Medical polymers targeting the healthcare sector were in abundance at late October’s massive K 2016 trade show in Dusseldorf. Here are just a few developments announced by a few of the event’s 3,285 exhibitors.
Clariant aims to help stop the fakes
A pair of Swiss firms — specialty chemicals giant Clariant and security solutions provider SICPA Holding SA — have collaborated to develop Plastiward, an integrated, in-plastic approach that aims to protect plastic pharmaceutical packaging or medical devices from counterfeiting.
The firms say that Plastiward offers an end-to-end solution that integrates proprietary security features from SICPA into polymer masterbatches from Clariant. A handheld detector is used to gather data from the embedded ingredients and provides instantaneous authentication. The data are uploaded and aggregated on a secure inspection platform from SICPA that facilitates real-time monitoring.
Combining in-house material and digital components, the embedded markers are virtually impossible to reproduce, Clariant claims, as they are based on exclusive, proprietary and patented solutions. Plastiward also complies with pharma processes, has a low impact on direct production processes and costs, and is available as a compound or masterbatch concentrate in a range of polymers typically used in medical and pharmaceutical devices, according to Steve Duckworth, head of Clariant’s Global Segment Healthcare Polymer Solutions.
Separately, Clariant Masterbatches also announced it has launched a specific range of its Mevopur®-brand color and functional additives for use in high-performance, spun-bond fibers used in medical applications. Mevopur color and additives masterbatches are now available in seven colors. Nonwoven fibers are used in applications such products as surgical gowns and masks, sterilization bags, medical filtration products, sanitary pads and wound-care dressings.
Solvay helps to remove your tonsils
The Solvay Specialty Polymers unit of Brussels, Belgium-based Solvay SA says that its medical-grade Ixef GS-1022 polyarylamide (PARA) resin helped to facilitate development of an innovative new, single-use surgical device. Elasso Surgical Instruments of Ann Arbor, Mich., developed the product in question — the Elasso Tissue Removal Device, an electrocautery instrument for adenoid and tonsil surgeries.
Blue and gray-colored grades of the Ixef GS-1022 PARA resin, which is a 50 percent glass fiber-reinforced compound, form the device’s arms, which end in a metal loop that is heated by an electrical current to a temperature that precisely cuts and cauterizes isolated tissue. Elasso said that the Solvay polymer’s high flexural strength and high flow provided a viable alternative to metal, allowing it to optimize the ergonomics, precision and surgical efficacy of the instrument without compromising the rigidity of key components.
MSM Poly forging ahead with Barex replacement
Wilmington, Del.-based MSM Poly LLC said at the K show that it is aggressively scaling up production of its acrylonitrile methyl acrylate copolymer (AMAC) latex resin, which it plans to sell under the trade name AnobexTM.
MSM Poly is producing Anobex not only to replace the AMAC resin known as Barex®, which INEOS recently ceased manufacturing, but to further develop new markets and applications, according to MSM Poly managing member Peter Schmitt. Barex was best known as a barrier resin for pharmaceutical packaging.
Negotiations between INEOS and MSM Poly to acquire the Barex name and related intellectual property ended recently with no agreement. That, however, has not impeded MSM Poly’s progress in bringing Anobex to market, Schmitt said.
Customers are receiving initial pilot lots and report successful equivalence testing. Independent laboratories confirmed that the material is equivalent, he noted. MSM is progressing with the delivery and installation of production equipment, qualification runs of one to five tons are due to begin next February, and the firm said it plans to begin full commercial production of Anobex resin by 2017’s fourth quarter.
Elix Polymers launches new ABS grade
Tarragona, Spain-based resin manufacturer Elix Polymers is expanding its healthcare portfolio by introducing a new ABS grade for use in products that come into contact with food. The new M545TF grade is said to provide extra toughness and resistance to high temperatures. The firm said at K that this new grade is not yet available in the United States.
Elix Polymers, however, has otherwise extended its presence into North America with the launch this past January of Elix Americas, headed by Gerhald Claussen, business manager – Americas. The company has added a warehouse in New Jersey, from which it will supply its range of ABS resins and polycarbonate/ABS blends, to include various custom-colored, specialty grades.
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We are interested in medical grade polymer( PP,ABS,PVC,PC,TPR etc ) for producing disposable syringe, Infusion set,IV cannula & also other medical components.
Is there any new development regarding polymers that can be laser-cut into stents?
Mr. Rabbani,
Would be happy to discuss possibilities with our ABS grades.
Our direct contacts depending on where you are located,
http://www.elix-polymers.com/contact.
Br,
Gerhald