Evonik Boosts Medical Device&Drug Delivery Business with Investments in US

Evonik Corporation has invested more than $50-mn over the last 4 years in its Birmingham, Alabama (USA), health care facility to boosts its capabilities around biodegradable polymers and parenteral medicine.

As part of these expenditures, the Birmingham site is now home to Evonik’s global Competence Centre for Medical Devices, which aims to develop new system solutions for medical technology and to expand the competencies of Evonik in the areas of bio-materials and medical polymers.

In addition, the company is installing a new GMP powder/liquid filling line for its parenteral drug delivery business. The new fill line will allow the business to extend its service offering for the development and manufacture of complex injectable dosage forms by adding a commercial scale line capable of filling a variety of vial sizes at very high speeds under sterile conditions.

Evonik has also begun constructing a new Resomer production facility adjacent to its existing plant. When completed, the project will help Evonik meet the growing global demand for bioresorbable polymers. Besides greater production capacity, the project will also result in new production clean rooms and a pilot unit for polymer contract research projects.

Resomer polymers are used to formulate extended release parenteral drug delivery systems and to manufacture bioresorbable medical devices such as plates and screws for trauma and orthopaedic applications, as well as bioresorbable stents and coatings for next generation cardiovascular treatments. This new facility will enhance Evonik’s current capabilities for sophisticated manufacturing of client’s proprietary biomaterials. The fill line and Resomer plant are expected to be on stream in second half of 2018.

Evonik’s Birmingham labs serves as the company’s hub for parenteral drug delivery and associated partner drug production and custom manufacturing.