Junkosha introduced a new catheter liner category, Wrapped Liner, at MD&M Midwest in Minneapolis, describing it as an alternative platform for liner construction that combines high tensile strength, thin walls and flexibility. The company said the category draws on decades of work in fluoropolymer materials and applies its proprietary PTFE tape engineering and wrapping technology.
Wrapping film rather than extruding a tube
In the process Junkosha describes, PTFE film is wrapped around a mandrel to form the liner wall, rather than a complete tube being extruded. Engineering the properties of the tape lets the company target a thin, uniform wall thickness with high strength — a combination it says gives catheter designers and manufacturers freedom to select finer braid or coil wire, or to reallocate space elsewhere in the catheter construction.
Strength and thin walls together
Steve Maxson, founder of Maxson InSight Services, said catheter engineers often say profile is king, but low-profile design is about more than reducing wall thickness: the catheter still has to resist kinking and ovalization while keeping the flexibility its application needs. He noted that extruded and film-cast liners are already available in very thin walls, so the greater opportunity lies in how thin-wall construction and strength work together to change how engineers approach catheter design.
Junkosha makes a related argument, calling the balance of thin, strong and more uniform properties the linchpin of new catheter development, partly because that balance may allow greater flexibility in how reinforcement is configured.
Positioned for small-format OEMs
Kevin LaDow, chief sales officer of Junkosha USA Inc., described current liners as either dip-coated PTFE built up on a mandrel or extruded PTFE supplied as tubing cut to length. Heading into 2027, he said, there is a need for a liner category that is not only manufactured differently but brings distinct benefits to small-format catheter OEMs.
Junkosha presents Wrapped Liner as a scalable platform intended to support a growing portfolio of solutions for evolving catheter requirements, extending design possibilities for next-generation devices meant to improve flexibility and broaden the range of anatomies that can be accessed and treated. The announcement did not include wall-thickness figures or commercial availability dates.