Junkosha introduced a new category of catheter liner, which it calls Wrapped Liner, at MD&M Midwest in Minneapolis. The company said the category sets out a different approach to liner construction and draws on its longstanding work in fluoropolymer technologies.
The platform applies Junkosha's proprietary PTFE tape engineering and wrapping technology. According to the company, it is intended as an alternative liner platform that combines high tensile strength, thin wall construction and flexibility.
How the liner wall is formed
Rather than extruding a complete tube, the process wraps PTFE film around a mandrel to build the liner wall. By engineering the properties of the tape, Junkosha says it can target a thin, uniform wall thickness with strength. The wall is built up from wrapped film instead of being formed as a single extruded tube, a distinction the company says affects how wall thickness and strength are balanced.
The company frames the result as giving catheter designers and manufacturers more freedom to select finer braid or coil wire, or to reallocate space elsewhere in the catheter construction. Junkosha presents the balance of thin wall, strength and uniformity as central to new catheter development, with the potential to change how reinforcement is configured. The Wrapped Liner category is described as a scalable platform intended to support a growing portfolio of solutions for evolving catheter requirements.
Why the company sees room for a new liner category
Kevin LaDow, Chief Sales Officer of Junkosha USA Inc., said current catheter liners are either dip-coated PTFE built up on a mandrel or extruded PTFE supplied as tubing cut to length. He said that heading into 2027 there is a need for a new category of liner that is not only manufactured differently but also brings distinct benefits to small-format catheter OEMs.
Steve Maxson, founder of Maxson InSight Services, said catheter engineers often describe profile as the priority, but a low-profile design involves more than reducing wall thickness. He said a catheter still has to resist kinking and ovalization while keeping the flexibility its application requires. With extruded and film-cast liners already available in very thin walls, he said the real opportunity lies in how thin wall construction and strength work together to change the way engineers approach catheter design.
Junkosha said the new approach is intended to extend the possibilities of catheter design and to support development of next-generation medical devices aimed at greater flexibility and a broader range of anatomies that may be accessed and treated. Junkosha describes the liner as a platform rather than a single product, with the wrapped construction intended to be adapted across a range of catheter requirements. The company did not disclose specifications, availability timelines or regulatory status for the Wrapped Liner platform.