After the successful conference held in Brussels on the 2nd of October 2013 dedicated to plastics converters in the medical devices industry and pharmaceutical packaging, EuPC—the European Plastics Converters Trade Association—will officially launch a new sector group: MedPharmPlast Europe.
Whilst the medical market is still growing, the international competition is fierce and entry barriers are increasingly high. The good news for the plastics industry is that polymers are at the heart of most innovations in medical devices and pharmaceutical packaging.
MedPharmPlast Europe will facilitate the development of market opportunities and will defend the competitiveness of the European companies in the international market.
The strict and rapidly evolving regulatory environment is one of the main issues identified. As example, on the 22nd of October 2013, the plenary of the EU Parliament voted the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on medical devices. Amongst other measures, the European Parliament proposal introduces a threshold (0,1% by weight) and establishes a delegated act procedure by which the Commission can grant authorisations for the use of substances found in concentration above 0,1% for medical devices.
EuPC calls to all the interested parties in the Medical Devices and Pharmaceutical Packaging industries to join MedPharmPlast Europe in order to create a strong group to work together and to defend the interest of the industry. As the first field, this group will work on the EU regulatory specificities of plastics in the medical devices and pharmaceutical packaging markets.
EuPC has already asked and obtained from the European Commission the right to represent plastics for medical devices through a direct participation in the European Medical Devices Expert Group.
Several companies have already expressed their interest to join the sector group. The kick-off meeting of MedPharmPlast Europe will take place on the 28th of January 2014 in Brussels, Belgium.
For more information about MedPharmPlast Europe, please contact Alvaro Fernandez de Celis, EuPC Project Manager
Alvaro.Fernandez@eupc.org