Bangalore, 10th July ’06:
Opto Circuits (India) Ltd’s wholly-owned subsidiary
EuroCor GmBH has received CE (Communité European)
Mark approval for marketing and sale of its new Polymer-free
Paclitaxel-eluting coronary stent system, called TAXCOR-
I. This product, which is used in Coronary Angioplasty
(Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty- PTCA) is
a second-generation innovation of EuroCor’s present
blockbuster DES (drug-eluting stent) product- TAXCOR. EuroCor
GmBH is a Germany-based manufacturer of cardiovascular devices,
in particular coronary stents. OCI acquired EuroCor in December
’05, extending OCI’s product mix to invasive
medical devices.
Explaining the unique technology of this system,
Vinod Ramnani, Chairman & Managing Director,
OCI, said, “Polymeric drug carriers, coated
on the stents, have been known to cause blood clot formations,
also leading to late thrombotic complications. Eurocor is
the FIRST manufacturer of a drug-eluting coronary stent
system which uses a new, polymer-free drug attachment technology.
TAXCOR I, is thus, a path-breaking technology in the field
of DES products. It considerably enhances patient safety
and completely eliminates any polymer-related late adverse
effects unlike many other DES offerings from global giants.”
In TAXCOR I, the drug is loaded into micro
porous cavities (based on an open cellular fully carbonized
stent surface). A protective layer of specific amino acid
molecules avoids rapid drug elution and within 20 days,
it provides for a moderate drug release to the stented coronary
artery lesion. Thanks to this clinically advanced technology,
the use of TAXCOR I reduces drug dosage from 1.0µg/mm²
down to 0.5µg/mm²; this in turn eliminates any
drug-related inflammation score.
Adds Ramnani, “TAXCOR and now
TAXCOR I, are being aggressively marketed by OCI
through various distribution agreements (presently around
26) in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The CE accreditation
only makes things easier for us to now make a dent into
newer markets like Hong Kong, Pakistan, India, Taiwan, China,
Spain, and Belgium.”
The present world market for coronary
stents is around $ 8 Billion. Stents are used for successful
re-opening of narrowed coronary arteries, for full blood
flow restoration, to avoid bypass surgery. The latest generation
are Drug-eluting coronary stents; these optimize long-term
patient results by a drug which is gradually delivered locally
to the stented coronary artery lesion site. Such drug reduces
any hyperplasia reaction which may be caused by the stenting
procedure.
