World Health Day. The Science You Never See.
Current and future healthcare is often shaped by what patients never see. It lives in the materials working quietly behind the scenes: the fiber used within minimally invasive medical devices, the polymer lining an intravenous (IV) bag, or the barrier layer protecting a medication from degradation on a pharmacy shelf. When these materials perform as intended, they can simply go unnoticed.
World Health Day 2026 calls on people everywhere to come “Together for health. Stand with science.” This year’s campaign celebrates the power of scientific collaboration to protect the health of people, animals, plants, and the planet. It asks us to engage with evidence, rebuild trust in science, and support science-led solutions for a healthier future.
│ At Kuraray America, Inc., standing with science is more than just an aspiration; it’s a daily commitment.
For a century, Kuraray has transformed polymer science research into advanced materials that support healthcare professionals and patients worldwide. These materials rarely carry the company’s name on the final product. Instead, they work silently inside medical devices, within pharmaceutical packaging, and beneath the surfaces of products patients rely on every day without ever noticing them. That invisibility is intentional. It’s a story worth sharing on a day dedicated to the science that safeguards us all.
SEPTON™ and HYBRAR™ in Safer Patient-Contact Applications
Science-led solutions do not always arrive as breakthroughs. Sometimes, they begin by replacing materials the world accepted for decades before new evidence called them into question.
For years, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) has been the standard material for IV bags, IV tubing, and ostomy bags in the United States. PVC performs well, but it requires plasticizers to deliver the flexibility these applications demand, and those plasticizers can migrate out over time. Because of this, in Europe and parts of Asia, PVC is restricted in certain medical applications.
As the global healthcare community continues to evaluate the evidence around medical materials, demand for safer alternatives continues to grow. Supporting science means acting on that evidence.
HYBRAR™ thermoplastic elastomer from Kuraray addresses these needs. A styrenic block copolymer with vinyl branching in its mid-block structure, HYBRAR™ provides the feel and flexibility clinicians expect from PVC without the risk of plasticizer migration. When blended with polypropylene, it also offers kink resistance, an important performance characteristic in flexible medical tubing.
SEPTON™ thermoplastic elastomers complement HYBRAR™ where ultra-soft, skin-like properties are required. The SEPTON™ 4000-series and J-series have contributed to orthopedic gels for prosthetic limb cushions and orthopedic bandages for approximately two decades, providing the natural feel and long-lasting stability these applications demand.
Selected grades meet the requirement of biocompatibility under United States Pharmacopeia (USP) Class VI and compliant with food contact regulations in the European Union (EU) and the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
All Kuraray Elastomer medical applications are designed for use outside the body.
Both products are
• PVC-free
• plasticizer-free
• recyclable (where appropriate recycling facilities exist)
• fully colorable
Manufacturing scrap can be reprocessed, reducing waste even in applications where the finished product is single-use.
EVAL™ EVOH resin and the Science of Barrier Protection
│ Trust in science is built on evidence. In pharmaceutical packaging, that evidence can be measured.
EVAL™ ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) resin copolymer offers oxygen barrier performance.
• four orders of magnitude better than polyolefins and
• over one order of magnitude better than nylon.
For oxygen-sensitive pharmaceuticals, this barrier is the difference between a medication that remains effective and one that has degraded on the shelf. Packaging with EVAL™ EVOH resin layer retains its physical properties after gamma and beta radiation sterilization, without discoloration, and maintains packaging integrity during sterilization processes common in the medical industry.
🌟 Versus PVC//PVdC(1) laminations, for multilayer blister packs, EVAL™ EVOH resin layer offers superior oxygen barrier to provide shelf life for more biocompatible medicine formulations,
🌟 Versus aluminum foil, for the packaging of liquids, EVAL™ EVOH resin offers the needed transparency and improved flex-crack resistance.
🌟 For intravenous solutions, either as a primary, retort-resistant PP(2)/EVAL™ EVOH/PP(2) bag or a secondary PE(3)/EVAL™ EVOH/PE(3) bag, EVAL™ EVOH resin prevents the oxidation of amino acids.
🌟 For dialysis solution, EVAL™ EVOH resin protects the product from atmosphere, external contaminants, and offers carbon dioxide and odor barrier for the used dialysate.
1: PVdC - polyvinylidene chloride 2: PP – polypropylene 3: PE – polyethylene
The application that best demonstrates what scientific collaboration can achieve in healthcare is the single-use bioreactor bag.
Bioreactors are vessels that provide biologically active environments, maintaining precise oxygen and CO2 levels so that living cultures can grow and produce therapeutic products. They can be several cubic meters in size.
Traditionally, these systems used stainless steel containers that needed thorough cleaning and sterilization between each batch. EVAL™ resin introduces single-use plastic bag liners where the EVOH resin layer makes up just 5 to 10 percent of the structure but offers the essential barrier function. Each bag is used once and then discarded, eliminating turnaround time and reducing the risk of cross-contamination between production runs.
In a field where sterility is critical, this simplicity carries real value.
This innovation did not happen in isolation. It required resin scientists, film converters, and biopharmaceutical manufacturers collaborating across disciplines to validate that a thin polymer layer could replace heavy stainless-steel infrastructure. That is the kind of science-driven partnership the World Health Day campaign asks us to celebrate.
EVAL™ EVOH resin also supports nutraceutical packaging for protein drinks and medical nutrition products frequently used for patients managing chronic illness or strict dietary restrictions.
These rigid high-density polyethylene (HDPE) containers with an EVAL™ EVOH resin barrier layer can be recycled, within compatible recycling streams, bridging the line between food safety and healthcare while supporting circularity.
VECTRAN™ and the Demands of Precision
│ Advanced healthcare depends on materials that perform with consistency under demanding conditions. That requires scientific collaboration: material scientists and engineers working together to translate evidence into material performance that can be trusted.
VECTRAN™ liquid crystal polymer (LCP) fiber delivers that kind of performance.
☑️ five times stronger than steel
☑️ ten times stronger than aluminum pound-for-pound
☑️ exhibits minimal elongation
☑️exceptional flex fatigue resistance
☑️strong dimensional stability
At diameters as small as 0.04 millimeters, it provides reinforcement while preserving space within highly engineered designs.
Our USA VECTRAN™ production facility complies with the ISO 13485 standard, aligning with quality management best practice for materials used in regulated medical devices.
Use of VECTRAN™ fiber in permanently implantable applications is not permitted.
SCAPOVA™: Advancing the Science Behind Regenerative Medicine
World Health Day is also a moment to recognize the science shaping the future of healthcare. In that spirit, Kuraray America recently announced the U.S. launch of SCAPOVA™, a series of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) microcarriers intended for research in regenerative medicine and cell therapy applications.
SCAPOVA™ is for research use only.
│ SCAPOVA™ is designed to enhance efficiency and scalability in adherent cell culture research. Acting as a microscopic scaffold for adherent cells, it supports efficient three-dimensional cell growth in bioreactor environments with resistance to continuous agitation. Its design support cell proliferation and easy handling, helping researchers scale from laboratory studies to process development while maintaining consistent performance.
The series includes two variants:
• SCAPOVA™ CL -- Coated with Porcine Type I collagen, providing a biologically relevant surface to support efficient attachment and proliferation of adherent cell types, including human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs), fibroblasts, and other therapeutic cell types used in research.
• SCAPOVA™ AS -- An Animal Origin Free (AOF) option for xeno-free and serum-free culture research. It supports cell types that may not thrive on collagen-coated carriers, such as human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPS cells). Users can customize the surface with preferred extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins or peptides to optimize adhesion of specific cell types for their research needs.
A Century of Standing with Science
The healthcare challenges ahead will demand materials that do not yet exist.
Solving these challenges will require the same thing it always has: scientists, engineers, and clinicians working across disciplines to turn evidence into materials the world can trust.
As Kuraray marks its centennial in 2026, Kuraray America, Inc. is proud to help carry that legacy forward, advancing materials that support safer, more effective, and more accessible healthcare. That work continues every day, often behind the scenes, but never without impact.
What new possibilities will emerge when we stand with the science, working quietly to keep us safe?
Contributors: David Hagen Erich K. @Patrick Coffey @Machi Muto Edgard Chow