Medical technology opportunity focuses on Asia

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The market for medical technology innovations is healthily supported by Asia’s demand for quality and affordable medical products and services, against the backdrop of an expanding middle class, and for some, the beginnings of a greying population, longer life expectancy and rising affluence.

Opportunity on the floor: Medical Manufacturing

The medical technology (medtech) market is important for Asia Pacific, the home base to 51% of the world’s population. Access to the newest advances in this sector will help the region to avail of the quality healthcare and medical products and services it needs.

Returning for its third edition, the biennial Medical Manufacturing Asia (MMA) 2016, IS Co-located with Medical Fair Asia (MFA) 2016 – a leading medical and healthcare exhibition in Southeast Asia with a focus on the equipment and supplies for the hospital, diagnostic, pharmaceutical, medical and rehabilitation sectors

Its upcoming run will be held from 31 August to 2 September at the The Sands Expo & Convention Centre (Marina Bay Sands, Singapore). Jointly organised by Singapore Precision Engineering and Technology Association (SPETA) and Messe Düsseldorf Asia, the trade event is modelled after the No. 1 global trade fair in the medtech sector, COMPAMED.

It will showcase an expansive range of products covering the upstream and downstream processes in medtech sectors, including new materials, components, intermediate products, packaging and services, to micro and nanotechnology, testing systems and services, as well as materials, substance and components for medical technology, presented by over 200 established exhibitors from across the world.

As well, specialised organisations like Germany-based IVAM Microtechnology Network, will be in the house to represent and promote its groups’ endeavours and support company members.

IVAM is an international association of companies and institutes in the field of microtechnology, nano-technology, advanced materials and optics and photonics.

According to Dr Thomas Roland Dietrich, Chief Executive Officer of IVAM, “Within ASEAN there are numerous opportunity gaps to be filled in meeting the healthcare needs of its increasing population. Government-led investment programmes are channels to tap on for ASEAN nations to match up to European standards.” Thomas also commented that, “the global move towards mobile diagnostics is important for ASEAN countries too, as it means heightened market potential for local and foreign MedTech companies looking to venture into the region.”

The exhibition’s multifaceted line-up, tailored for the industry, will also feature a complimentary pre-event business matching service that would make face-to-face connections with some 7,000 industry specialists expected at the exhibition more targeted, as well as a concurrently held MEDTech Business Forum.

Co-organised by Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech) and Messe Düsseldorf Asia, this forum will review trends in the Asian, European and American medtech markets; examine how future needs can be addressed; and cover the pivotal roles that industry associations play in addressing the changing landscape.

Asian manufacturers to present technologies

Meanwhile, medical technology manufacturers from Asia, the US, Europe and other countries will be showcasing at MMA what they can offer to the Asian markets.

Singapore-headquartered Nanofilm Technologies has focused on high quality vacuum coating applications since its establishment in 1999. It uses patented FCVA (Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc) technology as its core competitive application. Nanoflim has applied the technology in vacuum coating equipment manufacturing and vacuum coating services, as well as gathered a team of experts and experienced professionals. With world leading R&D, design and manufacturing capabilities, Nanofilm says it has been putting great effort to explore many industrial applications with customised and specific coating system design and fabrication, and unique coating process development.

Taipei-based Miyo Technology, a flexible heater design and manufacturing specialist, has a product range that covers both medical technology and healthcare devices that need reliable heating components.

At the show, Miyo says that it will be offering its Polyester Heater, a commercial low cost heater, capable for 90°C temperature and power density up to 2W/sq cm. It has etched and ink printed element; Polyimide (Kapton) Heater, which is a general purpose heater with low out-gassing capable of 150°C maximum temperature and power density up to 5W/sq cm.

Naniwa Rubber, a provider of rubber and plastic products for medical applications, will be exhibiting its international standards-compliant products that include rubber closures and plastic tubes for medical devices “We have closures for all types of medications, including parental solutions, small volume injections, blood collection tubes, and others. We also manufacture other products like baby bottle nipples and water pillows, to cite but a few. In addition, we also provide plastic products, such as PVC blood tubing and plastic tubes for medical devices and chemicals,” Naniwa Rubber says.

Totex International from Hong Kong will display its customised Li-ion battery pack and customised Li-ion charging bay, both for medical applications. “The specifications of our featured product are Li-ion, Ni-MH or Ni-Cd battery chemistry. Our battery packs fulfill Reach, WEEE, RoHS, Class 9 Dangerous Goods packaging, UN38.3, IEC62133, ISO13485; Optional Certification of UL2054, CUL60950, IEC62133, CE EN55022, KC mark, TiSi, PSE, BSMI standard, and Optional Requirement of IP54, 56, 67 or other waterproof grades.”

Totex International has been designing and manufacturing battery packs and chargers for medical, military, industrial and e-transportation applications for 31 years now. Explaining its edge: “Knowledge on cell performance and fieldapplication behaviour has been valuable to caution our clients of potential pitfall in areas of M&E performance and compliance issues. Our power solution comes with the basic feature of protection or advanced options with dynamic power management, passive and active cell balancing, communication protocol conversion firmware and counterfeit protection.”

A manufacturer of helix-reinforced, smooth interior medical hoses and assemblies, HI-Tech Medical will be featuring its custom engineered hose and tubing. The ISO-certified products guarantee custom engineering and global manufacturing presence, HI-Tech Medical says. The company’s products are commonly found in CPAP, respiratory, laser smoke evacuation, therapeutic equipment, PAPR, ventilation, and a variety of other medical applications.

Innovations from European and US firms

Switzerland-headquartered Micro Systems Technologies (MST) will be promoting medical microelectronics (including design services, substrate manufacturing, semiconductor packaging, board assembly and test services) for Class II and III devices. Other products are batteries and battery packs for active implants; and Hermetic feed-throughs for implantable medical devices. In addition, the company furthers that its comprehensive offerings are targeted to applications requiring exceptional performance and the highest level of reliability, especially implants. Its four synchronised operating entities, located in Germany, the US, and Switzerland, allow MST to be active worldwide and maintain global business relationships.

Featuring automation solutions at the show is Switzerland-headquartered Mikron Automation, a world leader in automation solutions for the pharmaceutical and medical device industry. With 40 years of expertise, the company has already undertaken 3,000 installations for applications such as inhalers, pen injectors, auto injectors, syringes, check valves pumps and diagnostic kits. Basic machines are clean room ISO 7 compatible. It adds that a dedicated team with vast pharmaceutical expertise offers full medical qualification support in accordance with FDA, GMP and GAMP 5: from design to delivery.

UK-headquartered firm Vascutek will be showcasing OEM supply of implantable medical textiles and ePTFE products. “Our featured products include OEM woven implantable medical textiles, OEM knitted implantable medical textiles, and OEM implantable expanded PTFE tubing.” The company, whose principle it says is simple (“whatever our customer wants, we will do our best to provide”), offers a portfolio of innovative products and design solutions to address the needs of its OEM clients. ”We design and develop textile and ePTFE products that address the fundamental needs of our worldwide OEM customer base and we work in close cooperation with our OEM partners to ensure our products meets their exact specifications,” it expounds.

Germany-based Bruker Optik, an analytical instrumentation company and manufacturer of Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), Near Infrared and Raman spectrometers, is featuring its range of technical solutions for various markets, covering a broad range of applications in all fields of R&D as well as industrial production processes for the purpose of ensuring quality and process reliability.

Among its offerings is the fully automated stand-alone FTIR microscope known as Lumos that is designed to combine best performance for visible inspection and infrared spectral analysis with highest user comfort. Lumos comes with intuitive software to guide the operator step-bystep through the process of data acquisition. At each step, the user interface provides functions appropriate to proceed. Due to its motorised ATR crystal all IR measurements, even those in ATR mode, are performed fully automated with the Lumos.

From Italy, P3 SRL will present its P3ductal, which it says is the “cleanest air duct in the world”. The P3ductal system is made of preinsulated aluminium panels, accessories and tools for the manufacturing and installation of pre-insulated aluminium ducts. Thanks to the seven different product solutions available, P3 explains that the duct system can be used in any application, as shown by the more than 60 million of P3ductal ducts installed in more than 100 countries in the world. “P3ductal is the first LEED-friendly system foamed with water. It is also a self-cleaning and antimicrobial solution for air ducts,” the company says. Another offering to check out is the P3ductal Careplus energysaving system that is said to be hygienic and environmental-friendly.

US-based supplier of stock components to the medical industry QOSINA will also be exhibiting at MMA. The company says it has a huge selection offering free samples, low minimums and Just-In-Time delivery. Its product offerings have grown to over 6,000 SKUs in its latest catalogue featuring full-scale illustrations.

The ISO9001 and 14001-certified company says that purchasing from them can save customers time and money by eliminating tooling costs and providing immediate delivery of in-stock solutions based on specific needs of their projects. On top of that, the firm offers to modify any existing component to meet customers’ needs or build new tooling to meet their exact requirements.

(PRA)