Marketing & sales director leaves company as of Nov. 30, 2001

aap Implantate AG announces that marketing and sales director Joachim Staub left the company at his own request on Nov. 30, 2001 to devote himself to new tasks outside the company. The Supervisory Board, the Management Board and the entire aap team wish to thank Mr. Staub for his commitment and dedication in sales and marketing at a time of strong expansion and for his work as marketing and sales director when aap went public.

The board position of sales and marketing director will not be refilled for the time being. In addition to his other duties Management Board chairman and CEO Uwe Ahrens has assumed responsibility for marketing and sales from Dec. 1, 2001. Reorganization of the board must be seen as part of a program of restructuring across the group. In the course of this restructuring, marketing and sales structure at aap Implantate AG is to be reorganized. For this purpose the company has named a sales and marketing director who will not be a board member. The appointment has already been made in-house.

The new structure involves a centrally controlled sales and marketing organization for the entire aap Group. In the future the sales team will handle sales of the entire aap Group's product range. In Germany, the focus of sales and marketing activities will mainly be on successfully positioning new products such as the Trauma Shoulder System (TSS), the Biorigid Femur System (BFS) and the innovative bone replacement material Cerabone. In international markets aap plans to intensify sales and marketing activities by gaining new cooperation partners, especially for the orthobiology and bone cement segments.

By acquiring the Mebio-Coripharm group of companies, aap succeeded in moving forward into orthobiology, a market of the future. Alongside doing business in metal implants, the long-term objective of aap continues to be that of achieving market leadership in implants for orthopedic applications that are based on biomaterials.