Covalon Technologies has granted exclusive rights to Molnlycke Heath Care to exploit Covalon's antimicrobial silicone adhesive technology in the field of single-use surgical, wound care and vascular access medical dressings.

Pursuant to the terms of the licensing agreement, Molnlycke Heath Care will pay $3.5m in upfront license fees and additional ongoing minimum royalties, milestone payments and other fees to Covalon.

As per the agreement, Covalon will hold the rights to exploit this technology in other fields and commercialize new life-saving products in its development pipeline while continuing to distribute its other products.

Covalon and Molnlycke Heath Care have also signed a supply and distribution agreement.

Under the supply and distribution agreement, Covalon will provide its US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved products including SurgiClear and IV Clear to Molnlycke for distribution under the Molnlycke brand.

The antimicrobial silicone adhesive technology is a key component of IV Clear and SurgiClear products.

These products have been clinically validated by clinicians in the US, Canada and the Middle East as an important tool in the fight against healthcare acquired infections.

Covalon CEO Brian Pedlar noted the company is delighted to sign a major agreement with Molnlycke, the best partner for Covalon to license its antimicrobial silicone adhesive to because of their domination of the silicone wound dressing market.

"Molnlycke’s global reach and talented sales force will greatly expand the distribution of Covalon’s antimicrobial silicone adhesive technology in the surgical, wound care and vascular access markets.

"With some 7,400 staff across over 30 countries and over 1.7 billion medical dressings and surgical products made per year, Molnlycke is the clear market leader in silicone wound dressings. Molnlycke is well positioned to take IV Clear and SurgiClear into market leading positions.

"This license and distribution agreement is a major validation of our team’s ability to research, develop and commercialize breakthrough products and we are looking forward to developing new products with Molnlycke based on our antimicrobial silicone adhesive technology," Pedlar added.