Avantium Signs Capacity Reservation Agreement with BIOVOX for PEF in Pharmaceutical Applications

21 May 2025 07:00 CEST

AMSTERDAM, 21 May 2025, 07:00 hrs CEST – Avantium N.V., a leading company in renewable and circular polymer materials, is pleased to announce the signing of a capacity reservation agreement with BIOVOX, a pioneer in sustainable healthcare plastics. Under this agreement, BIOVOX has committed to using Avantium's PEF (polyethylene furanoate) in various pharmaceutical applications. This PEF is expected to be produced in a future industrial-scale facility, based on a technology license from Avantium. The multi-year capacity reservation ensures BIOVOX preferred access to PEF volumes produced by Avantium's future licensee network.

Avantium has developed a proprietary process to produce FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid), the key building block for PEF, branded as releaf^®. Following the completion of the world’s first commercial FDCA plant in Delfzijl, the Netherlands, in October 2024, Avantium has commenced the start-up of the plant. This FDCA Flagship Plant is vital to Avantium's YXY^® Technology licensing strategy, enabling the Company to offer technology licenses to industrial partners and develop projects to produce FDCA and PEF on an industrial scale across the globe. Commercial demand for PEF is a crucial factor in licensing discussions. Over the past year, Avantium has signed multi-year capacity reservation agreements. The agreement with BIOVOX further demonstrates Avantium's ability to meet the commercial demand for FDCA and PEF effectively.

BIOVOX - as a supplier of medical grade renewable polymers and compounds - has evaluated the use of PEF for a variety of pharmaceutical and medical applications. PEF-based pharmaceutical packaging offers significant environmental benefits compared to traditional petrochemical-based materials, aligning with the increasing demand for sustainable solutions in the pharmaceutical industry. PEF is a 100% plant-based, high-performance polymer that can be recycled in existing PET (polyethylene terephthalate) recycling streams, and has a significantly lower carbon footprint than PET. PEF also offers excellent performance advantages over current monomaterial solutions made from PVC, PET or PP. PEF-based packaging has superior barrier properties, which are crucial for protecting pharmaceutical products. Furthermore, PEF provides strong mechanical properties, ensuring that the packaging maintains its integrity and effectiveness over time. Additionally, PEF-based packaging exhibits good chemical resistance, which is important for materials exposed to various environmental conditions.

Dr. Julian Lotz, CEO of BIOVOX, commented: “We are pleased to partner with Avantium and secure access to their innovative PEF material for our customers’ pharmaceutical, medical and laboratory applications. This agreement aligns perfectly with our commitment to remain the leading innovator of healthcare plastics with best-in-class sustainability and highest patient safety.  We look forward to leveraging this cutting-edge material to address demanding critical applications, where renewable polymers have not been able to deliver yet. We can even deliver significant performance advantages over currently used materials which helps to reduce material use further.”

Bineke Posthumus, Commercial Director of Avantium Renewable Polymers added: “This collaboration with BIOVOX marks a significant milestone for Avantium, showcasing the versatility of FDCA and PEF in the pharmaceutical sector.  With PEF from future licensed plants, we are able to offer BIOVOX a high-performance, environmentally friendly solution that meets the stringent demands of pharmaceutical packaging. We look forward to seeing the positive impact of PEF in BIOVOX's applications."

About BIOVOX

BIOVOX is the first company to launch biopolymer based engineering plastics for healthcare, develops and produces sustainable plastic compounds for medical, pharmaceutical, and laboratory applications. The company’s materials are made from renewable resources, are recyclable, and meet the highest regulatory standards, including ISO 13485 quality management certification. Compared to conventional fossil-based plastics, BIOVOX’s solutions reduce the carbon footprint by up to 85% across the entire product lifecycle. Applications include medical disposables, packaging, surgical instruments, and endoscopy devices. BIOVOX developed a great reputation for offering materials with exceptionally high proven safety while reducing the environmental footprint at the same time, they also received multiple awards for innovation.

Read more: https://BIOVOX.systems/en

About Avantium

Avantium is a pioneering commercial-stage company focused on renewable & circular polymer materials. Avantium develops and commercializes innovative technologies for the production of materials based on sustainable carbon feedstocks, i.e. carbon from biomass or carbon from the air (CO₂). The most advanced technology is the YXY^® Technology that catalytically converts plant-based sugars into FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid), the key building block for the sustainable plastic PEF (polyethylene furanoate). PEF is known under the brand name releaf^®, an EU registered trademark of Avantium. Avantium has successfully demonstrated the YXY^® Technology at its pilot plant in Geleen, the Netherlands, and is in the process of starting the world's first commercial plant for FDCA in Delfzijl, the Netherlands.  Avantium works in partnership with like-minded companies around the globe to develop revolutionary renewable chemistry solutions from invention to commercial scale.

Avantium’s shares are listed on Euronext Amsterdam and Euronext Brussels (symbol: AVTX). Avantium is incorporated in the Euronext Amsterdam SmallCap Index (AScX). Its offices and headquarters are in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

For more information:

Caroline van Reedt Dortland, Director Communications
+31-20-5860110 / +31-613400179 
mediarelations@avantium.com

Aarne Luten, Head of Investor Relations
+31-625687714
ir@avantium.com