Blue Membranes and Relisys Medical announce the closing of a worldwide licence and supply agreement for BlueM’s proprietary drug-delivery coating technology.

Wiesbaden / Hyderabad, 20 May 2005: Blue Membranes, the Germany based company in material and surface engineering, has successfully closed a license and supplier contract with the India based Relisys Medical Device Ltd. Blue Membranes has licensed out its proprietary drug-delivery coating technology for drug-eluting coronary stents to the leading Indian medical device manufacturer. The Blue Membranes technology enables Relisys to get access to the highly competitive carbon-based drug-delivery platform and to exploit its existing and future combinatorial device portfolio in the coronary stent sector both in the emerging markets of Asia and Latin America as well as in the EU and the US.

Sohéil Asgari, CEO of Blue Membranes commented “The agreement is the first step in a strategic collaboration with Asia’s leading medical device manufacturer. Blue Membranes will enforce the collaboration with Relisys that enables us not only to exploit our drug-delivery technology. We also aim to integrate the manufacturing capabilities of Relisys to provide high quality manufacturing services for integrated solutions. Additionally, we will support Relisys to get access to Europe with Relisys’ highly innovative product pipeline.”

Badari Narayan, Managing Director of Relisys Medical Devices says “We are going to be present on global markets with innovative products in the interventional device sector. Blue Membranes provides a technology platform that is highly complementary to our existing products and the product portfolio pipeline. We are pleasant that the collaboration with Blue Membranes will also foster our strategy and programs for entering the US and EU market.”

Relisys Medical’s catheter manufacturing facility will be in operation shortly and it plans to go for FDA approval. Relisys Medical released the first indigenous Kalam-Raju coronary stent and has a broad R&D and a network with leading R&D institutes and universities in India.

Blue Membranes has currently released 5 drug-delivery platforms for combinatorial devices. The platforms are addressing the needs for new combinatorial devices as well as for multifunctional device coatings. Blue Membranes is a technology enabler that designs, manufactures and licenses out materials and coatings for advanced bio-medical applications in the field of medical device, tissue engineering and bio-processing technologies.

About Blue Membranes

Blue Membranes is a leading technology company focusing on nano-structured composite materials and coatings for advanced applications in medical device, biotech-engineering and chemical processing technologies.

BlueM’s unique portfolio of Nano-Carbon Systems includes:
Drug Delivery Coatings
Multifunctional Device Coatings
Advanced Carrier Systems for Bio-processing
Carbon-Ceramic and Mixed Matrix Membranes

Blue Membranes mission is to exploit its proprietary and highly innovative technology platform for materials and surface engineering of nano-structured composites. Providing a sustainable portfolio of applications in medical device engineering, bio-processing and chemical processing BlueM solutions enable its customers to acquire superior technologies for next generation applications and profitable growth.

About Relisys Medical

Relisys Medical Devices Limited is a leading Indian Device manufacturer, which has taken a lead in the indigenous development of medical devices like coronary stents, catheters and critical care products in India.

Relisys focus products includes:
Drug eluting stents
Angiographic/Angioplasty catheters
Occlusive devices
Cardiac surgery disposables
Critical care Products

Relisys Medical Devices mission is to make quality medical care affordable through development of cutting edge technology and competitive pricing. Relisys Manufacturing facilities include a stent coating division and an integrated catheter manufacturing facility with in-house compounding, extrusion, injection moulding, braiding, welding, tipping, grinding, sterilisation and others. Relisys has recently entered into an MOU with a leading International Pharma Company to work on four new compounds for DES application.

Contact
Dr. Sohéil Asgari
CEO / CTO
Blue Membranes GmbH
Rheingaustr. 190-196
D-65203 Wiesbaden, Germany
Phone +49 (0) 611.962.8730
Fax +49 (0) 611.962.9066
Mobile +49 (0) 172.986.5772

www.blue-membranes.com