Most commercial plastics are synthetic polymers derived from
petrochemicals. They tend to resist
biodegradation. PHB-derived plastics are attractive because they are
compostable and derived from renewables and are bio-degradable.
ICI had developed the material to
pilot plant stage in the 1980s, but interest faded when it became clear that the cost of material was too high, and its properties could not match those of
polypropylene. Some bottles were made for Wella's "Sanara" range of shampoo; an example using the tradename "Biopol" is in the collection of the
Science Museum, London. In 1996, Monsanto (who sold PHB as a copolymer with PHV) bought all patents for making the polymer from ICI/Zeneca including the trademark "Biopol". However, Monsanto's rights to Biopol were sold to the American company
Metabolix in 2001 and Monsanto's fermenters producing PHB from bacteria were closed down at the start of 2004. The first report of PHB production in transgenic plants was in 1992, in
Arabidopsis. This involved inserting genes for two enzymes from
Alcaligenes eutrophus so that enzymes were produced continuously to synthesise PHB from
acetoacetyl-CoA. Systems to produce PHB by plant cells in culture were also developed. Monsanto had interest in producing PHB from plants instead of bacteria. But with media attention on GM crops, there was little news of Monsanto's plans for PHB after 2005. Biopol is currently used in the medical industry for
internal suture. It is nontoxic and biodegradable, so it does not have to be removed after recovery. TephaFLEX is a bacterially derived poly-4-hydroxybutyrate, manufactured using a recombinant fermentation process by Tepha Medical Devices, intended for a variety of medical applications that require biodegradable materials such as
absorbable sutures. It was first marketed in 2008. In 2021 the parent company Tepha, Inc was bought by
BD, an international medical technology company. ==Properties==