DuPont is planning to expand its operations in Indian healthcare space with its Tyvek packaging business. Tyvek is a kind of non-woven fabric which has been used as a premium medical material. It delivers an optimum balance of bacteria penetration resistance, tear strength, puncture resistance and clean peel besides compatibility with existing and emerging sterilization methods.

Tyvek is ideal for packaging of heavy sharp and bulky devices including implants, syringes or rounded edge devices. Since it is superior to paper, Tyvek is high puncture resistant for Form-Fill seal applications. It is also used to pack sterile products from medical gowns, catheters to ophthalmic lenses.

"There is an increasing awareness for high quality sterile barrier material and packaging systems in healthcare which should result in multifold growth for DuPont Tyvek packaging material. Since its launch in 1995 in India, Tyvek has been achieving exponential growth," Coy Li, senior technical specialist, DuPont, Research & Development and Management Centre, China told Pharmabiz.

The healthcare industry in India is getting quality consciousness and the focus is to adhere to infection control practices, said Li who was in India in connection with the international healthcare expo Healthex 2010, Bangalore between July 16 and 17, 2010.

DuPont's two products for the healthcare space are Tyvek and DuPont Softesse. Since the latter is used as a microbial barrier, it has an ISO EN 11607:2006 global medical packaging standard. The products are recognized by the US where ISO EN 11607:2006 has been adopted as American National Standard. It also adheres to standards of FDA Centres for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH). In Europe, the standard has also been approved as European Norms.

The company has been getting its orders from both the Indian corporate and government hospitals. As an industry standard for more than 30 years, Tyvek is used in virtually every form of sterile medical packaging.

The key features of the product which has helped its sales to soar include the excellent bacterial protection and superior tear strength. It is known for its low-linting, resulting in the reduced risk of device contamination.

DuPont Medical Packaging has compiled documentation to demonstrate the compliance of Tyvek with the materials portion of the ISO 11607-1:2006 standard. Tyvek helps provide the highest performance available for medical devices and the team at DuPont Medical Packaging wants to provide information required to comply with the ISO 11607-1: 2006 standard. In this regard, it plans to have an awareness programme for medical device manufacturers and hospitals in India

The latest international standards have to be adopted in India for medical packaging as well as awareness levels to be increased with the medical fraternity. The company faces generic competition in medical packaging from paper companies, however DuPont Tyvek offers far superior sterile barrier and durability to the packaging solutions, said Li.