DuPont Named Strongest Global Biocompatible Brand by Medical Plastic Processors

DuPont has been named the strongest biocompatible brand in a survey of global medical plastic processors concluded by Medical Plastics News in October 2013. Invibio Biomaterial Solutions is the second strongest brand, while BASF is third and Bayer MaterialScience is fourth.

The results have been gathered after survey respondents were asked to select which single polymer manufacturer they believed had the strongest brand. The respondents were given a list of selected manufacturers to choose from. DuPont was chosen by 16% of all respondents with Invibio Biomaterial Solitions being chosen by 15%, BASF by 10% and Bayer MaterialScience by 8%.

The survey identified a fairly positive outlook about the future. On a scale of one to ten, where one is very positive and one is very pessimistic, the average score was 7.2. Respondents in Asia were the most optimistic with a mean score of 7.8 while those in the Americas gave a mean of 6.5 and those in Europe answered with a mean of 7.4. People who bought TPEs were most optimistic across all regions giving a mean score of 7.5. By contrast, buyers of polyolefins were least positive, giving a mean score of 6.7.

Just over half of medical plastic processors use a distributor for some or all of their polymer requirements. Half of respondents purchased materials for injection moulding, a third bought for extrusion and fifth for compounding.

The most common applications was surgical devices, followed by long term implantable—orthopaedic, minimally invasive devices, long term implantable—other, drug delivery and non-engineered drug packaging, and syringes.

In terms of challenges, most respondents (43%) said that cuts to spending on healthcare was the biggest issue they faced. Over regulation (36%) and progress in research and development in new materials (29%) were second and third respectively. Looking at the results from North American processors only, the biggest issue was over-regulation (49%) followed by cuts to healthcare spending (44%) and progress in research and development in new materials (29%).

The exercise was part of an independent poll designed by Medical Plastics News to identify how well known and well liked the range of biocompatible polymer brands are by the medical plastic processing community. The results are available for purchase from Medical Plastics News.

Polymer brands are divided into categories which allow meaningful comparisons to be made from one brand to the next. The main categories are: polyolefins, engineering polymers, polyketones, high performance polymers, resorbable polymers, TPUs, TPEs, silicone rubbers and PVC compounds.

For more information about the survey please contact Gareth Pickering or go to http://www.medicalplasticsnews.com/Survey.