Foster Appointed Distributor of Repsol Polyolefins Portfolio for Healthcare Markets

Foster Corporation, a leader in polymer solutions for healthcare markets, has been appointed distributor of Repsol’s healthcare polyolefins portfolio: polypropylene, polyethylene and ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymers for the North American healthcare markets effective Jan. 1, 2018. Repsol Healthcare medical grade polyolefins are used in a wide range of healthcare applications from syringe barrels to medical bags.
 
Repsol offers 27 grades of polyolefins specifically for healthcare applications. These include polypropylene homopolymers and copolymers, low density and high density polyethylene (i.e., LDPE, HDPE), and EVA copolymers with vinyl acetate content ranging from 7.5 percent to 28 percent. These medical-grade polymers meet USP Class VI and ISO 10993 requirements.
 
“Polyolefins are used in more medical devices and packaging than any other thermoplastic. Today, these economical polymers are being evaluated for a wider range of applications than ever before,” said Larry Johnson, executive vice president of Foster Corporation. “To support medical device development from prototype through production, we offer Repsol polypropylene, polyethylene and EVA copolymer medical grades in 25 kg (55 lb) through truckload quantities.”
 
Repsol is one of the world’s leading publicly-traded oil and gas companies. The company has business activity across the entire value chain, including hydrocarbon exploration and production, refining, transport, chemicals, service stations and the development of new energy solutions. Repsol manufactures and markets a wide variety of chemical products, ranging from basic petrochemicals to derivatives. In addition, the company has three large petrochemical facilities in Europe where high added-value differentiated products are developed.
 
For more than 25 years Foster Corporation has been serving medical device manufacturers with technology and service in custom biomedical polymer compounding. Within two ISO 13485:2003- and ISO 9001:2008-certified facilities, Foster offers formulation development and production of polymer enhancements including radiopaque fillers, custom colors, and other specialty additives. The company is based in Putnam, Conn.