Biocompatible medical device coating using recombinant human albumin

Innovation in medical devices continues to create novel treatment options. However, medical device developers are facing challenges in ensuring safe and biocompatible products. Biocompatibility is crucial when using medical devices to ensure they do not elicit an adverse response by the patient.

Due to its natural propensities, albumin is widely utilized in the medical device industry for coating of stents and tubing, for instance in dialysis, to improve their biocompatibility.

Albumin's natural surface coating ability

Albumin has been demonstrated to cover both hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces in nearly a single molecule layer. This means that even small amounts of albumin can effectively cover large areas of surface. Using our recombinant human albumin (rAlb) products it has been shown that:

1-2 mg of albumin is sufficient to cover 1 m² of surface

By coating with albumin, a biological interface is created, thereby limiting the exposure of the otherwise incompatible surface to the patient, increasing product safety.

The improved purity and defined nature of our rAlb product Recombumin^® consistently produces the same surface coverage. This makes Recombumin especially suited to the medical devices industry as it minimizes the need for elaborate release procedures and product performance monitoring. Additionally, due to its recombinant nature, Recombumin is free of risk with respect to human derived pathogens and viruses, further warranting a safe product.

Learn more about recombinant human albumin for biocompatible surface coating and drug formulation by reading our whitepaper on formulation (Bookshelf).