Absorbable Surgical Suture Compound (PLA/PCL)

About This Product

This grade is a high-purity medical compound of polylactic acid and polycaprolactone, supplied as a pellet compound for absorbable suture manufacture. Both are aliphatic polyesters that resorb by hydrolysis of the ester backbone, PLA the rigid, faster-hydrolysing component and polycaprolactone the low-melting, flexible, slower one. An absorbable suture holds a wound closed while it heals and is then resorbed, removing the need for a second procedure. The polymer's absorption profile is a clinical parameter: it governs how long tensile strength is retained in the body, because the ester bonds hydrolyse progressively, molecular weight falls, and the filament loses load-bearing capacity well before the last of the mass has gone. PLA/PCL allows that profile to be tuned through the ratio of the two components, and purity bears on it too, since residual monomer and moisture accelerate chain scission. This is supplied as a high-purity raw material only. Manufacturing a medical device from this compound requires the manufacturer's own regulatory approvals, including an appropriate quality system such as ISO 13485 and the clinical and biocompatibility evidence required in the target market. We supply the material; we do not supply medical devices and make no clinical claim. It is used in absorbable surgical sutures, medical device manufacture and resorbable implants. Bio Green Chem supplies the medical grade PLA/PCL compound to specification on polymer ratio, molecular weight, residual monomer and pellet form.