Teleflex Medical OEM Wins Prestigious Innovation Award at Compamed

Teleflex Medical OEM has been named a 2012 recipient of the DeviceMed Award for Medical Technology Innovation. Teleflex Medical OEM was selected for developing a novel process that joins dissimilar tubing segments when fabricating catheters. The award ceremony was held November 14, 2012, in conjunction with the Compamed trade fair in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Teleflex Medical OEM’s breakthrough technology gives original equipment manufacturers exciting new options for the next generation of catheter and delivery system designs. This patented process allows the production of catheter shafts with tubing sections of different diameters without sacrificing flexibility and other performance characteristics generally impacted by conventional processes. For example, the new process allows:

- A larger distal section for a medical device, valve, or graft delivery application; - Larger distal sections joined to a smaller diameter proximal catheter shaft; and - A dramatic increase of the diameter of the catheter’s distal tip section using a precisely controlled process.

With current manufacturing techniques, there are significant challenges associated with catheter designs requiring tubing sections of varying diameters. Once the ratio between the larger and smaller tubing sections exceeds 1.1, assembly over a fluoropolymer liner becomes problematic. Conventional bonding techniques become difficult and generally result in a rigid bond site and decreased catheter flexibility.

There is outstanding potential for Teleflex Medical OEM’s new manufacturing process to be applied to valve or graft delivery systems, or to interventional catheter designs requiring strong proximal sections.

DeviceMed, a sponsor of the Compamed, is a leading German-language trade magazine serving the manufacturers of medical devices. The publication’s award programme recognises the best innovations in medical technology selected from the 645 exhibitors at the show.