Evonik Degussa, part of Evonik Industries (Essen / Germany; www.evonik.com), and APT Advanced Polymer Technologies Europe (Wörth / Germany) plan to cooperate on the manufacture and distribution of products made from Evonik’s “Vestakeep”. Under the agreement, APT Europe, a subsidiary of the Essen group’s Evonik Röhm (Darmstadt / Germany) subsidiary, will use “Vestakeep” exclusively as a source material for its semi-finished PEEK products.

APT Europe can draw on the expertise of US-based Advanced Polymer Technologies (Stockton, California; www.aptllc.net) for production of high-performance semi-finished products based on PEEK, while Evonik can provide a long-established sales and technical service network. The focus of the European cooperation will be on medical technology. The deal will allow Evonik to expand its US partnership to Europe, said Dirk Heinrich, director of marketing and sales for Vestakeep. The shared portfolio will include the “latest generation” of semi-finished PEEK products made with Vestakeep 5000 G.