Balzers, Liechtenstein, 24 January 2019 – Oerlikon Balzers, leading provider of surface solutions, is introducing its new BALIMED portfolio, comprising seven highly advanced coatings that meet the demanding requirements of today’s medical instruments and components industry. These low-friction and wear-resistant ThinFilm coatings offer higher cost efficiency and contribute to improved patient outcomes thanks to their biocompatible, antimicrobial and chemically inert properties. The new BALIMED portfolio represents another important milestone in Oerlikon Balzers’ growth strategy.
Oerlikon Balzers’ new BALIMED portfolio of ThinFilm coatings is specially designed for medical applications to improve patient outcomes
The quality requirements for medical instruments are increasing every year, and enhancing surfaces by applying highly wear-resistant antimicrobial coatings has become an integral part of modern medical technology. In addition to these ultra-high quality standards, instruments used in the medical industry must also meet stringent biocompatibility regulations.
The innovative new BALIMED coatings from Oerlikon Balzers, each of which has been developed for specific medical applications, meet these requirements and deliver clear advantages. For instance, the BALIMED A coating provides an anti-sticking surface and its golden colour helps surgeons also to better identify their surgical instruments, while the bronze coloured BALIMED FUTURA additionally offers aesthetic appearance. Surgeons work with greater comfort in brightly lit operating theatres benefitting from the anti-glare properties of BALIMED DLC. Surgical blades, bone saws and drills improve the cutting performance when coated with BALIMED ALTINA, thus resulting in faster wound healing. BALIMED C is designed to reduce friction in gears and bearings e.g. in dental drills, and it can even be used in dry lubrication applications. For other medical devices the low friction and corrosion-resistant BALIMED CNI prevents moving parts from galling. The BALIMED ARGENTA silver-doped coating, developed to meet the demand for a safe and efficient solution that reduces bacterial formation and surgical infections, offers unprecedented antimicrobial surface properties for surgical instruments. Its high antimicrobial effect has been confirmed in a bacterial protocol reduction test.
The drive for improved patient outcomes and reduced healthcare costs has also increased the number of minimally invasive surgeries (MIS) such as laparoscopies. Improvements made to MIS instruments, plus the continued expansion of robotic surgical platforms using these instruments, represent both opportunities and challenges for medical device manufacturers, and with BALIMED Oerlikon Balzers can now provide coating solutions for some of this industry’s most challenging problems.
Oerlikon Balzers is represented with 111 customer centres in 35 countries in Europe, America and Asia. The company’s experience and expertise in the development of application-specific solutions for the medical industry is based on more than 50 years of cooperation with medical experts and university clinics. Consistently standardised procedures will allow these solutions to be transferred globally.
For more information about the new BALIMED medical coatings visit: https://www.oerlikon.com/balzers/balimed/
