JANESVILLE, WI – February 8, 2011 – Prent Corporation today introduced the availability of MEDEX ® 641 an all new medical grade thermoform rigid packaging material.
“The new clear MEDEX® 641 is an alternative to XT Polymer, Polycarbonate, PVC or Polyester. It is a result of our commitment to help customers reduce their overall packaging costs and enhance their sustainability initiatives,” says Joseph T. Pregont, Prent President and CEO.
YEARS IN THE MAKING
Several years ago in a bold move to help its customers reduce packaging costs, Prent in conjunction with its sister company, GOEX Corporation, embarked on an aggressive research and development program to provide a new medical grade material that would be more cost effective, lighter and meet the demands of the medical thermoform packaging market.
Prent is introducing the new material— MEDEX ® 641—at the MD&M West show February 8 – 11 in Anaheim, CA. Packaging samples will be available in the Prent Booth # 2039.
REDUCING COSTS & ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT
“We understand the medical device industry’s interest in reducing packaging costs while also reducing its environmental footprint,” says Pregont.
Previous initiatives by Prent have successfully reduced weight through design innovations and the use of appropriately down-gauged materials.
“However, there is a limit to how thin deep-draw medical packages can become using existing materials,” explains Pregont. “We knew the success of such efforts would ultimately hinge on the development of new materials for medical packaging.
“Since the most widely used medical packaging materials are XT Polymer, Polycarbonate, PVC and Polyester, we began intensive research and development on an alternative material that would provide significant yield and cost advantages, excellent clarity and functionality.”
Already, several Prent customers plan to use the new material.
MEDEX® 641 ADVANTAGES
1. Significant Yield and Cost Advantages: MEDEX® 641 is significantly less dense than alternate medical packaging materials like XT Polymer, Polycarbonate, PVC or Polyester, thus providing significant part cost advantages. This is expected to reduce the amount of material necessary to thermoform each package and reduce the total cost of material.
2. Rugged Performance: MEDEX® 641 is an extremely solid material with enhanced strength and durability. It doesn’t exhibit brittle failures like some materials.
3. Excellent Clarity: MEDEX ® 641 provides great visibility to package contents. Tints are also available, including traditional medical Blue Tint.
4. Easy Part Separation: For customers wanting to eliminate silicon from their facilities, this is an ideal material since MEDEX ® 641 contains no silicone for denestability. It is a co-extruded product, in which the surface contains mechanical attributes that allow for easy formed-part-separation.
5. Exceptional Thermoformability: MEDEX ® 641 thermoforms and trims exceptionally clean. It has excellent flow, plus forms with better distribution characteristics than some traditional materials.
6. FDA Compliant: MEDEX® 641 is FDA and USP Class VI compliant. In addition, it can be sterilized by a variety of methods including ETO, Gamma and E-Beam.
For more information about using MEDEX® 641 contact Jim O’Dierno, Executive VP of Sales and Marketing, Prent Corporation, at sales@prent.com
ABOUT PRENT CORPORATION
Prent Corporation is the world’s leading designer and producer of custom thermoformed packages for the medical device industry. Headquartered in Janesville, WI, USA—and the winner of 13 WorldStar medical packaging awards—it operates Class 8 Clean Room facilities in China, Malaysia, Puerto Rico, Denmark, Arizona and Wisconsin
Media Contact: Vicki Damron, Prent Marketing Director,
608-758-1150, vdamron@prent.com