The Sticky Link Between Ketchup Bottles and Medical Device Tubing

Back in 2015, a former MD+DI editor reported about a super-hydrophobic coating that could prove useful for ketchup bottles and an array of medical devices.

The transparent nonstick coating, known as LiquiGlide, could coat the inside of ketchup bottles and make it possible to empty an entire bottle without allowing any of the condiment to cling to the inside of the bottle. It could also coat stents and medical tubing, the article noted.

MIT researchers invented the coating technology, which was licensed out to form a startup by the same name, LiquiGlide.

Today, LiquiGlide is used to enhance the performance of a wide range of medical products, including vascular access and implantable devices, surgical products, medical device instrumentation, processing, and biomedical packaging. According to the company, the technology enhances lubricity, eases insertion, improves patency, reduces thrombosis, and reduces the rate of biofilm buildup. The product also has uses in drug delivery containers and packaging, and in biopharmaceutical manufacturing.

It doesn't specifically call out ketchup bottles, but the company does tout the benefits of LiquiGlide in reducing residual product waste, and minimizing complex plastic packaging.