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.

There is described inter alia a device having a surface comprising a layered coating wherein the outer coating layer comprises a plurality of cationic hyperbranched polymer molecules characterized by having (i) a core moiety of molecular weight 14-1,000 Da (ii) a total molecular weight of 1,500 to 1,000,000 Da (iii) a ratio of total molecular weight to core moiety molecular weight of at least 80:1 and (iv) functional end groups, whereby one or more of said functional end groups have an anti-coagulant entity covalently attached thereto.

In this work, we investigated the blood platelet adhesion and activation of truly superhemophobic surfaces and compared them with that of hemophobic surfaces and hemophilic surfaces. Our analysis indicates that only those superhemophobic surfaces with a robust Cassie-Baxter state display significantly lower platelet adhesion and activation. The understanding gained through this work will lead to the fabrication of improved hemocompatible, superhemophobic medical implants.

An antithrombogenic material includes a coating material containing: a polymer containing, as a constituent monomer, a compound selected from the group consisting of alkyleneimines, vinylamines, allylamines, lysine, protamine and diallyldimethylammonium chloride; and an anionic compound containing a sulfur atom and having anticoagulant activity; and a base material whose surface is coated with the coating material; wherein the polymer is covalently bound to the base material; and an abundance ratio of nitrogen atoms to an abundance of total atoms as measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) on a surface of the base material is 6.0 to 12.0 atomic percent.

A medical material uses a nickel-titanium alloy wherein a polyelectrolyte has a reduced thickness while a sufficient amount of an antithrombogenic compound for production of a therapeutic effect is supported. The medical material in which a porous surface is formed on a nickel-titanium alloy to allow infiltration of a polyelectrolyte into the pores, to thereby reduce the thickness of the polyelectrolyte exposed on the surface of the nickel-titanium alloy while allowing supporting of a sufficient amount of an antithrombogenic compound due to contribution of the polyelectrolyte infiltrate.

There is described inter alia a device having a surface comprising a layered coating wherein the outer coating layer comprises a plurality of cationic hyperbranched polymer molecules characterized by having (i) a core moiety of molecular weight 14-1,000 Da (ii) a total molecular weight of 1,500 to 1,000,000 Da (iii) a ratio of total molecular weight to core moiety molecular weight of at least 80:1 and (iv) functional end groups, whereby one or more of said functional end groups have an anti-coagulant entity covalently attached thereto.

There is disclosed a substrate with an electron donating surface, characterized in having metal particles on said surface, said metal particles comprising palladium and at least one metal selected from the group consisting of gold, ruthenium, rhodium, osmium, iridium, and platinum, wherein the amount of said metal particles is from about 0.001 to about 8 μg/cm.sup.2. Examples of coated objects include contact lenses, pacemakers, pacemaker electrodes, stents, dental implants, rupture nets, rupture mesh, blood centrifuge equipment, surgical instruments, gloves, blood bags, artificial heart valves, central venous catheters, peripheral venous catheters, vascular ports, haemodialysis equipment, peritoneal dialysis equipment, plasmapheresis devices, inhalation drug delivery devices, vascular grafts, arterial grafts, cardiac assist devices, wound dressings, intermittent catheters, ECG electrodes, peripheral stents, bone replacing implants, orthopaedic implants, orthopaedic devices, tissue replacing implants, intraocular lenses, sutures, needles, drug delivery devices, endotracheal tubes, shunts, drains, suction devices, hearing aid devices, urethral medical devices, and artificial blood vessels.

According to the invention there is provided inter alia a medical device for delivering a therapeutic agent to a tissue, the device having a solid surfactant-free particulate coating layer applied to a surface of the device, the coating layer comprising a therapeutic agent and at least one non-polymeric organic additive which is hydrolytically stable; wherein at least a proportion of the particulate coating layer comprising the therapeutic agent and the at least one organic additive melts as a single phase at a lower temperature than the melting point of the therapeutic agent and the at least one organic additive when in pure form; wherein the therapeutic agent is paclitaxel; and wherein the therapeutic agent, when formulated in the coating layer, is stable to sterilization.

There is disclosed a substrate with an electron donating surface, characterized in having metal particles on said surface, said metal particles comprising palladium and at least one metal selected from the group consisting of gold, ruthenium, rhodium, osmium, iridium, and platinum, wherein the amount of said metal particles is from about 0.001 to about 8 μg/cm.sup.2. Examples of coated objects include contact lenses, pacemakers, pacemaker electrodes, stents, dental implants, rupture nets, rupture mesh, blood centrifuge equipment, surgical instruments, gloves, blood bags, artificial heart valves, central venous catheters, peripheral venous catheters, vascular ports, haemodialysis equipment, peritoneal dialysis equipment, plasmapheresis devices, inhalation drug delivery devices, vascular grafts, arterial grafts, cardiac assist devices, wound dressings, intermittent catheters, ECG electrodes, peripheral stents, bone replacing implants, orthopaedic implants, orthopaedic devices, tissue replacing implants, intraocular lenses, sutures, needles, drug delivery devices, endotracheal tubes, shunts, drains, suction devices, hearing aid devices, urethral medical devices, and artificial blood vessels.

There is disclosed a substrate with an electron donating surface, characterized in having metal particles on said surface, said metal particles comprising palladium and at least one metal selected from the group consisting of gold, ruthenium, rhodium, osmium, iridium, and platinum, wherein the amount of said metal particles is from about 0.001 to about 8 g/cm.sup.2. Examples of coated objects include contact lenses, pacemakers, pacemaker electrodes, stents, dental implants, rupture nets, rupture mesh, blood centrifuge equipment, surgical instruments, gloves, blood bags, artificial heart valves, central venous catheters, peripheral venous catheters, vascular ports, haemodialysis equipment, peritoneal dialysis equipment, plasmapheresis devices, inhalation drug delivery devices, vascular grafts, arterial grafts, cardiac assist devices, wound dressings, intermittent catheters, ECG electrodes, peripheral stents, bone replacing implants, orthopaedic implants, orthopaedic devices, tissue replacing implants, intraocular lenses, sutures, needles, drug delivery devices, endotracheal tubes, shunts, drains, suction devices, hearing aid devices, urethral medical devices, and artificial blood vessels.