Bayer CropScience plans to slash about 300 jobs as it closes or downsizes manufacturing facilities in West Virginia and Georgia.

The move is part of a shift by the company away from older insecticides to newer agriculture protection products. Bayer CropScience reached an agreement last summer with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to phase out its Temik brand insecticide, making the production of its active ingredients unnecessary.

"The EPA did some new risk assessments, and they felt there was some concern" about Temik, said Bayer CropScience spokesman Jack Boyne. "We disagreed with some of their calculations, but we agreed to phase out the product."

Bayer CropScience, a subsidiary of the German conglomerate Bayer, employs about 550 people at its North American headquarters in Research Triangle Park, and at other local operations in Morrisville and Clayton.

Talecris Biotherapeutics has set a date next month for shareholders to vote on its proposed $4 billion takeover by Grifols of Spain, although the deal still could run into roadblocks with U.S. antitrust regulators.

Investors will meet on Jan. 21 at the Research Triangle Park Marriott, near the company's RTP headquarters, Talecris reported in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In the filing, Talecris and Grifols also disclose that they have agreed not to close the deal until after Feb. 17, unless the Federal Trade Commission approves the deal earlier. The companies "continue to cooperate with the FTC in its investigation of the proposed Talecris-Grifols merger."

Novozymes, a Danish company that employs more than 465 people at its North American headquarters in Franklinton, will acquire the crop science subsidiary of a German conglomerate, continuing to beef up its bioagriculture business.

Novozymes announced this morning it will pay $275 million for EMD/Merck Crop BioScience, which is owned by Merck KGaA of Germany. That company isn't affiliated with U.S. pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co.

The acquisition will give Novozymes a company that makes natural inoculants to improve the health of crops such as soybeans, peanuts, corn and wheat. EMD/Merck, which is based in Milwaukee and employs about 165 people, will be added to Novozymes' BioBusiness unit.

Talecris Biotherapeutics has lost a legal fight over its contract dispute with Plasma Centers of America.

The Research Triangle Park company announced this morning that a Wake County jury on Monday ordered Talecris to pay $37 million to its former partner. Talecris is considering its response, including a possible appeal.

A Cary-based nonprofit spun out of the N.C. Biotechnology Center released a set of guidelines today to help promote responsible global use of genetically modified trees.

The report from the Institute of Forest Biotechnology is partly designed to ease fears of the public and environmentalists that increasing interest in biotechnology trees will cause more harm than good.

The institute also announced that it's preparing to plant engineered American Elm and American Chestnut trees at the campus of the Biofuels Center of North Carolina in Oxford using the new principles.

Biotech and forestry companies, paper manufacturers, scientists and others are seeking to develop trees that are more resistant to pests, disease and climate change.

One of the Triangle's most experienced pharmaceutical industry executives will join Elan Corp. as chairman of the Irish biotechnology company's board.

Robert Ingram has joined Elan's board and will replace Kyran McLaughlin as chairman on Jan. 26, the company announced this morning.

"I look forward to working with the Board and the management team to deliver long term benefits to science, patients and shareholders," Ingram said in a prepared statement.

Ingram was CEO of Glaxo and later vice chairman of GlaxoSmithKline. Since January, Ingram also has worked as an advisor to GSK Chief Executive Andrew Witty. The British pharmaceutical giant has its North American headquarters in Research Triangle Park.

Ingram, who turns 68 today, was traveling and didn't return calls seeking comment.

Grifols of Spain announced today that it's lined up the more than $4 billion in financing it needs for its proposed takeover of Talecris Biotherapeutics.

The deal would give Grifols ownership of North Carolina's largest biotechnology company and one of the Triangle's largest pharmaceutical employers. The Spanish company said it signed loan agreements, signaling that it expects the deal to go through.

But the acquisition, announced in June, still requires approval from U.S. antitrust authorities and Wall Street analysts are increasingly worried the deal could be rejected.

Most shareholders of Talecris Biotherapeutics will get a slightly sweeter deal under revised terms of the proposed $4 billion takeover by Grifols of Spain.

The companies altered the terms to settle a lawsuit by Talecris investors, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Talecris investors, including its more than 2,000 local workers, now will receive $19 in cash and 0.6485 of a Grifols share for each Talecris share they own.

Talecris board members and Cerberus Partners, the investment firm that owns 49 percent of Talecris, still will get the original terms, $19 in cash and 0.641 of a Grifols share.

The difference isn't much, less than 10 cents based on Grifols' closing price today. But it does mean that investors, who still need to vote on the deal, will have more incentive to approve it.

Gentris, a Morrisville company helping drug makers develop medicines based on patients' genetic differences, has recruited a top UNC researcher in the field.

Howard McLeod, director of UNC's Institute for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy, has become the Morrisville company's chief scientific advisor. He will keep his roles at UNC's schools of pharmacy and medicine.
 
Pharmacogenomics is a sector of personalized medicine that explores how genes influence patients' response to drugs. Gentris, founded in 2001, is helping drug makers minimize medicines' harmful effects and reduce the cost of developing new drugs.

Shares of Talecris Biotherapeutics fell today after a report that federal antitrust regulators may seek to block the company's $4 billion acquisition by Grifols of Spain.

The Deal Pipeline reported that the Federal Trade Commission is preparing a lawsuit to stop the union, citing an unnamed antitrust lawyer in Washington. The FTC, which blocked a previous buyout of Talecris, is again worried that a takeover would hurt competition in the market for medicines made from blood plasma, and lead to higher prices for patients, according to the report.

The Deal Pipeline is an information service that tracks acquisitions for investors and other clients.

An FTC spokesman declined to comment. Both companies said they had no knowledge of FTC plans to oppose the transaction.