Cook Medical has announced plans to invest, over the next four years, up to €16.5 million ($20 million) in its Limerick, Ireland site, with government support through IDA Ireland.

The Cook Group subsidiary has set a goal of establishing a state-of-the-art research and development laboratory that officials said will foster collaboration between researchers and clinicians and help develop anatomical models for a more realistic product testing environment. The company already employs more than 630 people in its Irish facility. 

The Limerick location will also be made the key site for the R&D of its Zilver product line, according to a press release. The Limerick facility is currently the sole manufacturing location for the company's flagship Zilver PTX drug-eluting stent. 

The Zilver device is a self-expanding drug-eluting stent coated in paclitaxel and used in treatment of peripheral artery disease. Cook filed its PMA application in June 2010, and has had CE Mark approval for sales in Europe since 2009. 

Cook Medical's Zilver PTX stent got a unanimous boost from the FDA's Circulatory Systems Devices Panel in October 2011, putting it on track for U.S. market clearance in the next few months. If approved, the device will be the first of its kind for the treatment of femoropopliteal arteries, according to a company statement. 

The new investment will enable Cook Ireland to create an R&D team exclusively for this product pipeline and expand its current capabilities of endoscopy and urology product R&D.