Methods for making drug-eluting medical devices
AssigneeBoston Scientific Scimed, Inc.
InventorsJohn T. Clarke, Timothy O'Connor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention is directed to medical implants that are configured to controllably release therapeutic agent to a target site of a patient and methods of making these implants. Embodiments of the present invention may include a method comprising the steps of providing a tube having a wall with inner and outer surfaces and defining a passageway, forming an opening through the wall of the tube, applying a porous coating layer to at least one of the inner and outer surfaces of the tube, and loading a therapeutic agent solution into the passageway so that therapeutic agent passes through the opening and into the porous coating layer. The method may also include removing portions of the tube to form the implantable medical device, which may be a stent.
Claims18
A method of making an implantable medical device for controllably releasing a therapeutic agent, the method comprising:
- providing a tube having a wall with inner and outer surfaces and defining a passageway;
- forming an opening through the wall of the tube;
- applying a porous coating layer to at least one of the inner and outer surfaces of the tube so as to cover the opening following formation of the opening;
- loading a therapeutic agent through the opening and into the porous coating layer;
- and
- removing portions of the tube to form the implantable medical device after the porous coating layer is applied to the tube,
- wherein the therapeutic agent is loaded from the inner surface of the wall of the tube, through the opening to the outer surface of the wall of the tube, and into the porous coating layer.
A method of making a stent for controllably releasing a therapeutic agent, the method comprising:
- providing a tube having a wall with inner and outer surfaces and defining a passageway;
- forming an opening through the wall of the tube;
- applying a porous coating layer to the outer surface of the tube so as to cover the opening following formation of the opening;
- loading a therapeutic agent through the opening and into the porous coating layer;
- and
- removing portions of the tube to form the stent after the porous coating layer is applied to the tube,
- wherein the therapeutic agent is loaded from the inner surface of the wall of the tube, through the opening to the outer surface of the wall of the tube, and into the porous coating layer.
A method of making a stent for controllably releasing a therapeutic agent, the method comprising:
- providing a tube having a wall with inner and outer surfaces and defining a passageway;
- forming an opening through the wall of the tube;
- applying a plurality of porous coating layers to the outer surface of the tube so as to cover the opening following formation of the opening, wherein an innermost layer has the largest pore size and successive layers incrementally decrease in pore size so that an outermost layer has the smallest pore size;
- loading therapeutic agent solution into the passageway so that therapeutic agent passes through the opening and into the porous coating layers;
- and
- removing portions of the tube to form the stent after the porous coating layers are applied to the tube,
- wherein the therapeutic agent is loaded from the inner surface of the wall of the tube, through the opening to the outer surface of the wall of the tube, and into the porous coating layers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.