Junkosha used MD&M Midwest in Minneapolis to introduce a new catheter liner category it calls Wrapped Liner, a construction approach based on wrapping PTFE film around a mandrel instead of extruding a complete tube.
The company said the category draws on decades of work in fluoropolymer technologies and applies its proprietary PTFE tape engineering and wrapping technology. Junkosha describes the result as an alternative liner platform intended to combine high tensile strength, thin wall construction and flexibility.
Building the wall from tape
In the process outlined by Junkosha, PTFE film is wrapped around a mandrel to form the liner wall. That differs from extrusion, in which a full tube is formed in a single operation and later cut to length. By engineering the properties of the tape itself, the company says it can design a liner platform intended to reach a thin, uniform wall thickness while retaining strength.
Junkosha frames the practical benefit as design headroom: thinner and more uniform walls can allow catheter engineers to specify finer braid or coil wire, or to reallocate space elsewhere in the catheter construction.
The claim rests on the tape rather than the tube. Because the wall is built up from wrapped film, Junkosha says the tape's properties can be engineered to shape the finished liner's mechanical behaviour. The category is presented as a platform rather than a single product, with the company indicating that further solutions tailored to specific catheter requirements are expected to follow.
Why thin walls alone are not the goal
Steve Maxson, founder of Maxson InSight Services, said in the announcement that catheter engineers commonly treat profile as the defining requirement, but that a low-profile design involves considerably more than reducing wall thickness. In his view, a catheter still has to resist kinking and ovalization while keeping the flexibility its application needs. Maxson noted that extruded and film-cast liners are already available with very thin walls, and argued that the more meaningful opportunity lies in how thin-wall construction and strength balance each other, and how that balance changes the way engineers approach catheter design.
Reinforcement options and a scalable platform
Junkosha said that combination of thin, strong and more uniform properties is the linchpin for new catheter development, because it could 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.
Kevin LaDow, chief sales officer of Junkosha USA Inc., described the existing choices as 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 liner category that is not only manufactured differently but also brings distinct benefits to small-format catheter OEMs. Through the approach, he said, Junkosha aims to extend the possibilities of catheter design in support of next-generation devices intended to enhance flexibility and broaden the range of anatomies that may be accessed and treated.
The announcement did not include wall dimensions, test data or a commercial availability timeline for the Wrapped Liner category.