Clariant Masterbatches Establishes Dedicated Medical and Pharmaceutical Global Segment

Muttenz, 23 February 2011 – Clariant has established a global Medical and Pharmaceutical segment within its Masterbatches Business Unit to further strengthen its dedicated support for customers in these highly-demanding markets.

Headed by Stephen Duckworth, Head of Global Market Segment Medical and Pharmaceutical, the new group will manage the development, production, marketing and technical support for Clariant’s MEVOPUR® color masterbatches and custom performance compounds, which are manufactured exclusively for medical and pharmaceutical applications. The MEVOPUR brand is produced under specially controlled conditions at three dedicated global ISO 13485 certified sites located in Lewiston, Maine, in the USA, Malmö in Sweden and in Singapore.

The formation of this sector-specific organization demonstrates Clariant’s commitment to provide application knowledge and product expertise tailored to the specific requirements and challenges of the medical device and pharmaceutical packaging industries. In particular, it will support customers in meeting the increasingly strict controls governing end-product ingredients and manufacturers’ need to minimize risk at every stage of design, production and product approval.

The new Medical and Pharmaceutical team includes:
• A dedicated commercial team with market segment heads in each global region to provide better customer support, and a good understanding of specific requirements. This team will be strengthened with local and regional appointments to the sales, market development, production site and technical functions as required.

• Dedicated medical and pharmaceutical technical managers at each of Clariant’s three ISO-13485-certified sites. In conjunction with professionals from R&D, production, sales and marketing, and customer service, they work closely with individual customers from the concept stage through to production to pre-test materials and assess risk in order to develop compliant, targeted color and functionality for each application.

• A dedicated global manager is being added, with responsibility for the ISO13485 quality system and the specific regulatory requirements across the three sites. This emphasizes Clariant’s commitment to the unique needs of the segment. This person will be responsible for the ISO13485 quality system and the specific regulatory requirements across the three sites, also functioning as an expert resource for both the Clariant team and medical and pharmaceutical customers.

The MEVOPUR-branded color masterbatches, pre-colored compounds, standard color ranges and performance-enhancing solutions are produced under controlled, consistent and compliant conditions to help customers achieve appearance and performance enhancement for their medical device or packaging application while ensuring regulatory acceptability.

MEVOPUR uses raw materials that have been biologically evaluated against USP parts 87 and 88 (Class VI devices) and/or the international standard ISO10993. Segregated manufacturing lines help reduce the risk of cross contamination, and segregated storage and change-control processes ensure consistency.

Additional Clariant services to help customers more easily comply with local regulatory requirements include documentation support that is consistent with FDA guidelines. This includes relevant product safety and compliance documentation and information on potential leachables and extractables. The company operates an open-to-audit policy and fully traceable production.

Roland Mårtensson, Head of MS Consumer Goods & Medical Europe North / CEE, Clariant, comments: “Having a dedicated global medical device and pharmaceutical segment will enable us to increase support to our sales teams, market development and technical specialists, and to our MEVOPUR production and development facilities in the US, Europe and Asia. This will ensure we have the field and production capabilities to support customer development projects and meet the significant growth in demand we are experiencing for the color and functionality benefits of MEVOPUR.”

Clariant Masterbatches products are marketed under the following global brand names: REMAFIN® olefinic masterbatches and compounds; RENOL® masterbatches and compounds based on engineering resins, styrenics and PVC; CESA® additive masterbatches; HYDROCEROL® chemical foaming and nucleating agents; OMNICOLOR® universal color masterbatches; MEVOPUR® color and performance masterbatches and compounds for medical and pharmaceutical applications. These brand names are registered trademarks of Clariant.

www.clariant.com

Clariant is an internationally active specialty chemical company based in Muttenz near Basel. The group owns over 100 companies worldwide and employed approx. 16.200 workers at the end of February 2011. In the financial year 2010, Clariant produced a turnover in excess of 7.1 billion CHF. Clariant is divided into ten business units: Additives; Detergents & Intermediates; Emulsions; Industrial & Consumer Specialties; Leather Services; Masterbatches; Oil & Mining Services; Paper Specialties; Pigments; Textile Chemicals.

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This release was published on openPR.