For most of the industry's history, manufacturers chasing better lubricity have had to accept higher particulate generation at the cost of improved access. That tradeoff is no longer acceptable. Regulatory scrutiny on particulate has intensified. Devices are smaller, longer, and required to track through more complex anatomy than ever before. The coating can no longer be a finishing step. It should be part of the design from the beginning.
FDA and global regulatory Critical-to-Quality indicators now demand validated particulate performance. Many coatings still cannot deliver both lubricity and low particulate.
Friction climbs across multiple insertion cycles, increasing track force and physician effort in the procedures that matter most.
Coatings that work on one polymer fail on another, forcing redesign late in development when surface and substrate were not aligned early enough.
Surmodics designs hydrophilic coatings as part of the device system, not as a surface afterthought. Every formulation is tuned to the substrate it bonds to, the anatomy it has to navigate, and the regulatory pathway it has to clear. The result is coating performance that holds up cycle after cycle*, with the technical and partnership infrastructure to carry a program from feasibility through commercialization.
Breakthrough hydrophilic formulations that meet rising FDA and global regulatory Critical-to-Quality expectations without sacrificing lubricity.
Tested against leading competitor coatings on coronary, peripheral, and neurovascular devices. Lower track force across multiple insertion cycles.*
Built-in partnership through full lifecycle support, from feasibility studies through high-volume contract coating services and post-launch technical support with troubleshooting.
Full lifecycle partnership, from early development through commercial production and support.
Surmodics offers the industry's most comprehensive scalable hydrophilic coating portfolio, spanning UV-cured and thermal-cured technologies, single-coat and dual-coat applications, and a range of pre-mixed solutions engineered to reduce manufacturing variability.
Next-generation lubricity for the most demanding anatomy.
Preside™ Coating is the next-generation Surmodics hydrophilic coating engineered for neurovascular trackability, coronary crossability, and peripheral pushability. In simulated neurovascular use models against market-leading microcatheters, the Preside coating delivered 25 percent better trackability than leading competitor coatings with significantly lower particulate counts.* The Preside coating is built on proven PhotoLink™ UV chemistry for devices that have to perform across multiple cycles in tortuous vessels.*
Applications
Rapid thermal cure. Low particulate. Substrates and geometries UV cannot reach.
HydroBond™ Coating is the Surmodics rapid-cure thermal hydrophilic coating platform, engineered for a variety of substrates, geometries, and manufacturing environments. Depending on the substrate and the device geometry, HydroBond can outperform UV-cured systems on lubricity, particulate, and bond strength. Where traditional thermal hydrophilic coatings cure over hours, HydroBond delivers a 40-minute cure time, closing the cycle-time gap that has historically pushed manufacturers toward UV. Surmodics recommends running a comparative feasibility evaluation across UV and HydroBond thermal options to identify the best fit for the device.
Thermal-Specific Capabilities
Applications
The industry's first no-compromise low-friction, low-particulate solution.
Serene™ coatings combine unmatched lubricity and durability with breakthrough particulate reduction, including up to 12 times lower particulate generation than competitor coatings in head-to-head benchmark testing. * Available as a single or dual layer depending on the needs of your device. Serene coatings can deliver excellent lubricity through a one-coat UV curing process, eliminating the need to change existing manufacturing setups while delivering substantial reductions in production time and reagent costs.
Applications
Locked-in quality. Lean manufacturing. Reduced lot-to-lot variability.
Surmodics Pre-Mixed Coating Solutions eliminate the multi-step process of sourcing, measuring, combining, and quality-testing dry ingredients in-house. Ready-to-use solutions are delivered in convenient one-liter containers with quality review and release already completed, dramatically reducing solution release testing requirement and lot-to-lot variability tied to human error.
Polymers
Pebax, nylon, polyethylene, polyimide, polyurethane, polystyrene, polyvinylchloride, polycarbonate, polyester, PMMA, polysulfone, polyvinyl alcohol, polypropylene, polyisoprene, parylene, polyamide, PEEK, silicone elastomer.
Metal
Stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, platinum, nitinol, gold.
Other
Glass and other ceramics.
Surmodicsʼ surface technology adds differentiated value to more than 150 medical, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical product families worldwide, spanning the full range of intravascular and access-driven procedures.
Ischemic and hemorrhagic clot retrievers, infusion catheters, stroke treatment systems, embolic protection delivery, thrombectomy, occlusion balloons, hydrocephalic shunts.
Coronary stent systems, specialty guidewires, chronic total occlusion devices, PTCA balloon catheters, pressure wires, CRT and pacemaker leads, electrophysiology catheters.
Introducer sheaths, access systems, percutaneous heart valves, aortic protection devices, defect repair delivery systems.
PTA balloon catheters, endovascular graft systems, peripheral stent delivery, atherectomy and thrombectomy systems, intravascular imaging, vascular closure.
Ophthalmic access instruments (IOLs), micro cannulas
Stents, catheters, incontinence devices, penile implants, contraceptive systems.
Endoscopy and surgical accessories, oncology microcatheters and guidewires, obesity management devices.
The substrate, the geometry, the device application, the regulatory path. Each one shapes what a coating can and cannot do. The companies that get hydrophilic performance right are the ones who treat the coating as a system decision, not a surface decision.
This is why Surmodics engages at the feasibility stage, not the finishing stage. Decisions made early in development determine whether a coating can deliver the lubricity, durability, and particulate performance the device ultimately requires. Coating challenges that surface at validation are almost always rooted in choices made months earlier.
FDA and global regulatory Critical-to-Quality indicators for coatings now sit at the center of the regulatory approval process. Surmodics partners with clients to satisfy these
requirements through thorough surface characterization and analysis, including simulated-use performance testing, particulate testing across multiple insertion cycles,
sterilization and accelerated-aging studies, friction and durability pinch force testing, and coating integrity verification.
Better neurovascular trackability with Preside Hydrophilic Coating, measured against leading competitor coatings in a simulated tortuous-anatomy use model.*
Lower particulate generation with Serene Hydrophilic Coating, measured in head-to-head benchmark testing against three competitor hydrophilic coatings.*
Medical, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical product families currently use Surmodics surface technologies.
Years of continuous hydrophilic coating leadership and formulation development.
Hydrophilic coatings are only part of the answer. The companies that bring better devices to market faster are the ones working with a partner that brings coating science, analytical testing, regulatory experience, and manufacturing scale to the same conversation.
Hydrophilic, hemocompatible,
and drug-delivery coatings developed and validated against the most demanding clinical use profiles.
Coating science engaged from feasibility through post-launch support, with the analytical, regulatory, and quality infrastructure to back it.
UV and thermal cure, single-coat and dual-coat, technology transfer or contract manufacturing, calibrated to where you are in the program.
From coating performance and particulate testing to material characterization and regulatory readiness. Our analytical testing capabilities can help device teams generate clearer insights, reduce risk, and make more informed technical decisions.
High-capacity manufacturing,
ready-to-use pre-mixed solutions, and almost 50 years
of operational maturity behind every program.
Whether you are evaluating coating options at feasibility, troubleshooting performance in development, or scaling toward commercial launch, Surmodics is built to engage at any stage of the program.
*Data on file
SURMODICS, PRESIDE, SERENE, PHOTOLINK, HYDROBOND and the SURMODICS logo are trademarks of Surmodics Inc. and/or it's affiliates. All other trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. © 2026 Surmodics, Inc. All rights reserved. SRDX006 06/26
