McCormick Scientific Takes Over Paraplast

Paraplast Embedding Media is the leading producer of medical-grade paraffin used around the world. The company's new owner, McCormick Scientific, is developing and manufacturing laboratory supplies and medical instruments used in diagnosing cancer. Many of the tests used to diagnose, identify, and differentiate various forms of cancer require tissue samples. After these are taken from a patient, the samples are usually frozen, placed in a small cassette, and embedded with special, medical-grade paraffin. Later, the processed tissue is cut into very thin ribbons for analysis. The majority of the paraffin used around the world for this task is produced by Paraplast.

"Paraplast, in other words, provides us with an entry point into labs all over the world,” explained Douglas L. Martin, CEO and president of McCormick Scientific. "We intend not only to grow this business but to use this channel to launch a new line of laboratory supplies and disposable medical products, including the cassettes that hold the tissue and the microtome blades used to cut it.”

Mr. Martin notes that today's biopsy specimens are smaller, often only 1-2 mm in size, and are collected using minimally invasive, image-guided techniques. "Our mission is to provide tools that improve lab efficiencies and increase the accuracy of diagnostics.”

Dr. James McCormick, for whom the new company is named, is known in the industry as the founder of many histo-technology tools and processes. He first conceived and invented many of the tissue embedding and processing techniques and histology equipment that transformed the industry in the 1960s.





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