Safety Syringes Improve Performance, Efficiency

To manufacture its UltraSafe Passive Needle Guards, Safety Syringes Inc. needed to find a material that was not only robust and transparent, but also offered improved flow, lubricity, and easy release characteristics.
Bayer MaterialScience LLC met Safety Syringes’ requirements with Makrolon Rx1851 polycarbonate, a low-viscosity resin with an enhanced internal mold release technology that provides increased design flexibility for complicated parts.

“We chose Makrolon Rx1851 after materials testing, including functional testing and accelerated aging,” says Fred Field, vice president, Research and Product Development, Safety Syringes. “Bayer MaterialScience LLC offered expert support throughout the molding trials and provided answers to our technical questions during the functional validations.”

The product, a single-use, anti-needle-stick device for pre-filled injectable syringes, is composed of two telescoping plastic components and a spring.  The body component of the device is injection molded, using the Makrolon Rx1851 resin.

“Unlike other products on the market, the device does not push the needle guard forward into the user, but rather allows the syringe and needle to pull away from the patient and into the guard,” Field explains. “This is especially important when one considers that an injury from a medical needle is reported every 30 seconds in the United States, with potential dangers of infections, illness, and even death from accidental needlesticks.”

“The lubricity of Makrolon Rx1851 resin was a key attribute for this needle safety device, which requires a durable, dimensionally stable material,” says Kevin Dunay, consumer and medical market segment leader, Polycarbonates NAFTA, Bayer MaterialScience LLC. “Furthermore, the high-strength, transparent properties of the resin facilitate visualization of syringe markings, labels, and contents while, at the same time, helping to maximize protection.”

The medical grade resin is supplied in pellet form for injection-molded applications. It is available in clear tint as well as in other Rx Medical colors from Bayer MaterialScience LLC’s LEDA compounded color technology, all of which meet U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-Modified ISO 10993, Part 1, “Biological Evaluation of Medical Devices” tests, the widely accepted standard for biocompatibility.

Makrolon Rx1851 polycarbonate is the latest in a long line of material innovations from Bayer MaterialScience LLC. For almost 50 years, medical device OEMs and the healthcare market have relied on the proven materials and technical expertise of Bayer MaterialScience. It is a track record that began with the use of Makrolon polycarbonate in the first blood oxygenators and renal dialyzers in the 1960s.

Bayer MaterialScience LLC

Pittsburgh, PA
bayermaterialsciencenafta.com

Safety Syringes Inc.
Carlsbad, CA
safetysyringes.com