Precision Optics Corporation, Inc. (NASDAQ: POCI), a leading designer and manufacturer of advanced optical instruments for the medical and defense / aerospace industries, today announced it has signed a production and technology license agreement with a leading surgical robotics company to supply a single-use endoscope assembly used in their cystoscopy robotic surgery system.
The agreement arises following joint product development initiatives between the two companies over the past eighteen months, relying heavily on Precision Optics Corporation’s (POC’s) unique micro-optics and digital imaging technologies.
Production of the endoscope assembly is expected to occur at POC’s facilities beginning in the next six to twelve months and to continue for the foreseeable future.
Should our customer later decide, however, to transfer production to one of their facilities or to a third-party manufacturer, POC would support the transfer and reap the benefits under the agreement’s multi-year royalty provisions governing manufacturing at non-POC facilities.
“We are extremely pleased to conclude this agreement with one of the industry leaders in surgical robotic systems to bring to market a next generation single-use cystoscope solution,” commented Dr. Joe Forkey, CEO of Precision Optics. “This production and technology license agreement mirrors the agreement we announced a year ago for a single-use ophthalmic product. In both cases, these agreements provide mutual benefit to POC and our customer to address the unique economics required for single-use applications. We are already scaling up for initial production in calendar 2024 with an expectation for full system commercialization in the next twelve to eighteen months.”
Forkey continued, “The market for medical devices continues to be robust with the single-use device segment growing at two to three times faster than the market in general. We believe this is due in part to the desire of the medical community to replace reusable products with single-use equivalents and the efforts of device companies to design and manufacture new products as single-use wherever possible. The combination of POC’s unique technical capabilities in the design and manufacture of single-use devices, combined with the successful business model demonstrated by the production and technology licensing agreements we have successfully negotiated with customers, position us well to capitalize on this rapidly growing market.”
Source: Company Press Release
