A drug-loaded medical device, a preparation method therefor, a drug balloon and a method of preparing a drug coating are disclosed. The medical device or the drug balloon is provided on a surface thereof with a drug coating including a stabilizer and a drug. The stabilizer includes an amphiphilic triblock polymer with hydrophilic segments at both terminals, and the drug coating forms a nano-drug particle suspension in a water-soluble environment. In this way, the prepared nano-drug coating has high drug loading and can deliver the drug in a desirable way. In particular, when it comes into contact with water, the drug can be restored to the original nano size, almost without any particle size increase. This not only avoids the risk of embolism caused by granules, but also enables higher device safety, increased drug uptake and improved therapeutic effects.

Embodiments of the invention include drug delivery coatings and devices including the same. In an embodiment, the invention includes a drug delivery coating including a polymeric layer. The polymeric layer can include a hydrophilic outer surface. The coating can also include a matrix contacting the hydrophilic outer surface. The matrix can include a particulate hydrophobic therapeutic agent and a cationic agent. The polymeric layer can further include a hydrophilic polymer having pendent photoreactive groups and a photo-crosslinker including two aryl ketone functionalities. Other embodiments are also included herein.

According to the invention there is provided inter alia a process for the manufacture of a solid object having a surface comprising a layered coating of cationic and anionic polymer wherein the outer coating layer comprises an anticoagulant entity, comprising the steps of: i) treating a surface of the solid object with a cationic polymer; ii) treating the surface with an anionic polymer; iii) optionally repeating steps i) and ii) one or more times; iv) treating the surface with a cationic polymer; and v) treating the outermost layer of cationic polymer with an anticoagulant entity, thereby to covalently attach the anticoagulant entity to the outermost layer of cationic polymer; wherein, the anionic polymer is characterized by having (a) a total molecular weight of 650 kDa-10,000 kDa; and (b) a solution charge density of >4 μeq/g; and wherein, step ii) is carried out at a salt concentration of 0.25 M-5.0 M.

A flexible implantable contraceptive disc device is disclosed which can be inserted inside the female body, such as inside the uterus, is disclosed. The disc device can be bent and inserted into a laparoscopy tube, which allows it to be delivered to an appropriate location inside a female subject. The disc device has three layers, a central core silicon reservoir containing an active ingredient, such as a contraceptive progesterone, which is sandwiched and encased by upper and lower porous silicon casings. The casings are porous to the contraceptive, allowing controlled release over a prolonged period of time. The lower casing has a series of micro-hooks around a circumference, allowing the disc device to be attached to a desired tissue by rotating the disc device such that the hooks engage with the desired tissue. Such a device is easier to insert, and to remove, than a rod-like rigid plastic T-shape IUDs which are considerably larger, also and more expensive to manufacture.

Disclosed herein is a drug-coated medical device in the form of a balloon having an inner surface and an outer hydrophobic surface, an adhesion balance layer directly on the outer hydrophobic surface of the balloon, comprising a hydrophilic polymer and/or a hydrophilic compound where the hydrophilic compound has a molecular weight of less than 1,000 Daltons, and a therapeutic layer directly on the adhesion balance layer comprising a therapeutic agent and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, wherein the therapeutic agent is a hydrophobic therapeutic agent with one or more hydrogen-bonding groups and is provided as discrete drug particles in the therapeutic layer, the drug particles have at least one dimension that is less than 25 .Math.m and are uniformly distributed on the surface of the balloon, and the pharmaceutically acceptable carrier is hydrophilic and has a molecular weight of less than 1,000 Daltons. A process to make the drug-coated medical device and uses thereof are also disclosed.

A bioartificial device, such as a bioartificial pancreas, for implantation in a patient's vascular system. The bioartificial pancreas includes a scaffold adapted to engage an interior wall of a blood vessel, a cellular complex support by the scaffold and extending longitudinally within the interior cavity of the scaffold so as to be exposed to the blood flow when the scaffold is engaged with the blood vessel, the cellular complex support comprising one or more pockets bordered by thin film; and cellular complex comprising pancreatic islets disposed in the one or more pockets, the thin film being adapted to permit oxygen and glucose to diffuse from flowing blood into the one or more pockets at a rate sufficient to support the viability of the islets. The invention also includes methods of making and using a bioartificial pancreas.

The invention relates to an antimicrobial surface comprising a first array of nano/micro structures spaced apart on a support, characterized in that it comprises a second array of spaced apart nanostructures located on said support and on said first array nanostructures, said second array nanostructures having different size features compared to the nanostructures of said first array.

Embodiments herein include implantable medical devices including chemical sensors with bioerodible masking layers to allow for staged activation of the sensors. In an embodiment, an implantable medical device includes a substrate defining wells and a first chemical sensor and a second chemical sensor disposed within separate wells of the substrate. The first chemical sensor and the second chemical sensor can be configured to detect one or more analytes. The device can include a first bioerodible masking layer disposed over the second chemical sensor, sealing off the second chemical sensor. The device can further include a protective planarization layer disposed over at least one of the first chemical sensor and the second chemical sensor such that the outermost surface of the medical device over the first sensor is flush with the outermost surface of the medical device over the second sensor. Other embodiments are also included herein.

Disclosed herein are methods for modifying a substrate having a hydrophobic surface. Also disclosed are modified hydrophobic substrates. The modified hydrophobic substrates and methods disclosed herein advantageously improve cell affinity and antithrombogenicity of hydrophobic surfaces.

The invention relates to a white, bacteria-resistant, biocompatible, adherent coating for an element which can be integrated in hard and soft tissue, in particular an implant, a screw or a plate, having a structure made from metalliferous gradient layers having varying oxygen content, wherein the band gap of the outer-most gradient layer is greater than 3.1 eV, wherein the outer-most gradient layer is crystalline and wherein the gradient layers comprise tantalum and/or niobium and/or zirconium and/or titanium.