● Orthopedic acrylic radiopaque “sterile bone cement” for fixing prosthetic joints and surrounding bone tissue ... Assessed to be outstanding in quality and price competitiveness

● Medical materials business promoted as a new growth engine ... Plans to increase medical materials sales by five times by 2020

SK bioland (CEO Geun-sik Lee) is promoting its medical materials business aggressively. Having attempted to diversify its medical materials line, SK bioland has secured a domestic sales network by signing a sales agency agreement with a global medical appliance company. It has decided to grow its medical materials business swiftly.

SK bioland signed an agency agreement with Germany-_ base_d B. Braun Korea on the sales of sterile bone cement (Purament-A®). Under the agreement, B. Braun Korea will exclusively sell SK bioland sterile bone cement in Korea for the next three years. B. Braun is a medical appliance company that produces and supplies over 5,000 professional medical appliances and supplies throughout the world, including orthopedic, neuro-surgery, cardiovascular, and dialysis.

Bone cement is used for fixing prosthetic devices to human bones or treating broken or crushed bones. It fills cavities or glues broken bones. The domestic bone cement market is worth roughly 25 billion won, whereas its overseas counterpart is valued at roughly 700 billion won. Based on tests conducted by SK bioland together with B. Braun Korea beginning last year, the SK bioland product has been assessed to be similar in performance but more competitive in price than the product that enjoys the world’s largest market share.

SK bioland plans to grow actively its medical materials line starting with its cooperation with B. Braun Korea. Having started its medical materials business with collagen extracted from pig skin for the first time in Korea in 2006, SK bioland has concentrated on dermatological and dental applications. To secure a new growth engine, the company seeks to diversify into orthopedic applications whose markets are larger.

"With the current agreement signed, SK bioland is now able to supply excellent products through the sales network of B. Braun, a global company specializing in medical appliance and supplies. We will increase our medical materials sales by five times by 2020 by speedily commercializing the medical materials for joints that are currently under development," an SK bioland executive said. [End]

[Geun-sik Lee, CEO of SK bioland (left), signed an agreement with Stephan Soyka, CEO of B. Braun Korea, at its office in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on January 27 on the sales of sterile bone cement (Purament-A®).]