Evonik has closed its previously announced acquisition of the LACTEL® Absorbable Polymers product line from DURECT Corporation on December 31, 2020. All DURECT employees associated with the LACTEL® business in Birmingham, Alabama, US, accepted the offer to join Evonik in similar roles.

“The acquisition of the LACTEL® business will strengthen both our innovation growth field Healthcare Solutions and Evonik’s position as a globally leading CDMO for drug delivery solutions”, says Johann-Caspar Gammelin, Head of the Nutrition & Care Division of Evonik. The acquisition of the LACTEL® business marks a consequential step in the growth agenda of the life-science division Nutrition & Care.

The LACTEL® business will complement Evonik’s own RESOMER® line of polymers, both being among the most preferred brands of standard and custom PLGA polymers. Poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLG or PLGA) polymers are widely used as a functional excipient to control the release of parenteral drug products. They are also utilized to control the biodegradation of implantable medical devices across various orthopedic, cardiovascular, wound healing and other applications.

“The integration of the LACTEL® business into Evonik’s market-leading portfolio of functional excipients, biomaterials and integrated CDMO services will strengthen our position as a preferred development partner and solutions provider,” says Thomas Riermeier, Head of the Health Care business line. “By welcoming LACTEL® and members of their team into the Evonik family, we look forward to providing customers with even greater platform versatility as well as other value-adding services."