Attendees at BIOMEDevice San Jose selected Zeus's LCP monofilament as the winner of the Innovation Prize.

The Zeus LCP Monofilament, launched in September, was named the BIOMEDevice San Jose Innovation Prize winner during the event on December 7. This is the second Innovation Prize win for Orangeburg, SC-based Zeus--the LCP Monofilament also pulled down the MD&M Minneapolis Innovation Prize in September.

Zeus introduced its LCP (liquid crystal polymer) Monofilament as a way to construct MRI-compatible catheters. LCP Monofilament is braided over the catheter base liner, the company explained in its entry, before being jacketed and going through the heat shrink step. The fiber offers support and strength while maintaining the catheter's torquability, stiffness, and deflectability. 

In its competition entry, the company pointed out, "Zeus LCP monofilament addresses a significant and continuing need in the medical industry for a truly MRI-compatible catheter for soft tissue visualization. While x-ray procedures have expanded to fill many of these needs, they carry with them exposure to ionizing radiation and all the attendant secondary precautions that these procedures require."

Other finalists for the BIOMEDevice San Jose Innovation Prize included a radiopaque marker coating that can be bonded directly on to a guide wire, catheter, or other device from ProPlate (Anoka, MN), a system to determine the transition temperature of nitinol from Lumenous Device Technologies (Sunnyvale, CA), miniature molding of bioabsorbable parts from MTD Micro Molding (Charlton, MA), and an "all-in-one" packaging system for catheters, guidewires, and other devices from CleanCut Technologies (Anaheim, CA). 

[Image courtesy of ZEUS]