Future medical device industry

This paper has shown the many often conflicting requirements demanded of any new flexible PVC compound for use in medical applications. Even when the physical and technical properties are satisfied the new material has to meet toxicological requirements which are becoming increasingly demanding and complex. This inevitably means that development to the point where a new material can be offered to the medical device industry is a very time-consuming and costly operation. BIPVL therefore believes the newly developed extraction resistant flexible PVC merits serious attention for use in the manufacture of medical devices in the immediate future. 

Ellis, J. R. Packaging/Sterilization EtO-Does It Have A Future Medical Device Diagnostic Industry, pp. 50-51, Feb. 1990. 

At the dawn of the 21st century, the invention, development, and use of hiomaterials has become big business in the United States and around the world. According to a 2001 report in Chemical and Engineering News, more than 10 million Americans now have at least one kind of implanted medical device, and national sales generated by the hiomaterials industry exceeds 50 billion per year. Industry analysts see an even larger future for the industry. For example, every year about 30,000 people die from liver failure while waiting for liver transplants, of which fewer than 3,000 become available every year. Modifications that would lead to acceptable liver substitutes would save the lives of many of these individuals. 

The interaction between CPMP (which reports to the Enterprise Directorate, formerly the Commissions DGIII Industry Affairs) and the new Medical Products and Medical Devices Committee, which reports to the Health Directorate, formerly DGXXIV Consumer Policy, is very uncertain. It has to be borne in mind that the objective of Directive 65/65 was to advance the free movement of goods within the EC, i.e. an industrial/commercial objective. In the future it might be more logical for the functions of EMEA to be the responsibility the Health Directorate rather than the Enterprise Directorate. 

Medical devices such as fetal heart rate monitors, patient monitoring, life support devices, and pulse oximeters, are in everyday use around the globe. In future, the healthcare industry can expect to see many advanced medical devices in use nanoparticles, magnetic drug homing devices, micro-needles, and polymer capsules (Friend et al. 2011). 

With the fast developments in the plastic industry, some of the lesser known plastics will either find future usage or already be used for devices, general medical instruments and apparatus or as implant aids. Certain plastics now involve alloys, i.e. mixtures of thermoplastics, and thermoplastic and thermoset resins. Improvements in what were the economic five plastics, i.e. polyethylenes, polypropylenes, polyvinylchlorides, polystyrenes and polyesters, are constantly occurring. Use of metallocene catalysts is likely to produce plastics of a controlled chain length. 

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