Synthesis and manufacturing company Saltigo, a wholly owned subsidiary of speciality chemicals company LANXESS, is experiencing a marked increase in demand for icaridin, an active ingredient in insect repellents, which the company markets for its global market.
“Since the start of 2016, demand for the active ingredient icaridin, which we market under the name Saltidin, has risen very rapidly,”
says Saltigo MD Wolfgang Schmitz.He adds that the company’s plant capacity is currently being adapted to meet this increased demand and that, at the moment, Saltigo expects to see sales of icaridin grow by 50%, compared with the previous year.
According to the company, the sharp rise in demand can be attributed to the spread of the Zika virus, first and foremost in Latin America, with the latest reports indicating that the virus has also now been found in blood samples of patients in a number of European countries.
The patients in question had been infected while travelling overseas. The Zika virus is suspected of causing malformations in unborn children. If trips to affected areas are essential, North America’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that insect repellents, including ones containing the active ingredient icaridin, for pregnant women, nursing mothers and children from the age of two.
The World Health Organisation is not advising against travelling to areas where the disease is endemic; however, it is recommend- ing keeping the insects that transmit the disease at bay, by covering the skin with clothing, protecting beds with mosquito nets and using mosquito repellents containing icaridin as a product of choice.
Since April 2006, LANXESS’s fine chemicals business has been run by a separate legal entity, Saltigo GmbH, which is wholly owned by the parent company. The business unit is a leading supplier in the field of exclusive custom synthesis. The compounds that Saltigo manufactures form the basis for a variety of agricultural and pharmaceutical active ingredients and speciality chemicals that also play an important role in daily life.
Saltigo is part of the advanced intermediates segment, which achieved total sales in fiscal 2014 of €1.6-billion. The company, which is headquartered in Leverkusen and has production facilities in Leverkusen and Dormagen, both in Germany, employs about 1 200 employees worldwide.
LANXESS is a speciality chemicals company with sales of €8.0-billion in 2014 and about 16 300 employees in 29 countries currently represented at 52 production sites worldwide.
The core business of the chemicals company is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and speciality chemicals. LANXESS is a member of the leading sustainability indices Dow Jones Sustainability Index and FTSE4Good.
Fast development cycles and flexibility enable the company to implement made-to-measure solu- tions for its customers and it is committed to improving processes as a means of further optimising quality and cost structures.