Topas COC Grows in Demand as COVID‑19 Drives Need for Inert Medical Packaging

Topas cyclic olefin co‑polymer (COC), a flagship engineering thermoplastic from Polyplastics USA of Farmington Hills, Michigan, has long served as a primary material for medical bottles, syringes and disposable diagnostic containers—markets traditionally dominated by borosilicate glass.

“With a range of new tests and therapies under development, many companies find it essential to use the purest, most inert materials,” said Timothy Kneale, president of TOPAS Americas. “Topas COC’s extremely low leachables and extractables, coupled with its non‑polar, low‑reactivity surface and broad regulatory compliance, make it the ideal choice for diagnostic disposables, vaccine packaging and emerging therapeutic agents.”

Although specific programs are protected by non‑disclosure agreements, COC is already employed in COVID‑19 testing workflows, and further development is underway for its application in next‑generation therapies.

When asked whether COC could help ease the current shortage of borosilicate glass used for vaccine vials, Kneale acknowledged that while inexpensive glass remains valuable, newer biologics and biotech drugs increasingly show incompatibility with glass. “This challenge is becoming more pronounced as the industry shifts toward complex biologics,” he added.

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