Implantable medical devices fabricated from branched polymers

• US 8,486,135 B2
• Filed: 04/09/2007
• Issued: 07/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Abbott Cardiovascular Systems Incorporated (Abbott Laboratories Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Abbott Cardiovascular Systems Incorporated (Abbott Laboratories Incorporated)
• Inventors: Wang, Yunbing, Gale, David C., Huang, Bin, Trollsas, Mikael O., Glauser, Thierry, Ludwig, Florian
• Primary Examiner(s): Sweet, Thomas J
• Assistant Examiner(s): SCHALL, MATTHEW WAYNE
• Application Number:
  US11/784,886
• Publication Number:
  US 20070282435A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,290 Days
• Field of Search: 623/1.42, 623/1.46, 623/1.47, 623/1.48, 623/1.49, 623/1.15, 528/59, 525/67, 514/772.1
• US Class Current: 623/1.49
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 27/14 Macromolecular materials
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 27/18 obtained otherwise than by reactions only involving carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 31/06 obtained otherwise than by reactions only involving carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds A61L31/041 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C08L 67/04 Polyesters derived from hydroxycarboxylic acids, e.g. lactones C08L67/06 takes precedence

Abstract

This invention relates to implantable medical devices, such as stents, fabricated from hyperbranched-like polymers, comb-like polymers, star polymers, dendrimer-like star polymers, dendrimers, and mixtures thereof.

Claims

1. A stent fabricated from a polymeric material comprising an unbranched biodegradable polymer blended with a branched biodegradable polymer, wherein a majority of the polymeric material comprises the unbranched polymer.

2. The stent of claim 1, wherein the polymeric material comprises greater than 95 wt % of the unbranched polymer.

3. The stent of claim 1, wherein the branched polymer is a star copolymer, wherein the star copolymer reduces the viscosity of the polymeric material when above a melting temperature of the polymeric material.

4. The stent of claim 1, wherein the unbranched polymer is selected from the group consisting of poly(L-lactide), poly(DL-lactide), poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid), poly(ε

-caprolactone), and any blends or copolymers thereof.

5. The stent of claim 1, wherein the branched polymer is selected from the group consisting of poly(L-lactide), poly(DL-lactide), poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid), poly(ε

-caprolactone), and any blends or copolymers thereof.