CONTACT LENSES TODAY
January 27, 2008
Contact Lenses Today® is edited by Dr. Carla Mack and the staff of Contact Lens Spectrum. This week CLToday® reaches more than 14,000 readers in 74 countries.
Bausch & Lomb Names Gerald M. Ostrov Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Bausch & Lomb announced that it has named Gerald M. Ostrov as chairman and chief executive officer, effective immediately. Most recently, Mr. Ostrov was company group chairman, Worldwide Vision Care, for Johnson & Johnson, where he led the company's global Vision Care businesses from 1998 to 2006.
Current Chairman and CEO Ronald L. Zarrella will retire in March and serve as chairman emeritus.
Mr. Ostrov, who holds an M.B.A. from Harvard University and a B.S. degree in industrial engineering and operations research from Cornell University, first joined Johnson & Johnson in 1976, before leaving for CIBA-Geigy AG in 1982. He was named president, CIBA Consumer Pharmaceuticals, in 1985. In 1991, he returned to Johnson & Johnson as president of its Personal Products business, and then became company group chairman for its North American Consumer and Personal Care businesses.
Alcon's Packaging for Opti-Free Replenish MPDS Encourages Annual Eye Examinations
"See Your Doctor Yearly" now appears as a banner on Alcon's Opti-Free Replenish starter kits to remind patients of the importance of regular eye examinations. Beginning in February, this message will appear on all Opti-Free Replenish packaging.
Per the company, both the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) and American Optometric Association (AOA) recommend regular eye examinations for everyone; the AOA specifically recommends that contact lens wearers receive more frequent examinations. Not all patients appreciate the importance of annual eye examinations, however, so educating the public, particularly contact lens wearers, remains an ongoing challenge. According to Alcon, expanding the prevalence of this public education message on Opti-Free Replenish packaging and consumer communication vehicles is one way Alcon helps eyecare professionals address this challenge.
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Independent ECPs' Soft Contact Lens Margins Steady in Q4 2007
According to information from ABB/Con•Cise, independent eyecare practitioners (ECPs) continued to earn a 45% gross profit margin on sales of soft contact lenses during the fourth quarter 2007 (Q4), a profit margin virtually unchanged over the past eight quarters.
According to the company, the finding is derived from a recent analysis by ABB/Con•Cise, the largest U.S. soft lens distributor, which conducts an on-going quarterly audit of ECP soft lens retail pricing. Per ABB/Con•Cise, additional highlights of the Q4 analysis include:
- ECPs earn the identical profit margin from sales of silicone hydrogel lenses as from sales of the mature HEMA-based lenses. Silicone hydrogels now produce over 45% of the profits earned by ECPs from sale of soft lenses.
- Highest profit margins are earned on sales of soft torics and multi-focal lenses; lower margins on daily disposables and colored contact lenses.
- Soft torics account for 19.3% of soft lens purchases by ECPs, but 21.3% of ECP retail sales and 23.7% of gross profits.
Bausch & Lomb to Acquire Eyeonics, Inc.
Bausch & Lomb announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Eyeonics, Inc., a privately held ophthalmic medical device company headquartered in Aliso Viejo,CA. Financial terms of the transaction, which is expected to close during the first quarter of 2008 subject to standard regulatory approval, were not disclosed.
Upon completion of the acquisition, Eyeonics' operations will become part of Bausch & Lomb's surgical business. The U.S. surgical business will be led by J. Andy Corley, Eyeonics' co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer.
Eyeonics, founded in 1998, developed and markets the Crystalens intraocular lens (IOL), the first and only U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved accommodating IOL for the treatment of cataracts.
Fusarium and Candida Albicans Biofilms on Soft Contact Lenses
Fungal keratitis is commonly caused by Fusarium species and less commonly by Candida species. Recent outbreaks of Fusarium keratitis were associated with contact lens wear and with ReNu with MoistureLoc contact lens care solution, and biofilm formation on contact lens/lens cases was proposed to play a role in this outbreak. However, no in vitro model for contact lens-associated fungal biofilm has been developed. In this study, the authors developed and characterized in vitro models of biofilm formation on various soft contact lenses using three species of Fusarium and Candida albicans.
The contact lenses tested were etafilcon A, galyfilcon A, lotrafilcon A, balafilcon A, alphafilcon A, and polymacon. The results showed that clinical isolates of Fusarium and C. albicans formed biofilms on all types of lenses tested and that the biofilm architecture varied with the lens type. Moreover, differences in hyphal content and architecture were found between the biofilms formed by these fungi. The researchers also found that two recently isolated keratitis-associated fusaria formed robust biofilms, while the reference ATCC 36031 strain (recommended by the International Organization for Standardization guidelines for testing of disinfectants) failed to form biofilm. Furthermore, using the developed in vitro biofilm model, they showed that phylogenetically diverse planktonic fusaria and Candida were susceptible to MoistureLoc and MultiPlus. However, Fusarium biofilms exhibited reduced susceptibility against these solutions in a species- and time-dependent manner. This in vitro model should provide a better understanding of the biology and pathogenesis of lens-related fungal keratitis.
Imamura Y, Chandra J, Mukherjee PK, Lattif AA, Szczotka-Flynn LB, Pearlman E, Lass JH, O'Donnell K, Ghannoum MA. Fusarium and Candida albicans Biofilms on Soft Contact Lenses: Model Development, Influence of Lens Type, and Susceptibility to Lens Care Solutions. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2008 Jan;52(1):171-82. Epub.
Reader Commentary:
Learn About Value
Your
commentary from January 20 is dead-on accurate. If one doesn't perceive the value in what they do, nobody else will either. I think this each time I see a discount plan solicitation come across my desk. Unfortunately, too many ODs are willing to sign-up for anything. I hope your frank commentaries will change some mindsets.
Douglas Oney, O.D.
Canton, OH
Reader Commentary:
Consider Professional Mentoring
Dr. Mack's
commentary from January 20 on her thoughts after talking to a dental student is very accurate about most optometrists not placing adequate value on their professional services. We need to provide more professional mentoring to our students before and after graduation. My wife's training as a physician did not specifically involve fees, however the value and importance of her professional services was strongly reinforced during her training.
John Funnell, O.D. F.A.A.O.
Manhattan Beach, CA
Editor's Commentary:
Choose Your Words Carefully
The lead story in the January 13th edition of Contact Lenses Today read "Consumers Who Purchase Contact Lenses Online Face Greater Eye Health Risks." The intent of our story was to report the AOA press release titled "New Research Shows Consumers Who Purchase Contact Lenses Online Face Greater Eye Health Risks Due To Not Following FDA Safety Recommendations." The AOA press release and our story were summaries of the Fogel and Zidile study titled "Contact lenses purchased over the Internet place individuals potentially at risk for harmful eye care practices" published in the January 2008 edition of Optometry: Journal of the American Optometric Association.
On behalf of Contact Lenses Today, I would like to apologize for what I believe was a poor and misleading title choice. A better choice would have been "Consumers Who Purchase Contact Lenses Online Are Less Likely to Follow FDA Safety Recommendations." We strive to report the news based on fact and not sensationalize the news. In this case, I believe our title, although not intentional, was misleading to our readers. The study title itself is carefully worded with the use of the word potentially. You simply cannot leap to the conclusion that all of these surveyed patients face greater eye health risks.
Carla Mack, O.D., F.A.A.O.
This month at http://www.siliconehydrogels.org consider whether silicone hydrogels require one or more unique FDA class(es); review the case of a pediatric patient successfully fit with silicone hydrogels after a diagnosis of unilateral congenital cataract; read about a study designed to determine the quantity and identity of protein deposited on silicone hydrogel lenses; and review the latest silicone hydrogel research in part two of our synopsis of the 2007 BCLA meeting.
Report adverse contact lens reactions here: http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/medwatch/ or call (800) FDA-1088.
Send your favorite tips to tips@cltoday.com. Your tip may be selected as best of the month. See http://www.CLToday.com for details. Please include your full name, degree or title and city/state/country.
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