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Innovations in Polymer Films for Medical Packaging
Robert J. Bockserman
Conatech Consulting Group, Inc. 501 N. Lindbergh Blvd. Ste. 105, Creve Coeur, MO 63141-7844, USA
Tel: +1 314 995 9767 Fax: +1
314 995 9766 |
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Biography
Robert J. Bockserman is President of Conatech Consulting Group, Inc., Creve Coeur, Missouri. His responsibilities include the management of product, packaging and engineering projects; and he serves as a technical consultant to the food, drug and medical device industries.
Mr. Bockserman was a Research Chemist for Monsanto Company and the Founder and President of Pharma-Tech Industries, Inc., a contract manufacturing and packaging corporation. He is a visiting lecturer at the University of Missouri–Columbia, conducting classes in Food Toxicology, and at the University of Missouri–Rolla College of Engineering, conducting classes in Packaging Engineering.
Company Profile
Conatech Consulting Group, Inc., is a consulting engineering firm specializing in process, product and package development for foods, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and chemicals.
The firm also assists companies in planning waste management, the auditing of hazardous chemical production, developing training programs for companies to understand and comply with federal regulations pertaining to environmental controls. The firm also assists law firms and insurance companies by providing expert testimony, specializing in product liability resulting from hazardous products and environments. Expert testimony covers research and discovery, depositions and trial testimony.
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Abstract
Within the last two decades, the healthcare industry has replaced many traditional metal and glass packaging components with high-barrier plastic films composed of single polymers, new lamination combinations, metallized films, and an array of specialized coatings. These innovations are designed to provide better product protection, to meet the needs of the growing diversity of products, to comply with federal regulations, and to maintain and control costs. Continuous research and development by private industry and academic institutions has produced a great variety of new and improved medical films.
Continuing R&D in medical packaging is expected to produce sophisticated, technically advanced products such as smart films to absorb or emit various gases, antioxidants that are incorporated into a film and are slowly diffused into the product, or antibiotic film that emits ozone. Other anticipated developments include water-soluble films with a controlled solubility rate, new films that can be gamma- or electron-beam sterilized without degrading, downgauged film that retains its initial tensile strength, films that are not degraded by UV light, films that will tolerate high processing heat, films that are bio or photodegradable, and silica-coated films that impart both barrier properties and clarity.
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