Essen, Germany-based Evonik Industries AG and St. Margrethen, Switzerland-based Samaplast AG have teamed up to create an osteoconductive PEEK biomaterial for injection molding—VESTAKEEP® Fusion.
A Novel Implant Plastic Announced
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Evonik is a global specialty chemicals company. Samaplast produces plastic injection molded parts, as well as medical components and implants. Together, the companies have developed VESTAKEEP® Fusion, an osteoconductive high-performance polymer for injection molding.
VESTAKEEP Fusion was more than five years in the making. OTW spoke with Marc Knebel about the development of VESTAKEEP® Fusion. Knebel is the head of the medical systems market segment at Evonik. Knebel informed OTW, “We started developing VESTAKEEP® Fusion more than 5 years ago. It was quite a journey to meet all the different expectations.”
Knebel continued, “Our starting point was a potential recipe portfolio of more than 30 different grades we step-by-step funneled it down to the final VESTAKEEP® Fusion grade which we are now starting to launch to the industry.”
The companies have already produced a cage prototype that contains all the necessary details for spinal implants. According to the press release, the companies will be able to produce a variety of cages that can be “tailored to the anatomical conditions and different surgical techniques such as PLIF, TLIF and ALIF.”
Knebel also explained to OTW what sets VESTAKEEP Fusion apart from its competitors. Knebel told OTW, “Evonik’s VESTAKEEP® Fusion is the first osteoconductive PEEK biomaterial among other(s) of its kind who unite functional BCP-based (biphasic calcium phosphate) properties to increased cell attachment and cell proliferation with very good processability in injection molding.”
Knebel continued, “It has been specially designed so that the functional additives are available on the surface and no film formation occurs. In collaboration with Samaplast, a Swiss company specializing in plastics engineering, Evonik has successfully demonstrated and documented the processing characteristics of VESTAKEEP® Fusion in injection molding.”
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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