Junkosha has announced a new Wrapped Liner category for catheter liners at MD&M Midwest in Minneapolis, introducing a construction method that wraps PTFE film around a mandrel rather than extruding a complete tube.
The company said the category draws on its decades of experience in fluoropolymer technologies and applies proprietary PTFE tape engineering and wrapping technology. Junkosha positions the approach as an alternative platform for catheter liners that combines high tensile strength, thin wall construction and flexibility.
A tape-wrapped construction
In the Wrapped Liner process, PTFE film is wrapped around a mandrel to form the liner wall. By engineering the properties of the PTFE tape, Junkosha says it can create a liner platform designed to achieve a thin, uniform wall thickness with exceptional strength. The company says that combination gives catheter designers and manufacturers more freedom to choose finer braid or coil wire, or to reallocate space elsewhere in the catheter construction.
Thin walls and design balance
Steve Maxson, founder of Maxson InSight Services, said catheter engineers often describe profile as king, but a low-profile design involves more than reducing wall thickness. A catheter still must resist kinking and ovalization while retaining the flexibility its application requires, he said. Since extruded and film-cast liners are already available with very thin walls, Maxson said the opportunity lies in how thin-wall construction and strength work together to change how engineers approach catheter design.
Junkosha says that balance of thin, strong and more uniform properties is central to new catheter development because it may create greater flexibility in how reinforcement is configured. The Wrapped Liner category is intended as a scalable platform supporting a growing portfolio of solutions for evolving catheter requirements.
Existing liner options and small-format OEMs
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. As the industry heads into 2027, he said there is a need for a new liner category that is not only manufactured differently but also provides distinct benefits for small-format catheter OEMs. Junkosha says the approach extends catheter design possibilities for next-generation devices intended to enhance flexibility and broaden the range of anatomies that may be accessed and treated.
The announcement presents Wrapped Liner as a category rather than a single liner product. Junkosha says the platform is meant to support a portfolio tailored to evolving catheter requirements. The company's claims center on the design freedom created by the construction method, including the ability to specify finer reinforcement or use space for other catheter features.