Nerac Inc.

02/14/2023

Recycling has been popular for over 50 years, but there are still growing pains.

Mechanical recycling of plastic has been the primary approach, yet it remains to have serious issues. Recycling plastic using mechanical techniques (shredding, grinding, melting, etc.) is a challenge since

a) it degrades the properties of the polymer during processing and

b) improper sorting will affect the purity of the output.

Chemical recycling has been slow to catch on. Until now.

While hurdles remain at the federal level within the US on utilizing pyrolysis techniques for chemical recycling, as of 2022, 18 states have passed laws regarding this as a viable recycling technique.

Nerac's recent article – “What was Old is New Again: Chemical Recycling of Plastic Waste using Pyrolysis” - takes a closer look at the advancements in chemical recycling, patent activity and the supply chain impacts of this emerging technology. Read the article below.

Mechanical recycling of plastic has been the primary approach, and chemical recycling, though, has been slow to catch on. Until now.

01/31/2023

It has been two decades since scientists learned to mimic the ability of the gecko to adhere to any surface reversibly. The critical question is whether this biomimetic technology has found commercial application.

Nerac Analyst Rosemarie Szostak, Ph.D.’s article – “Get a Grip - Get a Gecko” - takes a closer look at gecko-inspired technologies and thier potential commercial applications. Click below to read the article.

Gecko-inspired technology may well revolutionize a spectrum of industries. Could yours be one of them? Will your competitors leave you in the dust?

It has been two decades since scientists learned to mimic the ability of the gecko to adhere to any surface reversibly. The critical question is whether this biomimetic technology has found commercial application. The Department of Defense has been the leader in developing gecko-inspired technology....

01/24/2023

When a manufacturer desires to make a change to a Class III device that has been approved via a Premarket Approval (PMA) or product development protocol (PDP) that affects the device’s safety and effectiveness (new indication for use, a change to the labeling, new manufacturing site, etc.) or a change to a Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE) that affects its safety and probable benefit, a supplement application is required. There are several situations where published literature can support these types of device submissions.

The first step to identifying reports that meet the requirements set forth by the FDA is to plan and execute a focused literature search and review process. Search terms and inclusion/exclusion criteria must be clearly defined with the objective of selecting literature that demonstrates safety, effectiveness, and/or probable benefit. Nerac can help.

Nerac Analyst Miriam Sharif-Murray's article – “The Use of Published Literature in FDA Medical Device Submissions" - explores examples in which the use of published reports is appropriate to support determinations of safety and effectiveness in supplement applications.

When one thinks of published literature used to support a device submission, the European Union, Medical Device Regulations (MDR), and Clinical Literature Evaluations come to mind.

03/09/2022

It is predicted that 85% of the world’s products could be available through Amazon.com in the future. For many manufacturers and suppliers, this shift in competitive landscape will mean embracing new ways of thinking and operating in order to survive, let alone thrive. How prepared are you? Regardless of your industry, if e-commerce and disruptive technologies in general aren’t on your radar, you might want to rethink that.

Nerac Analyst Rosemarie Szostak, Ph.D.’s article – “Business, Butterflies, and the ‘Amazon Effect’” - explores disruptive technologies and the implications for unprepared industries. Dr. Szostak also offers insights and guidance on how to navigate them with success. Click below to read the article.

Chaos theory proposes that a butterfly flapping its wings in South America can cause a tornado in Kansas. The “Amazon Effect” is when the digital marketplace grabs significant market share from brick-and-mortar stores. Like the butterfly, this ripples across the supply chain and can cause major ...

02/15/2022

The pandemic shook the world, and forced scientists to develop a vaccine rapidly, foregoing all normal protocol. Post-Market Surveillance of adverse events became a critical element of the ongoing development of vaccines.

Nerac Regulatory Analysts' article “Adverse Event Reporting: Pfizer, Inc. and Moderna, Inc.: Two-Dose Vaccine vs. the Johnson and Johnson Single-Dose Vaccine,” looks more closely at how the VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) tracks how professionals and the public are reacting to these vaccines. VAERS is a publicly accessible database that provides post-market complaint data and can contribute to an evaluation of a risk/benefit profile for the different vaccines. Access the article, which includes a sample of the literature review results, below.

Nerac Analysts regularly access similar public vigilance databases and analyze the resulting data to support Post-Market Surveillance and Clinical Evaluations of medical devices.

In response to a global pandemic, many pharmaceutical companies answered the call by developing a COVID-19 vaccine in a very short period compared to normal development cycles. There are currently vaccines from three manufacturers being used under Emergency Use Authorizations in the United States  ...

01/18/2022

How do you identify potentially Disruptive Technologies in your market space? In an adjacent market space? How can you identify threats to your essential product portfolio or the potential benefit of acquiring or licensing outside IP to mitigate the disruptions? Let’s explore the field of acoustic metamaterials and how Nerac analysts can help answer these questions.

Rosemarie Szostak, Ph.D.’s article – “Acoustic Metamaterials: Are they the wave of the future?” – explores how the information gleaned from a technology assessment can provide valuable insights that allow companies to better understand its potential, and make informed business decisions.

Nerac is ideally positioned to help companies identify new and potentially disruptive technologies, research technology trends, track competitor intellectual property, markets, strengths, weaknesses and opportunities and provide concise, value-added summaries of emerging, growing or shrinking market sectors.

Click below to read the article.

Merritt & Stubbs, Inc., a firm that provides microperforated panel absorbers (MPP) to the architectural, construction and automotive markets asked Nerac to explore the emerging technology field of acoustic metamaterials, as it may represent a threat to their basic product portfolio or the potential....

12/23/2021

12/14/2021

Meet Our Team!

People Powered Information That Drives Innovation.

Click here to read Rosemarie Szostak's full bio. https://www.nerac.com/meet-our-team/meet-our-analysts/rosemarie-szostak-ph-d/

11/30/2021

Clients trying to understand how their business is evolving can benefit from taking a step back to look at the current state of intellectual property. A patent landscape analysis helps Nerac clients quickly assess their position within a technology area in terms of their business objectives. The insights can help support critical decisions on new product introduction, go-to-market strategy and market positioning, structural cost adjustments, and more.

Click below to read more about how a Patent Landscape by Nerac can help.

Life is like a landscape. You live in the midst of it but can describe it only from the vantage point of distance. –Charles Lindbergh (first solo transatlantic flight) Clients trying to understand how their business is evolving can benefit from taking a step back to look at the current state of in...

11/16/2021

Meet Our Team!

People Powered Information That Drives Innovation.

Click here to read Richard Maldanis's full bio. https://www.nerac.com/meet-our-team/meet-our-analysts/richard-maldanis-ph-d/

11/02/2021

Running out of battery power in a cell phone is annoying. For some products – think oxygen tank or medical device - it can be life-threatening!

Technology has come a long way since the 1890s when Nikola Tesla first envisioned a wireless power transmission system. Twenty years ago, WiFi was first introduced to transmit voice and data wirelessly to consumers and the consumer market never looked back. Will recharging electronics wirelessly become as ubiquitous? A handful of start-up companies are working to do just that.

Disruptive technologies can be brutal to incremental technology development. New products are poised to come on-line so quickly that even newly released technologies may be as extinct as the dinosaur before they ever hit stride because of these disruptors. Nerac Analyst Rosemarie Szostak, Ph.D. takes a look at an example of such disruptive activity in her report “Untethering Electronics: Disruptive Power Technologies,” and summarizes the state of the art in through-air distance wireless power with a focus on near-term technology commercialization. Click below to read the report.

Running out of battery power in a cell phone is annoying. For a medical device, it can be life-threatening! Technology has come a long way since the 1890s when Nikola Tesla first envisioned a wireless power transmission system. Could he ever have imagined a world dominated by handheld electronic dev...