Patent Grant
7758908
The present invention relates to the spray coating of medical devices.
Coatings are often applied to implantable medical devices to increase their effectiveness or safety. These coatings may provide a number of benefits including reducing the trauma suffered during the insertion procedure, facilitating the acceptance of the medical device into the target site, or improving the effectiveness of the device.
A coating that serves as a therapeutic agent is one such way in which the coating on a medical device can improve its effectiveness. This type of coating on the medical device allows for localized delivery of therapeutic agents at the site of implantation and avoids the problems of systemic drug administration, such as producing unwanted effects on parts of the body which are not being treated, or not being able to deliver a high enough concentration of therapeutic agent to the afflicted part of the body.
Expandable stents are one specific example of medical devices that can be coated. Expandable stents are tubular structures formed in a mesh-like pattern designed to support the inner walls of a lumen, such as a blood vessel. These stents are typically positioned within a lumen and then expanded to provide internal support for the lumen. Because the stent comes into direct contact with the inner walls of the lumen, stents have been coated with various compounds and therapeutics to enhance their effectiveness. The coating on these stents may contain a drug or biologically active material which is released in a controlled fashion (including long-term or sustained release) and delivered locally to the surrounding blood vessel.
Aside from facilitating localized drug delivery, the coating on a medical device can provide other beneficial surface properties. For example, medical devices are often coated with radiopaque materials to allow for fluoroscopic visualization during placement in the body. It is also useful to coat certain devices to enhance biocompatibility or to improve surface properties such as lubricity.
One way in which a coating can be applied to a medical device is to spray the coating substance onto the device using a spray nozzle that atomizes the coating substance. Conventional spray nozzles used in coating medical devices create a wide spray plume. A wide spray plume can result in low transfer efficiencies because only a small amount of the sprayed coating material may be deposited on the medical device. For a small-sized medical device, such as a coronary stent, the transfer efficiency can be very low. Much of the coating solution is lost in excessive overspraying and is therefore wasted. Transfer efficiencies are important as some coating materials are expensive, such as therapeutic agents, drugs and polymers. In addition, the quality of the spray plume from conventional spray nozzles can be inconsistent, causing variability in the thickness of the coating. Thus, the coating may be thicker at one end of the device, or the coating thickness may vary on an individual target-to-target basis, reducing manufacturing reproducibility. Such variability could be detrimental to obtaining uniform coating distribution and thickness on the target, making it difficult to predict the dosage of therapeutic that will be delivered when the medical device or stent is implanted.
Therefore, there is a need for a cost-effective method for improving the performance of spray coating medical devices by reducing the size of the spray plume, which would improve coating transfer efficiency, increase coating uniformity and permit precise control of coating deposition.
The present invention is directed to a method for spray coating a medical device that answers this need. In certain embodiments of the invention, a method is provided for applying a coating material onto a medical device with a micronozzle that creates a smaller spray plume and finer spray droplets, resulting in improved coating transfer efficiency, increased coating uniformity, and precise control of coating deposition.
In another embodiment of the invention, a method is provided for applying a coating material onto a medical device with a micronozzle wherein the micronozzle is formed from a plurality of sheets with openings that define fluid passageways when the sheets are aligned and fused together.
In another embodiment of the invention, a method is provided for applying a coating material onto a medical device with a micronozzle wherein the micronozzle is used for applying a coating material containing a therapeutic agent.
In another embodiment of the invention, a method is provided for applying a coating material onto a medical device with a micronozzle wherein the spray plume is small enough that the user can selectively apply coating to portions of a small medical device.
In another embodiment of the invention, a method is provided for applying a coating material onto a medical device with a micronozzle wherein streams of gas are used to assist in atomizing the fluid. Jets of atomizing gas are introduced near the exit orifice of the micronozzle such that the coating fluid ejected from the exit orifice is entrained within the gas flow, causing the coating fluid to become atomized.
A first embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in
As shown in
Referring to
As used herein, the term “micronozzle” contemplates a spray nozzle having channels, passageways, or orifices having a minimum cross-section diameter that is less than 1000 μm and preferably in the range of 125 μm to 500 μm. This does not exclude large chambers, cavities or internal structures within the nozzle or which are directly connected to the inlet ports of the nozzle. Further, the term “micronozzle” is used only to characterize nozzles with respect to the size of the channels, passageways, or orifices in the nozzle, and does not exclude nozzles in which the overall nozzle body is of conventional size.
One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the diameters and dimensions of the microsized passageways and exit orifices can vary depending on the properties of the fluid or material to be atomized, the required atomization pressures, and the flow rates. For example, exit orifices of less than about 0.1 inches in diameter and as small as 0.002 inches in diameter have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,884 to Simmons et al. (filed Sep. 30, 1993), which regards the manufacture and use of atomizing spray nozzles in automotive and aerospace fuel applications. The entire disclosure of this patent is incorporated by reference herein.
The microsized fluid passageways within the micronozzle can be formed by a variety of microfabrication techniques. For example,
A person of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the openings in the sheets could be formed by a variety of methods that can cut, etch or otherwise remove portions of the sheets to form the openings. For example, the variously shaped and oriented openings 24a-24e can be cut or removed from the sheets 22a-22e by an etching process. Etching by chemical or electrochemical processes is well known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,884 to Simmons et al. (filed on Sep. 30, 1993) discloses a method of using etching techniques to form an atomizing spray nozzle for automotive and aerospace engine applications; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,189,214 to Skeath et al. (filed on Jul. 8, 1997) discloses a method of etching patterns on silicon layers to form an atomizing nozzle for use in inhalers and combustion engines. The disclosures of both patents are incorporated by reference herein. One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the openings can also be formed by laser drilling techniques well known in the silicon wafer manufacturing industry.
One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the sheets used in making the micronozzles can be made of any material, including certain etchable materials such as metals (e.g., stainless steel and aluminum), ceramics, polymers, composites, and other non-metallics (e.g., silicon, silicon carbide, alumina, and silicon nitride). The sheets should be of sufficient thickness to maintain the structural integrity of the openings in the sheet during the bonding process.
Referring back to
One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that other microfabrication techniques can be employed in fabricating the micronozzle 20, including lithography, pattern transfer, wet and dry bulk micromachining, surface micromachining, LIGA, wafer bonding, and micromolding. One of ordinary skill in the art will also appreciate that a variety of designs and dimensions exist for the fluid passageways 26 in the micronozzle 20. For example, in the embodiment illustrated in
In operation, referring to
In another embodiment, as illustrated in
In certain embodiments of this invention, the spray plume produced by the micronozzle is small enough that the user can selectively apply coating material to portions of a small medical device, such as a stent. For example, the user may wish to coat one end only of a stent, or other distinct portions of a stent or medical device. In other embodiments, a plurality of micronozzles may be used together to simultaneously coat different portions of a medical device, or the entire medical device. For example, a plurality of micronozzles may be arranged in a linear direction to provide coating coverage along the entire length of a medical device, such as along the longitudinal direction of a stent. Alternatively, an array of micronozzles can be arranged to provide coating coverage for a distinct area of a medical device. Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art can appreciate that a variety of micronozzle arrangements can be designed to coat the entire medical device without traversing the medical device. One of ordinary skill in the art would also understand that the spray plume of the micronozzle can be appropriately sized to a desired plume coverage.
In another alternate embodiment, as illustrated in
The micronozzles can also be fabricated at low costs.
In the spraying of DNA molecules, short residence times in the spray nozzle have been shown to reduce the amount of DNA degradation that typically occurs during the spray process. See Worden et al., “Impact of pressure-swirl, nebulization, and electrostatic atomizers on macromolecules,” at the 16th Annual Conference on Liquid Atomization and Spray Systems (May 2003), which is incorporated by reference herein. Because the micronozzle used in the present invention has smaller passageways than a conventional nozzle, the coating material will experience shorter residence times as compared with conventional spray nozzles which typically have residence times greater than 0.01 seconds. For example, a micronozzle used in the present invention can be designed to have a residence time of approximately 0.001 seconds. Such short residence times may reduce the amount of damage to a polymer or therapeutic agent in the coating material.
The therapeutic agent may be any pharmaceutically acceptable agent such as a non-genetic therapeutic agent, a biomolecule, a small molecule, or cells.
Exemplary non-genetic therapeutic agents include anti-thrombogenic agents such heparin, heparin derivatives, prostaglandin (including micellar prostaglandin E1), urokinase, and PPack (dextrophenylalanine proline arginine chloromethylketone); anti-proliferative agents such as enoxaprin, angiopeptin, sirolimus (rapamycin), tacrolimus, everolimus, zotarolimus, monoclonal antibodies capable of blocking smooth muscle cell proliferation, hirudin, and acetylsalicylic acid; anti-inflammatory agents such as dexamethasone, rosiglitazone, prednisolone, corticosterone, budesonide, estrogen, estradiol, sulfasalazine, acetylsalicylic acid, mycophenolic acid, and mesalamine; anti-neoplastic/anti-proliferative/anti-mitotic agents such as paclitaxel, epothilone, cladribine, 5-fluorouracil, methotrexate, doxorubicin, daunorubicin, cyclosporine, cisplatin, vinblastine, vincristine, epothilones, endostatin, trapidil, halofuginone, and angiostatin; anti-cancer agents such as antisense inhibitors of c-myc oncogene; anti-microbial agents such as triclosan, cephalosporins, aminoglycosides, nitrofurantoin, silver ions compounds, or salts; biofilm synthesis inhibitors such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents and chelating agents such as ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, O,O′-bis (2-aminoethyl)ethyleneglycol-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid and mixtures thereof; antibiotics such as gentamycin, rifampin, minocyclin, and ciprofolxacin; antibodies including chimeric antibodies and antibody fragments; anesthetic agents such as lidocaine, bupivacaine, and ropivacaine; nitric oxide; nitric oxide (NO) donors such as linsidomine, molsidomine, L-arginine, NO-carbohydrate adducts, polymeric or oligomeric NO adducts; anti-coagulants such as D-Phe-Pro-Arg chloromethyl ketone, an RGD peptide-containing compound, heparin, antithrombin compounds, platelet receptor antagonists, anti-thrombin antibodies, anti-platelet receptor antibodies, enoxaparin, hirudin, warfarin sodium, Dicumarol, aspirin, prostaglandin inhibitors, platelet aggregation inhibitors such as cilostazol and tick antiplatelet factors; vascular cell growth promoters such as growth factors, transcriptional activators, and translational promoters; vascular cell growth inhibitors such as growth factor inhibitors, growth factor receptor antagonists, transcriptional repressors, translational repressors, replication inhibitors, inhibitory antibodies, antibodies directed against growth factors, bifunctional molecules consisting of a growth factor and a cytotoxin, bifunctional molecules consisting of an antibody and a cytotoxin; cholesterol-lowering agents; vasodilating agents; agents which interfere with endogenous vasoactive mechanisms; inhibitors of heat shock proteins such as geldanamycin; angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors; beta-blockers; bAR kinase (bARKct) inhibitors; phospholamban inhibitors; protein-bound particle drugs such as ABRAXANE™; and any combinations and prodrugs of the above.
Exemplary biomolecules include peptides, polypeptides and proteins; oligonucleotides; nucleic acids such as double or single stranded DNA (including naked and cDNA), RNA, antisense nucleic acids such as antisense DNA and RNA, small interfering RNA (siRNA), and ribozymes; genes; carbohydrates; angiogenic factors including growth factors; cell cycle inhibitors; and anti-restenosis agents. Nucleic acids may be incorporated into delivery systems such as, for example, vectors (including viral vectors), plasmids or liposomes.
Non-limiting examples of proteins include serca-2 protein, monocyte chemoattractant proteins (“MCP-1”) and bone morphogenic proteins (“BMPs”), such as, for example, BMP-2, BMP-3, BMP-4, BMP-5, BMP-6 (Vgr-1), BMP-7 (OP-1), BMP-8, BMP-9, BMP-10, BMP-11, BMP-12, BMP-13, BMP-14, BMP-15. Preferred BMPs are any of BMP-2, BMP-3, BMP-4, BMP-5, BMP-6, and BMP-7. These BMPs can be provided as homodimers, heterodimers, or combinations thereof, alone or together with other molecules. Alternatively, or in addition, molecules capable of inducing an upstream or downstream effect of a BMP can be provided. Such molecules include any of the “hedgehog” proteins, or the DNAs encoding them. Non-limiting examples of genes include survival genes that protect against cell death, such as anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family factors and Akt kinase; serca 2 gene; and combinations thereof. Non-limiting examples of angiogenic factors include acidic and basic fibroblast growth factors, vascular endothelial growth factor, epidermal growth factor, transforming growth factor α and β, platelet-derived endothelial growth factor, platelet-derived growth factor, tumor necrosis factor α, hepatocyte growth factor, and insulin like growth factor. A non-limiting example of a cell cycle inhibitor is a cathespin D (CD) inhibitor. Non-limiting examples of anti-restenosis agents include p15, p16, p18, P19, p21, p27, p53, p57, Rb, nFkB and E2F decoys, thymidine kinase (“TK”) and combinations thereof and other agents useful for interfering with cell proliferation.
Exemplary small molecules include hormones, nucleotides, amino acids, sugars, and lipids and compounds have a molecular weight of less than 100 kD.
Exemplary cells include stem cells, progenitor cells, endothelial cells, adult cardiomyocytes, and smooth muscle cells. Cells can be of human origin (autologous or allogenic) or from an animal source (xenogenic), or genetically engineered. Non-limiting examples of cells include side population (SP) cells, lineage negative (Lin−) cells including Lin− CD34−, Lin−CD34+, Lin−cKit+, mesenchymal stem cells including mesenchymal stem cells with 5-aza, cord blood cells, cardiac or other tissue derived stem cells, whole bone marrow, bone marrow mononuclear cells, endothelial progenitor cells, skeletal myoblasts or satellite cells, muscle derived cells, go cells, endothelial cells, adult cardiomyocytes, fibroblasts, smooth muscle cells, adult cardiac fibroblasts+5-aza, genetically modified cells, tissue engineered grafts, MyoD scar fibroblasts, pacing cells, embryonic stem cell clones, embryonic stem cells, fetal or neonatal cells, immunologically masked cells, and teratoma derived cells.
Any of the therapeutic agents may be combined to the extent such combination is biologically compatible.
Any of the above mentioned therapeutic agents may be incorporated into a polymeric coating on the medical device or applied onto a polymeric coating on a medical device. The polymers of the polymeric coatings may be biodegradable or non-biodegradable. Non-limiting examples of suitable non-biodegradable polymers include polystyrene; polyisobutylene copolymers, styrene-isobutylene block copolymers such as styrene-isobutylene-styrene tri-block copolymers (SIBS) or other block copolymers such as styrene-ethylene/butylene-styrene (SEBS); polyvinylpyrrolidone including cross-linked polyvinylpyrrolidone; polyvinyl alcohols, copolymers of vinyl monomers such as EVA; polyvinyl ethers; polyvinyl aromatics; polyethylene oxides; polyesters including polyethylene terephthalate; polyamides; polyacrylamides; polyethers including polyether sulfone; polyalkylenes including polypropylene, polyethylene and high molecular weight polyethylene; polyurethanes; polycarbonates, silicones; siloxane polymers; cellulosic polymers such as cellulose acetate; polymer dispersions such as polyurethane dispersions (BAYHYDROL™); squalene emulsions; and mixtures and copolymers of any of the foregoing.
Non-limiting examples of suitable biodegradable polymers include polycarboxylic acid, polyanhydrides including maleic anhydride polymers; polyorthoesters; poly-amino acids; polyethylene oxide; polyphosphazenes; polylactic acid, polyglycolic acid and copolymers and mixtures thereof such as poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA), poly(D,L,-lactide), poly(lactic acid-co-glycolic acid), 50/50 (DL-lactide-co-glycolide); polydioxanone; polypropylene fumarate; polydepsipeptides; polycaprolactone and co-polymers and mixtures thereof such as poly(D,L-lactide-co-caprolactone) and polycaprolactone co-butylacrylate; polyhydroxybutyrate valerate and blends; polycarbonates such as tyrosine-derived polycarbonates and arylates, polyiminocarbonates, and polydimethyltrimethylcarbonates; cyanoacrylate; calcium phosphates; polyglycosaminoglycans; macromolecules such as polysaccharides (including hyaluronic acid; cellulose, and hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose; gelatin; starches; dextrans; alginates and derivatives thereof), proteins and polypeptides; and mixtures and copolymers of any of the foregoing. The biodegradable polymer may also be a surface erodable polymer such as polyhydroxybutyrate and its copolymers, polycaprolactone, polyanhydrides (both crystalline and amorphous), maleic anhydride copolymers, and zinc-calcium phosphate.
Such coatings used with the present invention may be formed by any method known to one in the art. For example, an initial polymer/solvent mixture can be formed and then the therapeutic agent added to the polymer/solvent mixture. Alternatively, the polymer, solvent, and therapeutic agent can be added simultaneously to form the mixture. The polymer/solvent/therapeutic agent mixture may be a dispersion, suspension or a solution. The therapeutic agent may also be mixed with the polymer in the absence of a solvent. The therapeutic agent may be dissolved in the polymer/solvent mixture or in the polymer to be in a true solution with the mixture or polymer, dispersed into fine or micronized particles in the mixture or polymer, suspended in the mixture or polymer based on its solubility profile, or combined with micelle-forming compounds such as surfactants or adsorbed onto small carrier particles to create a suspension in the mixture or polymer. The coating may comprise multiple polymers and/or multiple therapeutic agents.
The coating is typically from about 1 to about 50 microns thick. In the case of balloon catheters, the thickness is preferably from about 1 to about 10 microns, and more preferably from about 2 to about 5 microns. Very thin polymer coatings, such as about 0.2-0.3 microns and much thicker coatings, such as more than 10 microns, are also possible. It is also within the scope of the present invention to apply multiple layers of polymer coatings onto the medical device. Such multiple layers may contain the same or different therapeutic agents and/or the same or different polymers. Methods of choosing the type, thickness and other properties of the polymer and/or therapeutic agent to create different release kinetics are well known to one in the art.
The medical device may also contain a radio-opacifying agent within its structure to facilitate viewing the medical device during insertion and at any point while the device is implanted. Non-limiting examples of radio-opacifying agents are bismuth subcarbonate, bismuth oxychloride, bismuth trioxide, barium sulfate, tungsten, and mixtures thereof.
While the present invention has been described with reference to what are presently considered to be preferred embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments or constructions. On the contrary, the present invention is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements. For example, the coating material may comprise a flowable solid material, such as a powder, in lieu of a fluid, as long as the flowable solid coating material can be reliably fed through the dispensing device and accept a charge imparted by the second potential. The present invention is also suitable for use in a high speed automated medical device coating apparatus. In as much as this invention references dispensed particles, these particles can be in the form of droplets with or without entrained solids at various levels of evaporation. Furthermore, these particles can be dispensed as a solution, a suspension, an emulsion, or any type flowable material as described above.
While the various elements of the disclosed invention are described and/or shown in various combinations and configurations, which are exemplary, other combinations and configurations, including more, less or only a single embodiment, are also within the spirit and scope of the present invention.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5435884 | Simmons et al. | Jul 1995 | A |
| 5594987 | Century | Jan 1997 | A |
| 6189214 | Skeath et al. | Feb 2001 | B1 |
| 6547163 | Mansour et al. | Apr 2003 | B1 |
| 6919046 | O'Connor et al. | Jul 2005 | B2 |
| 20030143315 | Pui et al. | Jul 2003 | A1 |
| 20040013792 | Epstein et al. | Jan 2004 | A1 |
| 20050175772 | Worsham et al. | Aug 2005 | A1 |
| 20050202156 | O'Connor et al. | Sep 2005 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20070231457 A1 | Oct 2007 | US |
