medicines in 2 years' time. If it happens, will it encourage a build-out of US manufacturing? I suspect not, and that generics will simply become more expensive or less available. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/trum...
chemistryworld.com
Trump threatens generic drug tariffs
Plan aims to encourage domestic US supplies, but will it work?
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Closures of plants processing plastic waste into feedstocks for new polymers highlights the difficulty of scaling a functioning process into a viable business - without policy and investment in collection, sorting etc, it can't compete with fossil plastic www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/wher...
chemistryworld.com
Where does chemical recycling of plastics go from here?
US and EU plant closures highlight economic difficulties of scaling technology alongside associated policy and infrastructure
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Thermo Fisher's manipulated antibody verification data highlights the sensitive relationship and expectations between suppliers and customers. If Thermo wants to regain customers' trust, it must be open and honest about the problem and its proposed solutions. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/trus...
chemistryworld.com
Trust is easily broken and hard to rebuild
Thermo Fisher needs to be open and honest about data manipulation to reassure researchers
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Incidents at US chemical plants that involve serious injuries or deaths seem to be increasing. Identifying why is hard, but now is not the time to be relaxing safety regulations, or dismantling the ways companies understand the causes and learn from them. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/is-i...
chemistryworld.com
Is industry getting more or less safe?
US figures suggest an increase in incidents involving serious injuries and fatalities in recent years
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Paraquat herbicides are banned in the EU, but still exported from there to countries where they are not banned. Does the EU, as campaigners argue, have a responsiblity to protect users elsewhere from products it has deemed harmful enough to ban? www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/shou...
chemistryworld.com
Should the EU stop exports of pesticides it has banned?
Agrochemicals including paraquat remain legal elsewhere, prompting questions over regulatory responsibility
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
GSK's $10bn purchase of US cancer biotech Nuvalent brings two late-stage lung cancer drug candidates: zidesamtinib and neladalkib. These 2 kinase inhibitors bolster GSK's efforts to rebuild a cancer pipeline after selling off its cancer business in 2014. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/gsk-...
chemistryworld.com
GSK agrees $10 billion deal for Nuvalent cancer drugs
Deal includes two late-stage molecules to augment GSK's renewed cancer therapy pipeline
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
China is the EU’s 2nd-largest trading partner for goods after the US, making their relationship hugely important and politically influential. EU leaders are considering more rules to protect against cheap Chinese imports of chemicals and pharmaceuticals. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/how-...
chemistryworld.com
How far will EU push for fairer trade with China?
Strengthening rules on pharmaceutical and chemical trade could protect critical industries
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
The UK government plans to nationalise British Steel after siezing control from its' Chinese owners. Steel's struggles with high energy and operating costs, and competition from cheap imports, mirror those of many of the UK's basic chemical plants. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/brit...
chemistryworld.com
British Steel’s nationalisation plan contrasts against chemical industry decline
UK steel production has been declining for decades thanks to high costs and cheap imports
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Shortages of road-building bitumen are disrupting major infrastructure projects; cylinder cooking gas scarcity is pushing households and hospitality to dirtier alternative fuels, and a looming crisis in jet fuel means hundreds of cancelled flights. www.chemistryworld.com/news/iran-wa...
chemistryworld.com
Iran war’s global impact keeps growing
Shortages of bitumen, cooking gas and jet fuel are pushing up prices and disrupting construction
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
A US court sentenced Purdue Pharma to pay criminal penalties for mismarketing of OxyContin (oxycodone). The ruling is the last step before Purdue can enter bankruptcy, settling lawsuits with state, local and tribal governments & thousands of individuals. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/purd...
chemistryworld.com
Purdue Pharma’s opioid prosecution enables bankruptcy settlement
$5 billion criminal sentence paves the way for resolution of civil liabilities through bankruptcy court
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
The infrastructure, momentum and mindset around animal testing means that even demonstrably superior technology struggles to displace it. If regulators in eg the EU accept non-animal tests, but US doesn't, then companies will still do the animal tests. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/majo...
chemistryworld.com
Major drug regulators advancing routes to reduce animal testing
US, UK and EU all have goals to eliminate animal testing
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
The fragile US-Iran ceasefire is welcome. But the war's impact on chemicals supply chains will continue. The trickle of ships from the Gulf will take weeks to reach their destinations. And damage to Gulf infrastructure will take months to years to repair. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/iran...
chemistryworld.com
Iran ceasefire is the start of a long recovery process
Conflict's impact on global energy and chemicals supply chains will take significantly longer to resolve
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Indian patents protecting Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide (Ozempic/Wegovy) expired on 20 March. India's patent laws, expertise in generic manufacturing, and growing demand for diabetes and weight-loss medication provide huge opportunity for generic drugmakers www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/indi...
chemistryworld.com
India’s generic semaglutide surge
As patents on Novo Nordisk's diabetes and weight loss blockbusters expire, generic makers have their versions ready
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
The US–Israeli conflict with Iran has created a crisis in fossil polymer feedstocks. So recent expansions in oils from chemically recycled waste plastic are welcome news. While still in its infancy, regulation around tracking recycled content is taking shape. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/chem...
chemistryworld.com
Chemical recycling of plastics rises as oil crisis continues
Recovering feedstocks from hard-to-recycle plastic is potentially important in a more circular plastic economy
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
As the US–Israeli offensive on Iran continues, its impact on chemicals trade has also intensified. The most obvious effect is on petrochemicals, but around 1/3 of the world’s helium supply and 44% of global elemental sulfur production is also cut off. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/wide...
chemistryworld.com
Widening impact of conflict in Iran
Deyond hydrocarbons, helium and sulfur - byproducts of petroleum extraction - have also been critically affected by Iran's blockade of Gulf exports
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Huge numbers of low-carbon hydrogen production projects get announced, only to quietly disappear. Are cancellations correcting over-optimism? Or were some merely commitments of convenience – buying time on reducing emissions on the promise of hydrogen gains? www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/hydr...
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Food colourings quite neatly encapsulate many cultural clashes over the nature and safety of substances. Is a ‘natural’ colour safer or better than a synthetic one? Do high-dose hazards translate to real risks of harm? Where should regulators draw the line? www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/are-...
chemistryworld.com
Are food colour clashes worth the worry?
Calling artificial colours 'petroleum-based poisons' plays to popular fears, not necessarily evidence
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
On 10 February, the US FDA told Moderna that it would not accept the company’s application for a new influenza vaccine – with senior leaders reportedly overruling FDA staff. A week later, the FDA has reversed its decision and is accepting the drug for review. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/mode...
chemistryworld.com
Moderna’s vaccine regulatory hokey-cokey
It has been a dramatic week for mRNA vaccine-maker Moderna and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). On 10 February, the FDA told Moderna that it would not accept the company's application for a ...
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
US compounder Hims&Hers attempted to undercut Novo Nordisk's recently approved Wegovy (semaglutide) weight-loss tablets. Novo threatened a lawsuit & the FDA launched a crackdown on compounded weight-loss drugs, leading Hims to withdraw its tablets from sale. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/slim...
chemistryworld.com
Slimming down competition over weight-loss drugs
Legal battle between Novo Nordisk and US compounding pharmacy Hims & Hers has fizzled after regulator intervention
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
The UK now has a plan for regulating PFAS fluorochemicals, and the EU has projected savings from its proposed ban. The UK will increase monitoring and work with industry to restrict non-essential applications. But campaigners say the UK isn't going far enough. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/prob...
chemistryworld.com
Probing PFAS policies in the UK and EU
The UK has set out its approach to regulating fluorochemicals, and the EU has projected the savings from a proposed ban
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
The UK’s steel, cement and chemicals industries have warned that – in its current form – the carbon border tax due to be introduced in 2027 will accelerate the decline of domestic industry. Flaws in the plans mean it may not have the desired effects. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/carb...
chemistryworld.com
Carbon border taxes may do more harm than good
Industry argues UK proposals are flawed and will not promote decarbonisation
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
Donald Trump’s US government has spent the last year dismantling the country’s scientific research and regulatory functions. Academic and industry scientists alike are concerned about what this means for the future of US innovation. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/trum...
chemistryworld.com
Trump’s attack on science is shaking industry’s foundations
By dismantling scientific enterprise, the US risks 'taking a hammer to our miracle machine'
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Plastic recycling in Europe should be ramping up to meet the demands of impending regulations. Instead, plants are closing. Cheap virgin polymers, high energy prices and patchy policy make it cost-effective to just use virgin polymer and pay the penalties. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/plas...
chemistryworld.com
Plastic recycling’s perfect storm
Pending policies that demand more recycling cannot offset problems of high costs and competition from cheap virgin polymers
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
The UK government has agreed £150 million in support for the Grangemouth industrial complex, home of the UK’s last ethylene production plant. But with little prospect of near-term ethylene market improvement, is this enough to save a strategic UK industry? www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/repr...
chemistryworld.com
Reprieve for Grangemouth ethylene
UK government agrees £150 million deal to support the country's last ethylene production plant
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
The African Medicines Agency is enormously important. Harmonising regulatory pathways and building development and testing capability could mean more medicines reach African populations, and fewer counterfeits and substandard drugs make it through the net. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/a-un...
chemistryworld.com
A unifying force for African medicines
The new African Medicines Agency is hugely important but faces significant challenges
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
‘The US is no longer playing by the rules [and] China has not been playing by the rules for some time.’ If large chunks of the global chemicals market start playing by different rules, European governments and industry need to respond quickly. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/chan...
chemistryworld.com
Changing the rules of global chemicals trade
Chemical dumping claims reflect US and China's focus on national interests ahead of global markets
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
I spent my gap year investigating valve designs for aerosol asthma inhalers. Hours of firing inhalers into bespoke lab apparatus gave an insight into how changes like swapping the propellant might require much more involved changes to the inhaler design. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/inha...
chemistryworld.com
Inhaler propellant switch is worth the effort
Memories of a year spent testing new inhaler valve designs
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Drug discovery/development is a numbers game. We need to make and test lots of compounds, running lots of routine reactions. There's huge opportunity for automation, but building a robot capable of tasks a human chemist performs is still a huge challenge. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/a-ro...
chemistryworld.com
A robotic helping hand
Mechanical labmates are making huge progress, but there are still big challenges to overcome
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Pfizer and Novo Nordisk are in a bidding war over Metsera – a US biotech developing new weight loss drugs. Both suitors have upped their offers to around $10 billion, but Metsera says Novo's 'superior' offer could allow it to break its agreement with Pfizer. www.chemistryworld.com/news/pfizer-...
chemistryworld.com
Pfizer and Novo Nordisk’s battle over Metsera
Lawsuits fly in bidding war over developer of next generation weight loss drugs
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
While large companies and investors still have funds to commit to spin-outs, they tend to be looking for fewer, higher value deals. That means start-ups need to be more developed, so they need more consistent support - both financial and in building expertise www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/spin...
chemistryworld.com
Spin-out support is stretched thin
University entrepreneurs need more consistent help to bridge the gap betweeen ideas and businesses
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
The future materials economy must be more circular, and we need people with the right skills to make that happen. There are skills gaps in key industries, which will take pro-active and collaborative action from industry, government and educators to address. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/goin...
chemistryworld.com
Going round in circles over skills
Closing skills gaps in key professional groups requires collaboration between government, industry and educators
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
The Nobel prize for metal-organic frameworks has been predicted for several years, even without much commercial presence. With several materials now at or close to commercial scale, perhaps the Nobel will provide the impetus for MOFs to have real-world impact. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/have...
chemistryworld.com
Have MOFs now made it?
Will Nobel prize speed porous materials to commercial success?
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Reposted by Phillip Broadwith
Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
BASF builds one of world’s largest industrial heat pumps. I told Chemistry World: “BASF is the largest chemical company in the world. Putting its weight behind heat pumps at this scale signals confidence in the technology in the chemicals sector and beyond.” www.chemistryworld.com/news/basf-be...
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
Trump is threatening punitive tariffs on patented and branded medicines, unless they build US manufacturing plants. That might look like an attempt to coerce multinationals to invest but that view belies the complexity of the industry and its supply chains. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/trum...
chemistryworld.com
Trump steps up pharma tariff threat
Taxing branded drug imports could hit biotech innovators hardest
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
The global petrochemicals landscape is shifting. China's massive capacity expansion aimed at reducing imports has left producers elsewhere with oversupply, leading to low prices, squeezed margins, and closure of plants with higher costs - mainly in Europe. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/a-gl...
chemistryworld.com
A global petrochemical shift
China's rapid capacity expansion fuels global oversupply, leading plant closures in Europe and elsewhere
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Pharma leaders have branded the UK 'uninvestable' as Merck & Co, AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly have canceled or paused R&D investments. But they also recognise the UK's world-class research base, meaning it should be possible to tip the balance back again. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/is-u...
chemistryworld.com
Is UK pharma really ‘uninvestable’?
Merck & Co, AstraZeneca (AZ) and Eli Lilly pulling UK projects highlights the precarious position of the country's life sciences industry
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
With UK plants facing closure, what are the options and issues around different renewable fuels? Dropping US tariffs means corn-derived ethanol imports are cheaper than domestic sugarbeet crops, while biodiesel and other options face similar issues www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/uk-b...
chemistryworld.com
UK biofuels burning out
With UK plants facing closure, what are the options and issues around different renewable fuels?
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Argentina's medical fentanyl contamination tragedy has left over 50 people dead. Bacterial contamination of drugs is generally accidental, and normally intercepted, but the consequences of tradeoffs that make safeguards more likely to fail are devastating. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/dead...
chemistryworld.com
Deadly fentanyl contamination exposes drug safety challenges
Bacterial conatmination in medical fentanyl has killed at least 51 people in Argentina, highlighting pressures on generic drugmakers
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
Diabetes/weight loss peptide injectables - Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic/Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro/Zepbound - are incredibly successful, with potentially even more promising peptides in the pipeline. So why the rush to replace them with pills? www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/will...
chemistryworld.com
Will oral weight loss drugs challenge injectables?
Pills may offer convenience for manufacturers, but it's not clear they will overtake existing drugs
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
If we are to reach a more circular plastic economy, there has to be economic supply and demand for recycled materials. That means virgin materials (currently cheap and abundant) must become more expensive – either by taxation, limiting production or both. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/chea...
chemistryworld.com
Cheap virgin plastic limits recycling potential
Global plastic treaty negotiations risk being derailed by minority opposed to production caps
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
The UN’s new panel on chemicals, waste and pollution faces a gargantuan and complex task. But there are still details to finalise. It's crucial that there are ways to feed independent and industrial science into committees, while managing inevitable biases. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/inte...
chemistryworld.com
Intergovernmental panel on chemicals, waste and pollution needs diverse input
Balancing industrial expertise against unwanted commercial influence is not easy but shouldn't be discounted
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
Farmers and researchers across the world are experiencing disturbed sleep patterns associated with exposure to a variety of chemical pesticides. And while putting the pesticides away would be a simple solution, it's impractical - they are too useful. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/losi...
chemistryworld.com
Losing sleep over pesticide exposure
Managing exposure risks
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
In 2015, the Chinese government introduced reforms aimed at supercharging pharmaceutical innovation. Those reforms are bearing fruit, with an investment boom and both domestic and international approvals of China-developed drugs increasing markedly. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/chin...
chemistryworld.com
China’s drug development charge
Reforms and state support have fuelled domestic and foreign investment in pharmaceutical
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
2 more European crackers are closing, plus a handful of other basic chemicals plants. Chemicals are the foundation of huge swathes of manufacturing industry, and their closures will have significant long- and short-term impacts on regional production networks. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/crac...
chemistryworld.com
Cracking under pressure
Basic chemical plant closures highlight strain on European industry
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Phillip Broadwith @broadwithp.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
US approval of Gilead’s 6-month HIV preventive injection is a huge advance. But will it get where it's needed? The highest risk of HIV infection is in lower income countries, and cuts to international aid budgets risk derailing generic supply agreements. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/will...
chemistryworld.com
Will HIV prevention get where it’s needed?
Gilead and its partners' efforts to distribute generic lenacapavir could be derailed by cuts in international aid budgets
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