Medical Murray and Merge today announced a strategic partnership designed to accelerate early medical device innovation, improve its practicality, and make it easier to advance into regulated development at the right time.

The partnership connects Merge’s early-stage design, prototyping, and commercialization planning capabilities with Medical Murray’s technical expertise in complex catheters, implants, and interventional devices. Together, the teams intend to provide better support for exploratory R&D before projects enter more regulated development pathways.

For established medical device companies, the partnership expands Medical Murray’s ability to engage earlier in the innovation process, including creative design and rapid prototyping for R&D programs that are not yet ready for regulated development.

“We talk to a lot of teams who have good ideas but aren’t ready for a regulated development program yet,” Medical Murray CEO Andy Leopold said. “Working closely with Merge helps those ideas move forward earlier, while keeping Medical Murray focused on the development and manufacturing work we do best. When a project is ready to move forward, the transition is much smoother.”

For hospitals, clinician inventors, and early-stage startups, the partnership allows Merge clients to access subject matter experts, equipment, and technical insight from Medical Murray earlier in development, while maintaining the speed, flexibility, and cost effectiveness for which Merge is known.

Merge will continue to work with a broad network of contract manufacturers and industry partners and views this collaboration as a model for the way early development teams and downstream manufacturers can work together more effectively across the medtech ecosystem.

“Most of the teams we work with are early and still figuring things out. They need to move fast, keep costs reasonable, and get something real built without being forced into a heavy development process too soon,” Merge CEO Tanner Hargens stated. “At Merge, our job is to help an idea exist. This partnership lets us do that while bringing in Medical Murray’s catheter and implant expertise at the right time, and gives those projects a clear path to cleanroom manufacturing when they’re ready.”

Since 1996, Medical Murray has been a privately owned company producing finished medical devices, components, and subassemblies for customers worldwide ranging from startups to the largest OEMs. The firm specializes in developing, testing, and manufacturing permanent implants, delivery systems, and complex catheters for vascular, gastrointestinal, urologic, and other interventional markets. Medical Murray is headquartered in North Barrington, Ill., with an additional facility in Lake Zurich, Ill. Both facilities are U.S. Food and Drug Administration-registered and ISO 13485:2016 certified for the design, development, manufacturing, purchasing, sales, assembly, packaging, and sterilization of medical devices. Medical Murray also has an ISO/IEC 17025:2017-accredited laboratory for testing medical devices.