Chemours products play a critical role in our daily lives, the global economy, and in shaping a more sustainable future. Among the many essential applications that our chemistry enables, those involved in making healthcare more effective provide some of the greatest societal benefits.
Fluoropolymers for Medical Uses
Application: Medical guidewire coatings and delivery catheter liners
Why It’s Essential: The guidewires used to place medical devices in the body must navigate through extremely narrow blood vessels. Fluoropolymer coatings are used to keep the guidewire inert to the body while providing extremely high lubricity that enables navigation to the correct location. Catheters are another delivery device that function as a “tunnel” from the exterior of the body to the interior to place a device or tool. The interior of these catheters is composed of Teflon™ PTFE, which offers the highest lubricity of any polymer in air, water, or blood and is crucial to pushing devices through narrow passageways toward the heart.
Benefits:
- Makes many minimally invasive surgeries possible, particularly cardiovascular procedures for angioplasty or placing pacemakers, stents, or heart valves
- Shorter hospitalization and faster recoveries for patients
- Less physical trauma and pain
- Lower costs of surgery and hospitalization
- Lower risk of infection
Application: Pressurized metered dose inhaler coatings
Why It’s Essential: Pressurized metered dose inhalers enable the delivery of drugs directly to the lungs and can be used by virtually all patients.
Benefits:
- Improves the stability of the drug by inhibiting the drug substance from interacting with the canister walls
- Enables better dosage consistency and maximizes the number of doses available by eliminating adhesion to the canister wall
Thermal solutions, such as Opteon™ refrigerants
Application: Drug storage and distribution
Why It’s Essential: Our refrigerants are critical to the manufacturing of many drugs and vaccines. Opteon™ refrigerants enable the low temperatures required for the distribution and storage of many medications, including vaccines.
Benefits:
- Enables widespread distribution of vaccines and other drugs
- Prolongs drug shelf life
Learn more in our latest Sustainability Report.