The market for medical device special paint has broad prospects

In recent years, the market for medical device special paints has been developing rapidly. According to foreign media reports, in 2009, the global market for medical device-specific paint sales totaled 4.7 billion U.S. dollars; in 2012 it increased to 6.2 billion U.S. dollars, with a compound annual growth rate of 9.9 percent; and it is expected to increase to approximately 8.5 billion U.S. dollars by 2015.

In recent years, foreign manufacturers have introduced a variety of special coatings for medical devices, such as non-stick coatings, bio-resistant coatings, insulating coatings, high biocompatible coatings, antibacterial coatings, heat-resistant disinfecting coatings, and drug-sustained-release coatings. These coatings can play a role in increasing the scope of application of medical devices, prolonging the service life of medical devices and improving their use.

It is worth noting that the development of special coatings for implantable medical devices has become a new topic for medical device manufacturers. Because implantable medical devices, such as pacemakers, atrial defibrillators, insulin pumps, electronic cochleas, and stents, have a long life in the body, their performance requirements for surface coatings are often higher than those for in vitro medical devices. For example, it must have extremely high biocompatibility.

The medical device special coating products developed in foreign countries in the past two years are:

1. Dry Film Lubricant Paint This paint can be sprayed on the surface or cavity of a medical device to improve the smoothness of the surface of the medical device. Many life-supporting medical devices, such as ventilators, dialysis machines, infusion pumps, etc., are used inside the lumen. According to reports, foreign manufacturers have used new technology to spray PTFE paint on the lumen of blood vessel stents to form a very thin coating of only 0.0002 inch thick, which greatly improves the smoothness of the stent lumen.

2. Cohesive Coatings Many types of medical devices use these types of paint for plastic parts. It can firmly bond plastic parts together to form a whole. The use of such coatings can reduce the labor intensity of operating workers.

3. Temperature Color Change Coating This surface coating developed by foreign manufacturers has been applied in a variety of medical device products. It can change color as the patient's body temperature changes, allowing the clinician to know at a glance how the patient's temperature changes.

4. The surgical instruments that are used in cycles of heat-resistant disinfecting paint must be sterilized at high temperatures. A new high-temperature disinfectant paint newly developed abroad will not be damaged even if it is in a high-temperature steam sterilization environment of 1.5 atmospheres and 120°C or more. It is understood that the main component of such coatings is parylene and so on.

5. Anti-adhesion and Ultrasonic Clear Coating Some medical device products must keep the lumen open and the vascular stent is a typical product. After extensive research, foreign manufacturers have developed stent coatings that can reduce the adhesion of lipids, thereby significantly reducing stent restenosis rates. Recently, foreign companies have developed a silicone coating for medical catheters that improves the smoothness of the lumen of the catheter and enables rapid passage of fluids. In addition, foreign manufacturers have also developed a new type of paint “Echo-Coat” that allows the implanted device to maintain “ultrasonic transparency” (ie, it is easily detected by the ultrasonic device). The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus can detect whether or not the implantable device having the coating is displaced in the body.

6. Drug Sustained-Release Coatings Certain medical device products, especially stents, cause inflammatory reactions. If the surface of such medical devices is coated with a coating that can slow the release of drugs, it can play an anti-inflammatory role and prevent the deposition of lipid substances. Foreign manufacturers have newly developed a “Medi-Coat” coating material that can release drugs for a long time. The paint is almost non-toxic and harmless to the human body, and its molecular skeleton contains drugs. When the blood flows through the surface of the stent, the drug in the coating will slowly release under the effect of the lipid material in the blood. Another kind of slow-release paint "LubriLAST" is mainly used for catheter products, which contain silver ions, with antibacterial effect.