Yulex® natural rubber
Used for heart catheters, surgical gloves, medical adhesives, and other specialty products such as condoms, Yulex® natural rubber serves as an alternative to tropical or Hevea-based latex. Unlike Hevea-based latex, Yulex® natural rubber is safer for people with Type I latex allergy. Yulex® natural rubber production has much less negative impact on the environment than petroleum-based, synthetic latex.
FDA Clears Glove Made From New Type of Latex
"This approval has the potential to make a significant difference to both the general public and the medical community at large,” said Daniel Schultz, M.D., director of FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. “Gloves made from guayule latex may prove to be a safer alternative for some people with sensitivity to traditional latex. And yet they will not sacrifice the desirable properties of traditional latex such as flexibility and strength."
Derived from the U.S. desert plant guayule, Yulex® natural rubber meets and exceeds the critical performance standards required by medical manufacturers. In fact, it is the only material that meets the new ASTM D1076-06 Category 4, requiring no detectable Hevea antigenic protein and less than 200 micrograms total protein in the raw material, about 1% of the protein in Hevea latex.
A new circumallergenic and high performance latex, Yulex® natural rubber provides a new level of materials safety for medical product manufacturers and their customers.
Properties
The durability, tensile strength, elasticity, comfort and barrier protection qualities of Yulex® natural rubber are far superior to those of petroleum-derived, synthetic latex products or tropical Hevea natural rubber latex materials modified or treated in attempts to reduce proteins to make them less allergenic. Yulex® natural rubber has the same chemical structure as other natural rubber latex material, but without the proteins that cause latex allergy.
Yulex condoms and gloves provide effective barriers to human viruses and have been stored for years without deterioration of their barrier capabilities.
Yulex films show slightly higher tensile strength than tropical natural latex films or nitrile synthetic latex films and considerably higher strength than enzymatically deproteinized tropical latex.
Yulex natural rubber is of high molecular weight, comparable to tropical latex.
Yulex natural rubber gloves and condoms have a form-fit-feel unmatched by any other natural or synthetic rubber or elastomeric product currently available.
Yulex® natural rubber films stretch more and are softer than other elastomeric films at comparable strength.
Yulex natural rubber is the right choice for medical device manufacturers seeking to supply product to hospitals that have declared themselves “latex safe’” or “latex-free” in order to create a safer environment for Type I latex allergic and latex sensitized staff and patients. “Latex safe” hospitals include Johns Hopkins Hospital and Shriner’s Hospital.
