Evonik acquires German biotech company JeNaCell to expand biomaterials portfolio for new medical device markets
Nanostructured biomaterial for wound dressings and dermatology to be integrated into Health Care business
Evonik has acquired German biotech company JeNaCell. The acquisition expands Evonik’s biomaterials portfolio to provide biotechnologically derived cellulose. The nature-identical material developed by JeNaCell is used in medical technology and dermatology for the treatment of wounds and burns as well as in hydroactive skin care. The employees of JeNaCell will continue to work at the development and production site based in Jena, Germany.
Evonik recognized JeNaCell's potential in 2015 and invested in the start-up through its own venture capital arm. Following the complete takeover, JeNaCell's portfolio will be integrated into Evonik's health care business. The company accelerates the portfolio shift of its Nutrition & Care division towards system solutions and expands the division-wide technology platform of natural materials for medical technology. The share of system solutions in Nutrition & Care is to be increased from 20 percent today to more than 50 percent by 2030.
JeNaCell began as a spinoff company from the Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena in Germany. In 2017, the company launched its first product epicite, a medical wound dressing for the treatment of chronic wounds, surgical wounds and burns that is based on biotechnologically derived cellulose. It is a skin-friendly and soft biomaterial that provides a healing-promoting microclimate on the wound and can be removed painlessly. Further technologies developed by JeNaCell include soft tissue implants, transdermal delivery systems and dermatological applications.
JeNaCell's product developments are complementary to the portfolio of Evonik's Health Care business, which is a leading global solutions provider for innovative materials for medical device and pharmaceutical markets. RESOMER®, now commercially available for more than 30 years, is the industry’s most comprehensive GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) portfolio of standard, custom and specialized bioresorbable polymers for use with implantable medical devices and pharmaceutical drug products.
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