Lubrizol restructures group under Life Science brand

WICKLIFFE, Ohio — Lubrizol is reorganizing its Personal, Home and Health Care business lines while completing its acquisition of Bavaria Medizin Technologie GmbH, a German producer of intravascular and nonvascular devices.

The Personal, Home and Health Care business lines are being grouped together under the company's new Lubrizol Life Science brand, according to a company news release. The move includes its medical device contract manufacturing business Vesta Inc.

"Our recent internal restructure mirrors what the markets are doing by integrating our inside expertise across health, beauty and home," Bernardo Medeiros, general manager of the Beauty and Home business of Lubrizol Life Science, said in an email. The new brand brings together a broader set of proficiencies in formulation and product development so that ideas can be easily shared on new products for customers.

While the Vesta business had historically been represented as a separate business, there are benefits in bringing it and others under the same Life Science umbrella, a company spokeswoman said. The new brand also will contain Lubrizol's pharmaceutical and medical device businesses.

The groups under the new brand share collective chemistries, applications and market insights, Lubrizol said. The brand's team is focused on developing and testing products in partnership with customers and developing initiatives, emphasizing proactive innovation.

The shift means that Lubrizol, originally seen as a chemical and ingredient supplier, is evolving into a concept to commercialization solutions provider, said Rick Tolin, president of Lubrizol Advanced Materials.

Lubrizol said it plans to add strategic technology, capability and talent in the Life Science brand by investing to expand its portfolio. That includes new acquisitions such as BMT.

The details of BMT's acquisition were not disclosed. Lubrizol acquired the firm through its German subsidiary Lubrizol Deutschland GmbH from its majority shareholder Custos Vermogensverwaltungs as well as from minority shareholders. BMT, headquartered near Munich, also operates a manufacturing facility in Sibiu, Romania, and has more than 100 employees.

Its products include intravascular devices such as coronary, peripheral and cranial, as well as nonvascular devices like drug-coated balloons, Lubrizol said. It also offers private label manufacturing of proprietary catheters and balloons, along with original equipment manufacturing services such as sterilization, packaging and labeling, and logistics.

Its acquisition means enhanced design and development capabilities, including the proprietary balloon and catheter technologies, allowing Life Science Health to become a partner to the global medical device and pharmaceutical industries, Uwe Winzen, general manager of Life Science Health said in an email. The balloon-forming and drug-coating capabilities complement Lubrizol's existing contract manufacturing and formulation expertise.

"BMT's experience and reputation in the drug-coated balloon space also aligns well with Lubrizol's pharmaceutical CDMO (contract development and manufacturing organization) business and positions Lubrizol as the ideal partner for developing next-generation DCBs and other drug-device combination products," Winzen said.

A growing number of medical device OEMs want to consolidate their supplier base and partner with financially stable organizations with capabilities covering the product from start to finish, Winzen said. Integrating BMT into the Lubrizol family gives the group the capabilities to serve that need.

The combined capabilities of BMT and Lubrizol Life Science Health, including services for devices such as next-generation catheters, structural heart devices and drug device combination products, positions the brand as a "full-service development partner for innovative OEMs in the interventional space," Winzen said.