Anti-microbial blends to open up new treatments
Dr Eric Belt, gastrointestinal surgeon at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, The Netherlands occasionally needs to operate on a patient twice. With some patients the implanted hernia mesh gets infected after it has been implanted to resolve an inguinal or abdominal hernia. These meshes are commonly produced out of polypropylene materials and bacteria are its worst enemy.
Dr Belt and the academic hospital are eagerly awaiting the moment to try out and test hernia meshes with the Parx Plastics technology integrated. Parx Plastics has developed the world’s first non-leaching and biocompatible technology to make plastics antibacterial. Contrary to the existing technologies Sanipolymers do not make use of chemicals, heavy metals, nanomaterials or other harmful substances to kill bacteria. This solution derived from biomimetics cleverly makes use of an essential trace element that is present in food and necessary in our daily diet for a healthy immune system and for building up cells, skin, hair and nails.
Absolute safety is guaranteed not only by the biocompatibility but also because the technology does not leach out. The antibacterial property is the result of an intrinsic change and not of leaching/migrating substances. The surface of a product becomes hostile to bacteria by means of a mere physical and mechanical action and TÜV laboratories prove it kills up to 99% of the bacteria within 24 hours (measured according to ISO22196).
“We are exploring the efficiency of our solutions using it on implants, but there are many applications in the medical and healthcare field that can come to mind.” says Michael Van der Jagt, one of the founders of Parx Plastics. “The fact that we have a non-migrating and biocompatible solution makes it suitable for any kind of product, device or touch surface. There are practically no limitations.”
A lively discussion is going on about the fact that today’s leaching solutions contribute to antibiotic resistance. “This is a topic that is being put on the agenda more and more these days, as it will impact on our future wellbeing and disease fighting strategies,” says Van der Jagt. The Parx technology ruptures the bacteria’s cell membrane and causes it to lyse and die by means of a pure mechanical/physical property. This natural behavior cannot lead to resistance and highlights one of the long-term benefits of the innovation. And as no active substances are leaching out, there is no degrading of the antibacterial property. It will last the lifetime of the product.
Currently Parx Plastics has begun the mass production of two Saniconcentrates. One can be used with ABS materials and the other is based on Eastman’s Tritan copolymer. The technology can be applied to roughly any plastic. An existing plastic is used as the carrier of the technology to create a Saniconcentrate that blends in at 3% with untreated material of the same kind. The technology does not impact the original characteristics of the material, so no difference is noticed in colour, clarity, strength, aging etc.
The company will work on more off-the-shelf solutions but is also open for custom projects to develop a Saniconcentrate of a specific polymer or for a specific application. Especially for medical applications Parx is looking for partners to do more research and efficacy tests with and who can be the launching customers of the tech in their market segment. Van der Jagt: “As mentioned we have an excited team ready in the Erasmus Medical Centre to perform in-vivo test with mesh made from Saniconcentrate. So we welcome companies that can team up with us for this research.”
Since the introduction a year ago the innovation has not gone unnoticed. Parx Plastics has been announced by the European Commission as one of the top tech start-ups in Europe and was recently nominated as finalist in the materials category in the World Technology Awards in association with Fortune and Time.