Oxford Performance Materials Selects Eastern Plastics for Machining of OXPEKK® Implantable Polymer

Oxford Performance Materials (OPM) and Eastern Plastics Incorporation (EPI) have come to an agreement which enables EPI to sell machined components produced from OXPEKK® implantable polymer. This agreement allows manufacturers of implantable devices to purchase raw materials from OPM or finished machined devices directly from EPI.

Customers of Implantable OXPEKK® Get More Supply Options

Enfield, Connecticut May 27, 2004 - Oxford Performance Materials, Inc. (OPM) and Eastern Plastics Incorporation (EPI) have come to an agreement which enables EPI to sell machined components produced from OXPEKK® implantable polymer. OPM's OXPEKK-IG products have undergone ISO-10993 biocompatibility testing and are supported by a FDA Masterfile. This agreement allows manufacturers of implantable devices to purchase raw materials from OPM or finished machined devices directly from EPI.

We have found that limiting device companies to the purchase of raw materials can result in burdensome supply chain costs." said Scott DeFelice, President of OPM. In our view many implantable device manufactures would prefer to deploy less resources on inventory and supply chain management and more on designing and developing their next generation technology. This seems to be especially true for many of the smaller developers and start-ups. This new relationship with EPI will allow our customers the flexibility to do business in a manner most consistent with their individual circumstances."

EPI has a superb national reputation as a company that can handle the most challenging jobs and consistently deliver. We are delighted for them to be our first approved processing partner for our implantable products", said Mr. DeFelice. EPI will be the first of a limited number of processing partners for OXPEKK® implantable polymers, which will be located in North America, Europe and Asia. Due to the nature of implantable materials and technical requirement, OPM will limit processing partner agreements to only those firms that meet the exacting technical standards established by OPM and its ultimate customers.

A majority of our current business is in the medical markets," said Tom Brackett, President of EPI. We have been actively exploring business opportunities that leverage our extensive medical machining experience and our desire to support our customers inventory and logistics requirements. This relationship with OPM allows us to service our customers in a way that presently is not possible with implantable polyketone materials."

Since 1960 Eastern Plastics, Incorporated has been manufacturing custom machined plastic parts for original equipment manufacturers around the world. With more than 150 skilled people, 50 of the latest 3, 4, and 5-axis CNC machining centers, a variety of quality assurance instruments and thousands of application success stories, EPI has earned its place as the world leader in plastic machining. For additional information, please visit www.easternplastics.com

Founded in March 2000, OPM has rapidly become an industry leader in the ultra-high performance thermoplastic polymers market. The firm's versatile OXPEKK® polymers are currently being used in space and defense, medical, semiconductor, and industrial markets worldwide. For additional information, please visit www.oxfordpm.com