ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 3 -- United States Patent no. 12,343,481, issued on July 1, was assigned to Hollister Inc. (Libertyville, Ill.).
"Urinary catheter assemblies having a sleeve" was invented by Padraig M. O'Flynn (Ballina, Ireland), James J. Fitzpatrick (Ballina, Ireland) and Shamsedin Rostami (South Cambridgeshire, Great Britain).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A catheter assembly includes a catheter at least partially positioned within a sleeve. The catheter has a coating, which produces a low-friction surface on the catheter when treated with an activating fluid. A protective tip is connected to the sleeve and has proximal and distal internal seals, with the proximal seal at the proximal ...