Opto Circuits India's (OCI) newly incorporated subsidiary Maxcor Lifescience Inc, has entered into a strategic cooperation agreement with Micell Technologies, Inc, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. Maxcor and Micell will co-operate in developing and commercializing leading edge Rapamycin (sirolimus) - based drug eluting stents (DES) and drug eluting balloons (DEB). This will complement OCI's present range of successful paclitaxel-based drug-device combination products.

Offering products with both compounds will enable OCI to maximize its market by way of addressing additional clinical scenarios. The jointly-developed offerings will have cardio-vascular applications that will advance the treatment of many clinical conditions while also minimizing their potential risks or side-effects.

Vinod Ramnani, chairman & managing director, OCI, commented, "The science of medicating an interventional device is highly complex and requires exceptional clinical expertise and know-how. We are proud to begin working with Micell which has a strong intellectual property portfolio in this arena and which we hope will help give momentum to our jointly developed new products in new and regulated markets."

Micell Technologies Inc is a privately-held, early-stage biomedical company dedicated to applying its unique surface and polymer modification technologies for improved patient benefits for medical device and drug delivery applications. Its first product, MiStent, is a rapid absorbing coated drug-eluting stent with precise control of drug release and pharmacokinetics.