Bangalore, April 25, 2006:
EuroCOR GmbH, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Opto Circuits
(India) Ltd. (OCIL), India’s leading manufacturer
of healthcare equipments, has signed a distribution agreement
with the German/Swiss medical device sales organization
"Fumedica AG". Fumedica AG has taken overall marketing
and distribution rights of EuroCOR’s entire range
of coronary stent systems and balloon dilatation catheters,
for the German and Swiss market.
“We are very pleased and excited after
having signed this deal. This deal is expected to
generate revenues of at least Rs. 27 crore during the first
year for us. Fumedica is a well established medical
distribution company with total sales of 54 million Swiss
Francs per annum and additional sales of 25 million Swiss
Francs on the German market. Fumedica represents heart valves
and other specialities and is well introduced in the market
segment of cardiology. Germany is the largest medical market
in Europe, with about 2,20,000 coronary stent systems, implanted
per year, while Switzerland uses up to 20,000 coronary stent
systems, each year. This deal opens up a vast market for
us in Europe,” said Vinod Ramnani, Chairman
& Managing Director.
EuroCOR develops innovative coronary stent
systems for the successful treatment of lesions in coronary
arteries. Patients with narrowed coronary arteries suffer
from a blockage of oxygen supply to the heart muscle, eventually
resulting in heart infarction. EuroCOR recently received
CE mark approval of its "blockbuster" Genius TAXCOR,
Paclitaxel-eluting coronary stent system.
“The CE certification allows EuroCOR
to begin marketing the drug eluting stents in 25 countries
of the European Union as well as in the Middle East, Latin
America and Asia. This product is based on the Mega flexibility
platform technology, which ensures lowest stent friction
to the arterial wall in particular after drug elution is
done,” elaborated Ramnani. Taxcor represents the 2nd
DES generation as it eliminates major potential patient
problems, common to other drug-eluting coronary stents,
like polymer-induced inflammatory complications for the
patient’s coronary artery.
EuroCOR has developed another Genius MAGIC
coronary stent system, which is made of cobalt chromium
alloy and which provides the thinnest stent strut design
on the market. The minimized stent strut material inside
the coronary artery, after implantation, may be for the
great benefit of the patient.
This is the first major agreement signed by
EuroCOR, after it has been acquired by OCIL in January 2006,
at a cost of €11 million (Rs. 59.91 crore). By acquiring
EuroCOR, OCIL gets to access the existing as well as potential
market for stents globally. The total global market for
stents was valued at $6 billion in 2004 and is expected
to rise to $10 billion by 2008. EuroCOR is now in the process
of applying for FDA and other major approvals necessary
for selling in the US.
OCIL recently completed its Follow-on Public
Offer (FPO) of 40,00,000 equity shares of Rs. 10 each for
cash at a premium of Rs. 260, through the 100% book building
process. The FPO of OCIL constituted 12.99% of the fully
diluted post-issue paid-up capital, which now stands at
Rs. 30.81 crore.
