Patent ID: 8586072

Claim:
A therapeutic-agent releasing medical device made by a method comprising accelerating inorganic nanoparticles onto an upper surface of a structure that comprises (a) a substrate and (b) a therapeutic layer comprising a therapeutic agent disposed over said substrate, said inorganic nanoparticles being accelerated under conditions in which a nanoporous layer comprising fused inorganic nanoparticles is formed over said structure, wherein the therapeutic-agent-containing layer is a discontinuous layer, wherein said inorganic layer is in contact with both the substrate and the therapeutic-agent-containing layer, wherein the inorganic layer is fused to the underlying substrate at positions where the underlying substrate is not covered by the therapeutic-agent-containing layer, wherein the inorganic nanoparticles comprise biostable metallic nanoparticles selected from tantalum nanoparticles and iridium nanoparticles and wherein the average nanoparticle diameter is between 2 and 20 nm in diameter.