Solvay KetaSpire PEEK resins play key roll in vaccine production
Alpharetta, GA – Solvay’s medical-grade KetaSpire® polyetheretherketone (PEEK) resins were selected by Malema Sensors® to produce its SumoFlo® single-use Coriolis flow meters, which are critical for vaccine production.
After evaluating multiple competitive PEEK grades, Malema chose Solvay’s high-performance resins due to their exceptional physical properties, including a very high Young’s modulus, which helps ensure sensor accuracy and plastic integrity under constant exposure to oscillation. Solvay KetaSpire resin grades meet USP Class VI requirements, withstand gamma sterilization and ensure extremely low leachables and extractables for high cleanliness.
The gamma-sterilizable flow meters have enabled biopharmaceutical companies to accelerate mass production of COVID-19 vaccines. As the world’s only maker of Coriolis flowmeters with an all-plastic wetted path, Malema Sensors® supplied leading manufacturers with process skids used in the U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed.
“The transition from stainless-steel bioprocessing infrastructure to single-use components underscores the growing importance of high-performance thermoplastics to the healthcare industry,” said Anna Maria Bertasa, healthcare global marketing manager for Solvay Specialty Polymers. “Our KetaSpire® PEEK products meet the stringent requirements of Malema’s Coriolis flow meters, helping the company to stand out from competitors, and support industry initiatives such as the rapid scale-up of vaccine manufacturing”.
Malema Sensors® specifies and provides its molders and extruders with KetaSpire® PEEK resins to produce the wetted path components of the SumoFlo® Coriolis flow meter, which is the first and only PEEK single-use flow meter for the life sciences industry. It is also by far the most accurate and repeatable flow meter for single use applications, providing a huge boost to critical biopharma processes such as tangential flow filtration, depth filtration and chromatography. “The single-use paradigm revolutionized pharmaceutical production by avoiding contamination and boosting throughput and capacity, as demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dan Malani, chairman of the board of Malema Sensors. “Our single-use Coriolis flow meters, which measure mass and volumetric flow, temperature and density, are known for their high levels of accuracy. A key reason for this is our use of Solvay materials. Solvay has collaborated with us from day one of our four-year initiative to develop the industry’s only all-PEEK Coriolis flow meter.”