This week the team is reporting live from the Medica and Compamed 2016 trade fairs. We thought we’d highlight some of the best products on offer at the show to demonstrate the range of exhibitors and services.
Exhibition
Over 700 suppliers are presenting their innovations at Compamed with companies such as biomedical polymers and compounds provider Foster Corporation, medical product and development provider Teleflex Medical OEM, global science institution DSM and more being on offer to visitors.
“No other event in the world offers this comprehensive overview of the newest medical products and developments”, states Horst Giesen, director of Medica and Compamed.
Alternative arrangements
Chemical, fibre and plastics material manufacturer Eastman is displaying product samples made from the company’s Eastalite range copolyester.
The material is intended to be used as a rigid medical and pharma packaging alternative. It offers advantages such as higher yield and easy processing, cleanroom use, cleaner cutting, faster processing and it is a styrene free alternative with no butadiene, BPA and BPS, PVC, halogens or ortho-phthalates.
Adhesive Applications
Supplier of silicones solution Dow Corning presented its strongest adhesive, highlighting the company’s involvement in producing high-end silicone technology.
The products presented at Compamed 2016 are used for the safe, durable skin adhesion of wearable medical devices, wound care dressings, medical tape and more.
Dow Corning highlighted its Soft Skin Adhesive, designed for gentle adhesion of wound dressings. The product provides low peel release force that doesn’t cause damage or pain to fragile skin. It’s also optically clear and is gentle to skin.
Population Health
Software company Philips’ range of population health technologies are the ideal tools to help elderly people live healthily and safely. Philips’ HomeSafe and CareSage programmes use analytics to detect when elderly people are at risk of falling, potentially reducing the number of A&E visits. Homesafe offers support to elderly people with a wearable pendant, which can automatically contact emergency services if they are to fall. The programmes are great examples of technology being used to target specific populations.
Compounding
Also on display is key player in custom medical plastics compounding, Compounding Solutions. The company is highlighting what it says sets it apart from other competitors, detailing things such as its shortest two/three week lead times for custom compounds and its extensive range of product lines.
For examples its range of radiopaque fillers use materials which are economically friendly and offer better heat and UV stability than other radiopacifiers in certain items.
Wearable Technologies
The Wearables Technologies show demonstrates the widespread market for innovations in the wearable medical device market. Main features of this year’s pavilion include electromedicine, medical technologly, lab equipment, diagnostics, physiotherapy, orthoapedic technology, consumer goods, information and communication technology and more.
‘ADAMM’ by start-up, HealthCare Originals, for instance, helps asthma sufferers to regain control of their illness. This flexible wearable is a patch equipped with a rechargeable battery which can be worn anywhere on the upper body and monitors coughing and breathing, measures temperature and heart frequency and analyses wheezing noises. ‘Livia’, on the other hand, is clipped to the waistband. It allows menstrual pain to be simply ‘switched off’ from there. This wearable interrupts the frequency wavelengths for menstrual pain and thus blocks transmission of the signals along the nerves to the brain. Empatica, another wearables manufacturer, presents watch and wrist strap wearables. The ‘Embrace Watch’ and the ‘E4 Wristband’ are able to measure physiological stress and sleep arousal as well as sleep quality and physical activity. The device combination can also help epileptics predict seizures, contribute to their analysis and even alert family members in the event of acute danger.
Gearing up
Micro injection moulding company Accumold has made an appearance at Compamed, marking it as the fourth time the company has visited at the trade fair.
The company is attending the show, which realises the potential impact that products developed by medical technology suppliers can have on delivering better care to patients.
Accumold recognises the offerings of Compamed in areas such as components for medical technology, materials, micro- and nanotechnology, contract electronic manufacturing services, complex manufacturing and equipment partnerships, packaging and services.