A medical prosthetic device or medical
implant containing a
metal material (A) selected from the group consisting of
titanium or an
alloy thereof,
zirconium or an
alloy thereof,
tantalum or an
alloy thereof,
hafnium or an alloy thereof,
niobium or an alloy thereof and a
chromium-
vanadium alloy, wherein surface parts of the
metal material (A) are coated with a layer of a corresponding
hydride material (B) selected from
titanium hydride,
zirconium hydride,
tantalum hydride,
hafnium hydride,
niobium hydride and
chromium and / or
vanadium hydride, respectively, said device or
implant being characterised in that the layer of hydride material (B) comprises one or more
biomolecule substances (C) associated therewith. The device or
implant exhibits improved
biocompatibility. The
metal material (A) is preferably
titanium. The
biomolecule substance (C) may be selected from the following types of substances: Natural or recombinant bio-adhesives; natural or recombinant
cell attachment factors; natural, recombinant or synthetic biopolymers; natural or recombinant
blood proteins; natural or recombinant enzymes; natural or recombinant
extracellular matrix proteins; natural or synthetic
extracellular matrix biomolecules; natural or recombinant growth factors and hormones; natural, recombinant or synthetic
peptide hormones; natural, recombinant or synthetic deoxyribonucleic acids; natural, recombinant or synthetic ribonucleic acids; natural or recombinant receptors;
enzyme inhibitors; drugs; biologically active anions and cations; vitamins;
adenosine monophosphate (AMP),
adenosine diphosphate (ADP) or
adenosine triphosphate (A TP); marker biomolecules; amino acids; fatty acids; nucleotides (
RNA and
DNA bases); and sugars.