SABIC Highlights at MD&M West Leading Customization Capabilities for Antimicrobial Compounds to Help Device OEMs Enhance Patient Safety

Pittsfield, MA, February 23, 2012 --(PR.com)-- SABIC’s Innovative Plastics business is demonstrating its deep understanding of its customers’ ambitions by showcasing its extensive capabilities for customizing antimicrobial compounds to help device OEMs combat healthcare associated infections (HAIs) – which, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), affect one out of every 20 hospitalized patients. With a demonstrated history of successful innovation for the healthcare sector, SABIC can provide medical device customers with solutions to help meet their need to enhance the safety of their products, including world-class compounding technology and expertise, and high-quality base resins with antimicrobial additives. The company’s success in this arena is based on a global, customer-focused strategy to proactively invest in services, product technologies and other solutions to help medical device companies succeed in the ever-changing environment of healthcare reform.

SABIC is also highlighting at MD&M West the breadth of its line of LNP* specialty compounds for medical devices that contribute to other important aspects of patient and clinician safety, from X-ray shielding to static dissipation in the presence of oxygen.

“Intense and rising focus among regulators, hospitals and consumers to protect patients from harm, particularly from HAIs, is putting healthcare device makers under tremendous pressure to enhance their products with antimicrobial properties and other safety attributes,” said Thomas O’Brien, global product marketing director, Healthcare, Innovative Plastics. “SABIC is committed to powering these customers’ competitive advantages by giving them a more robust, nuanced and scientific alternative to traditional, one-size-fits-all antimicrobial concentrates through our customization services and a range of specialty compounds that address other safety issues. Utilizing these technologies and our other healthcare products and services, medical device OEMs can address existing safety concerns or proactively add value to differentiate their products in the marketplace.”

Compounding Surpasses Concentrates

Compared to mixing a third-party base resin with off-the-shelf concentrates, which can lead to inconsistent performance, SABIC performs its own compounding using proven, high-performance resins and additive chemistries to create solutions that help meet customer needs. By factoring in the unique properties of these materials and their interactions with the resins while controlling the compounding process, SABIC can tailor highly specialized product performance to meet customer-specified requirements, such as the duration and strength of antimicrobial properties. Further, the company’s renowned expertise in color and effects allows precise control over clarity, which can be impacted by antimicrobials.

The benefits of SABIC custom compounding over concentrates include uniform distribution of the additive for better performance and less manufacturing waste. SABIC’s customization capabilities can be used to create antimicrobial solutions for fluid and drug delivery applications, surgical instruments, monitoring and imaging devices and durable medical equipment such as hospital beds and operating tables.

Solutions for Safety

Safeguards for patients and staff extend far beyond avoiding HAIs. SABIC compounds for medical devices can help address other top safety issues:

· Shielding against radiation and electromagnetic/radio-frequency interference (EMI/RFI): SABIC LNP Thermocomp* HSG (high specific gravity) compound can replace lead in radiation shielding applications, enabling medical imaging device manufacturers to meet the European Union’s (EU) Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive. LNP Faradex* compound combines SABIC’s Lexan* EXL resin with proprietary fillers and additives to provide EMI/RFI shielding solutions with superior toughness, flame retardance and processability.

· Detecting lost device parts: LNP Thermocomp* compound can help to make a surgical device detectable via X-ray imaging. This safeguard allows the fragments to be located and retrieved before concluding the procedure.

· Decreasing “slip-stick”: LNP Lubricomp* and Lubriloy* compounds help to decrease the chance that a surgical device will slip or stick due to wear and friction. The inherent lubrication properties of these materials help ensure that the device performs consistently, thus avoiding errors and accidents.

Avoiding fire hazards: LNP Stat-Kon* compound combines base resins with electrically conductive fillers or reinforcing agents to produce conductive and dissipative materials. LNP Stat-Kon compound helps protect devices and components against static build-up and electrostatic discharge (ESD), which present potential fire hazards in operating rooms and other locations where oxygen is used.

· Ensuring consistent drug delivery: LNP Stat-Loy* compound provides permanent anti-static properties. This is important in drug delivery systems to prevent the medication from adhering to device walls and resulting in inconsistent dosages.

For additional information on SABIC’s high-performance healthcare resins, please go to www.sabic-ip.com. For technical product inquiries, please contact us at www.sabic-ip.com/prtechinquiry.

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