Borealis' innovation in medtech materials

Russell Tew, new business development marketing, healthcare, Borealis, provides an insight in to the company and its expertise

What excites you about the industry at the moment?

In the healthcare industry, there is always something changing or developing which makes it a challenge and therefore very exciting. At Borealis, we strive to be a leading innovator in the industry and to always provide our customers with cutting edge solutions tailored to specific application needs. One of our corporate mottos is Value Creation through Innovation, which is particularly relevant to the ever-changing healthcare industry because it motivates us to stay ahead of the curve while continuously striving to deliver valuable products and services to our customers.

2015 was an important year for Borealis. Which achievements stand out the most for the company?

Last year was indeed a big year for Borealis. In 2015, we achieved a record level of profits, which was a proud achievement for us as a company.

For our healthcare business specifically, though, we had our first commercial sales of our soft polypropylene resin, Bormed SB815MO. Officially debuted at the K Fair in 2013, we see this as  delivering a step change innovation in softness – it’s the softest PP grade within our Bormed portfolio. The use of the Borealis proprietary Borstar  technology enables good transparency without the addition of clarifiers and the material offers advantages for production processes in which terminal sterilisation has become the rate determining step (RDS). When compared with low density polyethylene (LDPE) that can only be sterilised at 110°C, the sterilisation cycle with Bormed SB815MO at 121°C may be completed in half the time. What is more, this is achieved with a material that is flexible enough to be easily self-collapsible without venting, mimicking the performance of LDPE.  

Throughout the year we put an increased focus on our Bormed product portfolio, promoting at various events throughout the year. At the beginning of 2015 we also launched new efforts to position our healthcare solutions in the industry, including a microsite dedicated to the pillars of our healthcare product and service offering and to our Bormed portfolio.

  We also reorganised our polyolefins sales and marketing functions to create a new structure that allows us to focus even more on serving our customers and value chain partners in an effective and efficient way.

What do you see as the key drivers in the medical plastics sector for 2016?

In 2016, we believe that we will see an increase in regulations in the healthcare industry regarding medical plastics, which are important to ensure to delivery of a safe and effective product to the end consumer. In line with this development, we will see an increasing need for knowledge about the plastic materials that are used to produce and package medical devices and pharmaceutical products. This is a trend that is also becoming more prevalent in other industries, such as food packaging, cosmetics and other consumer products segments.

With these regulatory changes comes the need for change management on the part of all value chain members to adapt and accommodate to these new requirements. For our part as a plastic raw material supplier, we are aware of the need of increasing engagement on our part to meet these regulations on behalf of our customers and partners, while still delivering on their individual needs for their specific applications.

At Borealis, we address these key drivers with the three pillars of our Bormed concept: commitment, servicecand conformance. We are committed to ensuring security of supply for our customers and partners in the short and long term as well as higher stock levels and planning prioritisation. Our dedicated, global team of specialists – from R&D to technical support and sales – will continue their ongoing dialogue with the industry in order to better assess needs and provide the best service, whilst our expanding range of products offers built-in regulatory compliance in conformance with industry requirements, dedicated production and quality control procedures.

What will the company be focussing on this year?

In addition to continuing to offer what we believe to be the best in service offer to the healthcare industry, we are looking to expand our portfolio in terms of new products that are being developed in cooperation with our partners as well as extending the Bormed directive to the production of our Plastomers materials.  As already mentioned, the Healthcare space is truly dynamic and therefore we are also very vigilant regarding any requirement, through changes in legislation for example, that our customers need. We understand that the Bormed approach needs to be a living concept to fully support the industry and that we cannot just sit back and admire our work to date.  This involves an ongoing and active commitment to the industry.

You’re exhibiting at Pharmapack - why is the event important for you?

Pharmapack is an ideal event to participate in because it is compact, with all of the major EU healthcare industry players there in one location. Because of the event setup, all exhibitors are relatively equal in terms of stand size and presence, so it makes the whole event more about the discussions and the content of those discussions.

Which other exhibitions will you be attending and why?

In addition to Pharmapack, we will be attending CPhI in Barcelona in October as it is the largest healthcare fair in Europe and the largest one Borealis participates in for that business area. Looking more at the Middle East focus, we will attend ArabHealth this month as well as participating in some other events in that region with our joint venture, Borouge. We will also be attending MD&M West in February in the US. This global approach to events allows us to keep our finger on the pulse of the industry in different markets as well as promoting our solutions in different regions.

What would you say is Borealis’ unique selling point?

Quite simply, we believe that our level of service, and through that, our level of engagement with our customers and partners is how we offer a unique selling point to the industry.  We take the time to understand our customers’ needs and challenges, take ownership of them and then translate them into how the chemical industry, ie. polymer producers, can best support them. In short, we become internal healthcare industry advocates.  For example, we participate in bodies such as the MedPharmPlast Europe sector group of European Plastics Converters (EuPC) to understand the upcoming regulatory changes proposed for the healthcare space and provide informed feedback on how these changes can be implemented in a practical way. On the more practical side, we have a programme to provide extractable profiles for our Bormed resins to support our customers’ leachables and extractables studies.