Saint-Gobain Completes Purchase of American Fluoroseal Corp.

Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics has completed the acquisition of American Fluoroseal Corporation (AFC), a manufacturer of fluoropolymer bags for medical use and sterile sampling systems for pharmaceutical manufacturing processes. The company’s engineering, manufacturing, and headquarters are all located in a single Gaithersburg, Md. facility.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

AFC’s scientific beginning came about because of a need for chemically inert containers for immune system blood cells by cancer researchers at the National Institutes of Health. AFC invented and patented a proprietary laser sealing, contact-free, manufacturing process for joining fluorocarbon plastic films together to make this bag type possible. The process was specifically engineered and designed through use of a computer-controlled laser sealing technique. The company’s products include Vuelife culture bags; KryoSure cryopreservation bags; and KryoVue cryopreservation overwrap pouches.

“This acquisition of American Fluoroseal Corporation is complementary to the Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics film production and single use systems for biopharmaceutical manufacturing,” said Michael Cahill, vice president of Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics’ Fluid Systems division into which the AFC business will be integrated. “AFC now expands our product offering into the area of vessels or bags which are used in very specific cell culture applications. Thanks to Saint-Gobain’s global reach, combining the companies will allow us to partner with our global customers wherever they operate.”

Saint-Gobain has its North American headquarters in Valley Forge, Pa. The company provides silicone, thermoplastic elastomer and fluoropolymer extrusion; silicone and two-shot silicone-thermoplastic molding; rapid prototyping, tooling design and build; and custom material development.