Extending its 70-year history of market firsts, Momentive Performance Materials featured a number of new silicone materials for healthcare applications at MD&M East, the world’s largest event for medical device manufacturing, which took place June 8-10 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York.
Momentive’s StatSil* antimicrobial elastomer technology recently received a 2009 Frost & Sullivan Product Innovation of the Year Award and was among the innovations featured at the show. StatSil antimicrobial elastomer can help address a key challenge in the healthcare industry – preventing the transmission of microbial infections in the hospital. One of the main causes for such infections is the growth of microbes on medical devices. The StatSil antimicrobial elastomers can help reduce microbe growth in or on the human body due to the use of medical devices. This highly flexible, customizable platform leverages a silver-based additive that can be incorporated directly into the base silicone elastomer. It is possible to integrate StatSil antimicrobial elastomer technology into a wide variety of healthcare devices, including catheters and intravenous components.
In addition, Momentive offered a number of other innovations, including its high tear strength Silopren* LSR4600 series, an innovative liquid silicone rubber that may be considered for use to achieve maximal mechanical strength in high strain applications such as baby bottle nipples, or in dynamic parts such as membranes. Representative samples of the three products in this series have passed certain ISO 10993 tests using Good Laboratory Practices (GLP).
Other Momentive healthcare materials showcased at MD&M East included:
- The Silopren LSR7000 family of liquid highly transparent silicone rubbers, excellent candidates to consider for applications where a combination of optical transparency and high temperature stability is required.
- MSC2631 silicone slip coating polymer, a low friction coating that can be used on substrates such as stainless steel and tungsten, which are commonly found in healthcare applications. Applied to needles, the material can help improve the ability of the device to pass through tissue with less force.
- LSR 2740 self-bonding liquid silicone rubber, a highly stable two-component injection molding material that can typically offer cost-effective, primerless adhesion to metals and engineering plastics.
Representative samples of LSR7070, LSR2740 and MSC2631 have passed USP Class VI tests and/or ISO 10993 tests using GLP.
“Through new, cutting-edge technologies such as our StatSil technology for healthcare applications, we are helping manufacturers meet their performance challenges, and providing opportunities to resolve the heightened concern in the healthcare industry over microbial growth in or on the human body,” said Lynn Colucci-Mizenko, global marketing director, Momentive. “In keeping with our heritage of innovation, our focus remains on helping our healthcare customers increase their efficiency and develop breakthrough products.”
Momentive has also announced that, to better serve the needs of its customers in the healthcare and biotechnology industries, it has invested in upgrades to its Lostock, UK custom compounding center, including the addition of a highly controlled, dedicated pharmaceutical/medical processing area. The new area is dedicated exclusively to the production of Addisil* high quality elastomers that are excellent candidates to consider for use in healthcare applications. The facility uses rigorous quality assurance and quality control techniques.
To find out more about Momentive’s solutions for the healthcare industry, please call 800.295.2392 in North America (+607.786.8131 everywhere else) or visit our website.