Junkosha has introduced a new catheter liner category, called Wrapped Liner, at MD&M Midwest in Minneapolis. The company said the category is based on its fluoropolymer and PTFE tape expertise and represents a different approach to liner construction for catheter designers and manufacturers.
Junkosha said the category draws on decades of experience in fluoropolymer technologies and applies its proprietary PTFE tape engineering and wrapping technology. The company is presenting it as an alternative platform for catheter liners.
Instead of extruding a complete tube, the Wrapped Liner process wraps PTFE film around a mandrel to build the liner wall. Junkosha said it engineers the properties of the PTFE tape to create a liner platform intended to achieve a thin, uniform wall thickness with high strength. The company also claims the construction combines high tensile strength, thin walls and flexibility.
Design implications
According to Junkosha, the combination could give catheter designers more freedom to choose finer braid or coil wire, or to use space elsewhere in the catheter construction. The company describes the balance of thinness, strength and uniformity as central to catheter development because it may allow greater flexibility in how reinforcement is configured.
Steve Maxson, founder of Maxson InSight Services, said in the announcement that low-profile catheter design involves more than reducing wall thickness. He noted that catheters still need to resist kinking and ovalization while retaining the flexibility required by their applications. Maxson added that with extruded and film-cast liners already available in very thin walls, the opportunity lies in how thin-wall construction and strength work together to change engineers' approach to catheter design.
Junkosha is positioning Wrapped Liner as a scalable platform rather than a single product. The company said the category is intended to support a growing portfolio of solutions for evolving catheter requirements.
Market context
Kevin LaDow, chief sales officer of Junkosha USA Inc., said current catheter liners are typically either dip-coated PTFE built up on a mandrel or extruded PTFE supplied as cut-to-length tubing. He said that heading into 2027 there is a need for a liner category that is manufactured differently and offers distinct benefits for small-format catheter OEMs.
The company said its approach is meant to extend catheter design possibilities and support next-generation devices intended to enhance flexibility and broaden the range of anatomies that may be accessed and treated. Those are company claims. Junkosha did not specify commercial availability, pricing or regulatory status, and the announcement did not include independent test data or clinical evidence.