By Frank Esposito
SENIOR STAFF REPORTER
Published: October 23, 2013 7:13 am ET
Updated: October 23, 2013 7:19 am ET
DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY — Topas Advanced Polymers GmbH has commercialized a new grade of cyclic olefin copolymer resin for the film market, and has another grade being used in a new medical device.
The new film extrusion grade has “robust processing behavior” and offers mid-range heat stability, marketing representative Michael Grimm said in an interview at K 2013.
The material is being used in shrink and hot-fill films, where it can offer faster cycle times and other improvements.
The new medical application for Topas is a plunger in the Omnipod-brand wireless insulin pump made by Insulet Corp. The increasing number of diabetes patients is leading the market for such devices to grow, according to Grimm. He described the new application as “a new development in the direction of applying insulin on a continuous basis.” The material offers low moisture properties and dimensional stability for the pumps, which are already in production.
Topas is based in Frankfurt and operates a plant with almost 70 million pounds of annual capacity in Oberhausen, Germany. The firm was established in 2006 and is a joint venture between Japanese firms Daicel Chemical Industries Ltd. and Polyplastics Co. Ltd. The firm also operates a North American sales office in Florence, Ky. | 
