News

Kuraray Medical Inc. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Hideo Horii) and Asahi Kasei Medical Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Yasuyuki Yoshida) have concluded a basic agreement on the establishment of a joint venture company for the purpose of manufacturing hollow-fiber membranes for medical applications that employ ethylene vinyl alcohol polymer (EVOH) resin that is manufactured and sold by Kuraray under the EVAL brand name.

1. Overview of New Company

2. Background and Aims

Both Kuraray Medical Inc. and Asahi Kasei Medical Co., Ltd. deem it essential to undertake joint capitalization of a manufacturing facility to ensure the stable supply of dialysis- and plasmapheresis-related products.

• (1) Kuraray Medical Inc. had been investigating sites to relocate the EVOH hollow-fiber membrane manufacturing facility that is currently within Kuraray's Kurashiki Plant as part of reorganization plans when Asahi Kasei Medical approached Kuraray Medical with their EVOH product lineup concept. Consequently a site in an area close to Asahi Kasei Medical's Nobeoka artificial kidney assembly plant (Oita Prefecture) was considered to be the most preferable.
• (2) By having products in its lineup that use EVOH hollow-fiber membranes (for their superior biocompatibility and extremely gentle dialysis treatment, particularly for those people with early symptoms and the elderly) and making full use of the supplementary effects of polysulfone hollow-fiber membranes (the global standard for high-performance membranes, particularly in its supreme ability to remove low-molecular weight proteins), Asahi Kasei Medical is bringing about a move toward the most appropriate courses of treatment at all dialysis facilities.

This agreement between the two companies was brought about by the opportune timing of Kuraray Medical's search for a new EVOH manufacturing site as part of its reorganization of the Kurashiki Plant and Asahi Kasei Medical's plan to increase production at Nobeoka.

Company Outlines

Glossary

*1 Hollow-fiber membranes employing EVOH resin (Brand name: EVAL)

A special feature of hollow-fiber membranes is the use of EVOH resin, which Kuraray was the first in the world to commercialize. EVAL, the brand name under which Kuraray markets such EVOH resin, is highly rated for its excellent biocompatibility, active oxygen-producing characteristics and for suppressing inflammatory response.

*2 Polysulfone hollow-fiber membranes

Hollow-fiber membranes that use polysulfone resin. These demonstrate high performance in removing low-molecular weight proteins such as B2-MG and have excellent biocompatibility and antithrombotic qualities.

*3 Dialysis (dialysis treatment)

In dialysis treatment, the patient's blood is drawn outside the body and brought into contact with dialysis fluid through hollow-fiber membranes (artificial kidneys) to dispose of the urea, creatinine, uric acid and other waste substances normally released in urine, the cleansed blood then being circulated back into the body. The artificial kidney (dialyzer) is the semipermeable membrane incorporated into the container to bring the blood into contact with the dialysis fluid when carrying out this method. Types of cellulose (such as regenerated cellulose and cellulose triacetate) as well as synthetic polymers (polysulfone, EVOH, polyacrylonitrile, polymethylmetaacrylate and the like) are used as raw material.

*4 4Plasmapheretic treatment

The plasmapheretic treatment (therapy) method using plasmapheretic receptacles removes disease agents that are present in plasma through extracorporeal circulation by means of a therapy and treatment system that applies plasmapheresis to patients with chronic liver ailments, collagen disease and the like who have only received treatments such as medication for their conditions. Among the materials used for the plasmapheretic receptacles are synthetic polymer hollow-fiber membranes (polysulfone, EVOH, polyacrylonitrile, polyethylene, etc.), absorbent materials and nonwoven fabrics.

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