11.13.13
Nutek Corp., a research and development innovation center and high-volume contract sterilizer for the medical device, pharmaceutical and other industries, has developed a new system called SmartDose for sterilizing sensitive materials and complex products using electron beam (E-beam).
SmartDose was developed in response to "some of the fastest growing but most under-served segments in the healthcare industry," according to company officials. The system provides options and efficiencies for sterilization that have never been accomplished before, such as providing different doses to different places on the same product at the same time while controlling temperatures throughout the entire process, officials said.
SmartDose works well for complex combination products, as well as traditionally challenging materials that are irradiation and heat sensitive, according to the company.
SmartDose increases sterilization success by up to 67 percent by reducing costly product re-designs, providing significant project time savings, and decreasing production waste by up to 40 percent, which helps manufacturers get products to market quicker and more cost effectively.
“Traditional methods of sterilization focus on high-volume throughput, freezers, and packaging configurations—at this point, almost all of the contract sterilizers in the U.S. do these pretty well," said Larry Nichols, chief operating officer of Hayward, Calif.-based Nutek. “SmartDose leaps several steps beyond what has ever been done before by utilizing an actual design specific to the products and materials, from drug-filled stents to Teflon-coated devices. We even have a customer in Europe that couldn’t get their product sterilized with any of the modalities, including E-beam, ethylene oxide and gamma, until SmartDose.”
Nutek officials claim that SmartDose is the only system in the industry to provide controls for simultaneous variable dose distribution, simultaneous dual-beam redundancy, uninterrupted temperature controls, and intelligent tooling. Applications eligible for SmartDose include allograft tissue, biomaterials, advanced polymers, drugs/biologics, hydrogels, teflon, implantables, bioabsorbables, bioresorbables, and combination devices.
Nutek was founded in 1990.
SmartDose was developed in response to "some of the fastest growing but most under-served segments in the healthcare industry," according to company officials. The system provides options and efficiencies for sterilization that have never been accomplished before, such as providing different doses to different places on the same product at the same time while controlling temperatures throughout the entire process, officials said.
SmartDose works well for complex combination products, as well as traditionally challenging materials that are irradiation and heat sensitive, according to the company.
SmartDose increases sterilization success by up to 67 percent by reducing costly product re-designs, providing significant project time savings, and decreasing production waste by up to 40 percent, which helps manufacturers get products to market quicker and more cost effectively.
“Traditional methods of sterilization focus on high-volume throughput, freezers, and packaging configurations—at this point, almost all of the contract sterilizers in the U.S. do these pretty well," said Larry Nichols, chief operating officer of Hayward, Calif.-based Nutek. “SmartDose leaps several steps beyond what has ever been done before by utilizing an actual design specific to the products and materials, from drug-filled stents to Teflon-coated devices. We even have a customer in Europe that couldn’t get their product sterilized with any of the modalities, including E-beam, ethylene oxide and gamma, until SmartDose.”
Nutek officials claim that SmartDose is the only system in the industry to provide controls for simultaneous variable dose distribution, simultaneous dual-beam redundancy, uninterrupted temperature controls, and intelligent tooling. Applications eligible for SmartDose include allograft tissue, biomaterials, advanced polymers, drugs/biologics, hydrogels, teflon, implantables, bioabsorbables, bioresorbables, and combination devices.
Nutek was founded in 1990.