Boehringer Ingelheim to sell Resomer business to Evonik
Equips Evonik to enter biotechnological active ingredients market
Boehringer Ingelheim is to sell its Resomer polymers business to Evonik.
The German pharmaceutical firm will transfer to Evonik its portfolio of standard and customised polymers used in medical devices and pharmaceutical formulations. Based on lactic and glycolic acids, these polymers are biodegradable in the body.
Evonik said the addition of the Resomer line would complement its Eudragit functional excipients for oral dosage forms and strengthen its position in the pharmaceuticals market. Biodegradable polymers are used, for example, in cancer treatment for depot formulations containing peptide active ingredients.
The lactic acid polymers are also used in the manufacturing of surgical screws, nails, and plates. These biodegradable devices disintegrate after a defined life span in the body without a negative impact, making further surgery to extract them unnecessary. Additionally, Resomer polymers make it possible to imbed active pharmaceutical ingredients, such as growth factors or antibiotics to support the healing process.
Financial details of the transaction have not been revealed.
The deal should be completed in March 2011.
Klaus Engel, chief executive of Evonik said the company was strengthening its position as strategic partner and solution provider to the pharmaceutical industry.
‘This affords us the opportunity to service new pharmaceutical application areas and achieve greater value creation and growth,’ he said.
Evonik employs around 39,000 people and in 2009 generated sales of about €13.1bn and an operating profit of about €2bn.
Evonik’s Pharma Polymers Business Line produces functional polymethacrylates for pharmaceutical formulations. It has production sites in Germany – in the cities of Darmstadt, Weiterstadt, and Worms – and employs around 170 people worldwide.
