ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,252,657, issued on March 18, was assigned to Becton Dickinson and Co. (Franklin Lakes, N.J.).
"Self-lubricating medical articles" was invented by He Bai (Sandy, Utah) and Marc Weimer (South Jordan, Utah).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Medical articles formed from a polyurethane-based resin including a modifying oligomer provide enhanced properties. A modifying oligomer incorporated into a backbone, as a side chain, or both of the polyurethane-based resin formed by a diisocyanate, a polyglycol, and a diol chain extender has at least one, preferably two, alcohol moieties (C-OH) and a functional moiety. Exemplary modifying oligomers are: a ...