They sold Arcon, and in 1988, after reports of serious latex allergy reactions, they launched Rochester Medical to develop catheters made of other materials.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Colorado MEDtech, of Boulder, Colorado, makes an assortment of medical equipment from catheters and respiratory equipment to radio frequency amplifiers used in magnetic resonance imaging systems.

FORBES: The hot ones

Because it has antibacterial and antifungal properties, it is included in catheters and other medical devices to reduce the risk of infection.

FORBES: Gold Is Good, These Five Metals May Be Better

Claiming "thousands of preventable infections, injuries, diseases and deaths, " Rochester Medical, a small maker of catheters and urological devices, is suing Tyco and C.

FORBES: Companies, People, Ideas

Instead, new medical devices allow valves to be fixed or replaced with tiny catheters that are snaked up from the groin, similar to the way stents are implanted in the heart to open clogged arteries when people have heart attacks or pain from a lack of good circulation in the heart muscle.

FORBES: New Heart Valves Prove We're Living In The Future

The key use for the gel, however, is likely to be in medical devices that are inserted into the body (pace makers, hip implants, catheters, and so forth), on which biofilm infections can grow and be particularly dangerous.

FORBES: The Semi-Conductor Tech that Could Eliminate Superbugs