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 provided inter alia a solid object having a surface comprising a layered coating of cationic and anionic polymer, wherein the outer coating layer is a layer comprising cationic polymer to which is covalently bound an anticoagulant entity; and wherein the anionic polymer is characterized by having (a) a total molecular weight of 20 kDa-650 kDa; and (b) a solution charge density of 4 eq/g.

The present invention relates to the coating of a range of functional heparins onto the surface of a substrate for which hemocompatibility is a key functional characteristic, such that the functionality of the functional heparin is maintained. The approach employs a metal coordination complex to bind to the substrate with the functional heparin binding to the metal coordination complex to thereby impart hemocompatibility.

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.

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 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.

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.

Described are methods for embedding one or more therapeutic agents into vascular grafts and other scaffold-based devices, and methods of implanting vascular grafts comprising tubular scaffolds into subjects. The tubular scaffolds comprise hydrogel nanofibers that have internally aligned polymer chains and may contain one or more therapeutic agents.

There is provided inter alia a solid object having a surface comprising a layered coating of cationic and anionic polymer, wherein the outer coating layer is a layer comprising cationic polymer to which is covalently bound an anticoagulant entity; and wherein the anionic polymer is characterized by having (a) a total molecular weight of 20 kDa-650 kDa; and (b) a solution charge density of 4 eq/g.

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 eq/g; and wherein, step ii) is carried out at a salt concentration of 0.25 M-5.0 M.