PRA March-April 2018 issue

Page 32

Medical Industry

Advances in medical plastics for patient-centric healthcare Home healthcare is becoming a complementary low-cost location for the ill and ageing. Because of this, the requirement for lightweight yet durable and safe medical devices is on the rise, says Angelica Buan in this article.

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hronic diseases and ageing populations are aiding the growth of the homecare medical equipment (HME) market that is conceived to cross over US$35 million by 2023, according to Allied Market Research’s latest projection. Increasing healthcare costs are driving care for many conditions out of the doctor’s office and into the home. In particular, treatments for many chronic conditions often require patients or caregivers to deliver regular injections of medications. It is, therefore, important that drug delivery systems are improved to ensure that injectable medications can be easily, safely and effectively delivered in the home environment. Medical-grade plastics are getting a boost in the HME market. Grandview Research, in its report, has assessed the medical plastic market to be worth US$33.6 billion by 2025. Demand for healthcare products, such as catheters, surgical instruments, syringes and others, are anticipated to drive growth at a CAGR of nearly 70% by revenue from 2017-2025.

TPE: a game changing material From flexible medical devices made with jointed metals to hard tubes, the characteristic that is flexibility has improved with thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs). Owing to TPE’s flexibility, medical applications have broadened and are expected to represent a substantial share in the US$20 billion TPE market across industries by 2023, as forecast by Global Market Insights. As well, new medical adhesives, which have had a history of materials development before polymeric materials Henkel's new LED-curable adhesives feature high were used, have elongation and flexibility switched to medical TPE for its elasticity and biocompatibility, among other beneficial properties. German chemical and consumer goods company Henkel recently introduced two new high-elongation, high-flexibility, LED-curable adhesives specifically designed for use on flexible medical devices made of TPE and TPU (thermoplastic urethane). These are substrates increasingly specified by medical device manufacturers, as well as for plasticised PVC. With fixture times of one to three seconds using a Loctite high-output LED curing system, Loctite AA3951 and Loctite AA3953 minimise curing delays and eliminate work-in-progress, says Henkel. It also assures that these adhesives deliver elongations greater than 200% and bond strengths greater than 450 PSI on polycarbonate, acrylic, and hard-to-bond materials such as HDPE and LDPE. New medical-grade TPEs from US-based Teknor Apex, for injection moulded plunger stoppers, provide improved syringe performance, are less costly and easier to mould than natural and isoprene rubber, and provide processing advantages over Teknor Apex's new medical-grade thermoplastic vulcanisate (TPV) elastomers, says the company. TPEs are for use in syringes The compounds can be over-moulded onto plungers, eliminating

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MARCH / APRIL 2018


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PRA March-April 2018 issue by Plastics & Rubber Asia - Issuu