Commercial Medical Devices

Junkosha introduces Wrapped Liner catheter category at MD&M Midwest

Sonia MarchettiNovember 5, 20265 min read0 views

At a glance

  • The fluoropolymer specialist is positioning PTFE tape wrapping as a third liner construction route alongside dip-coated and extruded tubing.
  • Junkosha launched a Wrapped Liner category for catheter liners at MD&M Midwest in Minneapolis, building the wall by wrapping PTFE film around a mandrel instead of extruding a tube. The company says the approach targets thin, uniform walls with high tensile strength, giving designers room for finer reinforcement or other catheter features.
Concept illustration of a thin PTFE film being wrapped around a metal mandrel to build a catheter liner wall, with a cutaway showing the resulting layered shaft.

Junkosha has introduced a new catheter liner category, which it calls Wrapped Liner, at MD&M Midwest in Minneapolis. The company said the category represents a different approach to liner construction and draws on its long-standing work in fluoropolymer technologies.

In the process, PTFE film is wrapped around a mandrel to build the liner wall rather than extruding a complete tube. Junkosha said it applies proprietary PTFE tape engineering and wrapping technology, and that the resulting platform is designed to combine high tensile strength, thin wall construction and flexibility.

Engineering the tape rather than the tube

By engineering the properties of the PTFE tape itself, the company said it can target a thin, uniform wall thickness while retaining strength. That combination, according to Junkosha, gives catheter designers and manufacturers more freedom to specify finer braid or coil wire, or to reallocate space elsewhere in the device construction.

The company frames the balance between thin walls and strength as the central design question. Steve Maxson, founder of Maxson InSight Services, said in the announcement that catheter engineers often describe profile as king, but that low-profile design involves more than reducing wall thickness. He noted that a catheter must still 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 how engineers approach catheter design.

Positioning against existing liner types

Kevin LaDow, chief sales officer of Junkosha USA Inc., described the existing landscape as split between dip-coated PTFE built up on a mandrel and extruded PTFE supplied as tubing cut to length. He said that as the industry heads into 2027 there is a need for a liner category that is not only manufactured differently but also provides distinct benefits for small format catheter OEMs.

Junkosha said the wrapped construction is intended as a scalable platform, supporting a growing portfolio of solutions that can be adapted to evolving catheter requirements. The company also said the approach extends design possibilities for next-generation devices aimed at greater flexibility and a broader range of anatomies that can be accessed and treated.

The launch is a category positioning rather than a single part: Junkosha is presenting Wrapped Liner as an alternative platform for liner construction alongside established routes, with the tape-based wall as the differentiator. Specific dimensions, performance figures and commercial availability were not disclosed in the material provided.

Reported by Sonia Marchetti, Home Health Devices Analyst.