Bausch + Lomb (B+L) has named Fred Hassan as Chairman of the Board of Directors and named Brent Saunders as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), also appointing him to the Board of Directors, effective immediately. Current Chairman and CEO Gerald M. Ostrov is retiring, and will serve as a consultant to the new leaders.
     Mr. Hassan served as Chairman and CEO of Schering-Plough Corporation until its merger with Merck & Co. in November 2009. He led a six-year transformation of Schering-Plough into one of the highest performing companies in the research-based global pharmaceutical industry. Previously Mr. Hassan was Chairman and CEO of Pharmacia Corporation. Earlier in his career, Mr. Hassan was President of the U.S. operations of Wyeth and held positions of increasing importance at Novartis. Since November 2009 he has served as a senior advisor to Warburg Pincus LLC, the private equity investing group which is the majority owner of B+L.
     Brent Saunders was previously Senior Vice President and President of Schering-Plough's Consumer Healthcare unit. As a member of Schering-Plough's executive committee, Mr. Saunders also played a key role in the transformation of the company. He joined Schering-Plough in 2003 as the head of a new Compliance and Business Practices unit. Mr. Saunders managed Schering-Plough's integration of Organon BioSciences of the Netherlands and led the company's integration planning teams for the 2009 combination with Merck.
     "Jerry Ostrov stabilized a very challenging situation at Bausch + Lomb and helped move us toward a stronger global organization. During his tenure the company improved on many fronts. We thank him for these major accomplishments," said Mr. Hassan. "Now we will be initiating a new phase to take Bausch + Lomb to an even higher level of performance. I look forward to my role as chairman of an active and engaged Board of Directors, working closely with and supporting our new CEO Brent Saunders."
     B+L also announced the appointment of Robert Steffen, OD, MS, to Director, Clinical Affairs, Vision Care. In his new role, Dr. Steffen will provide clinical support for new product development.
     "As director of Clinical Affairs, Dr. Steffen will lead our global clinical research teams and work with a number of external partners to ensure rapid development of our lens and lens care products," said Joseph T. Barr, Vice President, Global Clinical & Medical Affairs and Professional Services, Vision Care.
     Dr. Steffen joined B+L in 2007 as the Director of Surgical Product Analysis. Previously Dr. Steffen spent 11 years at Vistakon, where he held several clinical research and managerial roles supporting product development. Dr. Steffen obtained his doctor of optometry degree from The Ohio State University College of Optometry, where he also completed a master's degree in Physiological Optics. He holds several patents relating to silicone hydrogel contact lenses, and is a member of the American Optometric Association and the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.

Menicon Co., Ltd. announced that on February 1, 2010 it acquired all shares of Tomey Co., Ltd. from Tomey Shoji, Inc.
     Tomey Co., Ltd. is a major Japan-based manufacturer of contact lens care solutions, soft contact lenses, and RGP materials. Tomey Co., Ltd. has been the contracted supplier to Menicon Co., of contact lens care solutions, and exclusive supplier of Menicon monthly replacement soft contact lenses, and latheable RGP and soft lens materials including Menicon Z, Menicon EX, Menisoft and Menicon Soft 72. This acquisition enables Menicon to control completely the manufacture of its lens and lens care products, and will strengthen the company's competitiveness in Japan as well as global markets.
     Tomey Co., Ltd. will be renamed, MeniconNect. A former director of Tomey, Mr. Minamikawa, was appointed to lead MeniconNect as its President and Mr. Tsuchida of Menicon was named Executive Vice President.
     "Menicon is very pleased to complete, through this acquisition, the vertical integration of manufacturing and material procurement into the operation. Having complete control of manufacturing operations will help us provide even better products and services, and excellent value to all our customers in Japan and around the world," commented Dr. Hidenari Tanaka, President of Menicon Co., Ltd.. 

Bausch + Lomb (B+L) announced the relaunch of renu fresh multi-purpose contact lens solution. Now available in a clear bottle, renu fresh multi-purpose solution allows contact lens wearers to see exactly how much solution is remaining. The new packaging is easier to recycle, making it more environmentally friendly, according to the company.
     The renu brand is available in two formulations, renu fresh and renu sensitive. Coinciding with the relaunch, consumers are invited to visit www.renu.com for more information and a coupon for their next purchase of renu.

Patients wearing contact lenses for astigmatism feel the lens sometimes rotates on the eye, resulting in blurry vision. The Accelerated Stabilization Design (ASD) of ACUVUE® OASYS™ Brand Contact Lenses for ASTIGMATISM provides greater stability by harnessing the pressure of the blink. ASD has four zones of stability to help maintain the position of the lens, resulting in more consistent visual acuity during repetitive eye movements and throughout everyday activities. So with ACUVUE® OASYS™ Brand for ASTIGMATISM, you provide your astigmatic patients with stable, crisp vision throughout their day.
For more information, click here. 

ACUVUE® Brand Contact Lenses are indicated for vision correction. As with any contact lens, eye problems, including corneal ulcers, can develop. Some wearers may experience mild irritation, itching or discomfort. Lenses should not be prescribed if patients have any eye infection, or experience eye discomfort, excessive tearing, vision changes, redness or other eye problems. Consult the package insert for complete information. Complete information is also available from VISTAKON®, Division of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc., by calling 1-800-843-2020 or by visiting jnjvisioncare.com.
     ACUVUE®, ACUVUE® OASYS™, and VISTAKON® are trademarks of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc.
© Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. 2010.
--ADVERTISING

Independent Doctors of Optometric Care (IDOC) invites optometrists to its enhanced "CEO" oriented program for the IDOC annual meeting, April 9-11 at Mohegan Sun Resort & Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. The meeting offers five of the industry's top business development speakers in one location and features more than 13 hours of CE (most COPE-approved) along with special workshops and staff training.
     Friday's early arrivals will hear Jay Binkowitz lecture on "A Forensic Study to Assist in Understanding Your Profitability." On Saturday, Neil Gailmard, OD will present "Become the CEO of Your Practice: Manage the People, Process and Expense." Sunday's program includes John Rumpakis, OD lecturing on "Cracking the Code: Advanced Coding Concepts & Updates 2010" and Scot Morris, OD on "An Overview of Electronic Health Records," both COPE sessions. A range of workshops will be offered during the meeting.
     Registration details, along with IDOC membership benefits, newsletter archives and other information, are available on the new IDOC Web site, www.idoc.net.

The Foundation for Eye Health Awareness officially elected a board of directors at its recent meeting. This board will replace the interim board of directors who have been serving since October 2009. Also as a result of this meeting, an Advisory Council has been formed to provide feedback on programs and activities of the foundation.
     The officers elected to the foundation's board include Barry Barresi, OD, PhD, Executive Director of the American Optometric Association, who will serve as Chairman of the organization; Wally Lovejoy, Senior Vice President of Eye Care Development for Luxottica Retail, who will serve as Vice-Chairman and Ed Greene, CEO of The Vision Council, who will serve as Secretary/Treasurer.
     The following will also serve on the foundation's board: Joe Boorady, OD, Vice President, Clinical Education and Strategic Accounts, Carl Zeiss Meditec; Dori Carlson, OD, founder and partner, Heartland Eye Care and Vice President, American Optometric Association; Bart Foster, CEO and founder, SoloHealth; Tom Hicks, immediate Past President, Opticians Association of America; Steve Ingram, Executive Director, National Association of Vision Care Plans; Greg Marko, Director of Marketing, Transitions Optical; Marguerite McDonald, MD, cornea, cataract and refractive surgeon, Ophthalmic Consultants of Long Island; Paul E. Michelson, MD, FACS, Assistant Clinical Professor, University of California at San Diego School of Medicine; Daniel Monaco, Vice President, Market Innovations and Retail Markets, Essilor of America; Stan Rogaski, Executive Director, Contact Lens Institute; Dave Sattler, Director of Professional Relations, Alcon; Ken Stellmacher, Director, Consumer Marketing, VSP Vision Care; Jeff Todd, COO, Prevent Blindness America and Mike Daley, President and Executive Director, The Foundation for Eye Health Awareness
     The Advisory Council will be asked to provide feedback on the activities and programs of the foundation quarterly via e-mails or surveys. Initial invitations to join the group have been extended to the 2009 Eye Health Summit attendees; however, all members of the vision community are encouraged to get involved. The first opportunity for the Advisory Council to provide feedback will come in the next few weeks as the foundation prepares for the 2010 Eye Health Summit. After considering the Advisory Council's input, the foundation will share its recommendations for an expanded Eye Health Summit this summer.
     For more information about the Eye Health Summit or to join the Advisory Council, please contact Stephanie Campbell at scampbell@ehafoundation.org.  

OccuLogix, Inc., dba TearLab Corporation, announced that Paul M. Karpecki, OD, FAAO has been appointed to its Board of Directors.
     Dr. Karpecki is currently on staff at the Koffler Vision Group in Cornea services and Ocular Disease Research. In addition, he is the Chair of the Refractive Surgery Advisory Board to the American Optometric Association (AOA), Co-Chair of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery Task Force on the Integrated Eyecare Delivery System and serves on the AOA Congress Education Committee.
     A noted educator and author on ocular surface disease, Dr. Karpecki presently serves on eight professional journal editorial boards. He has lectured in over 400 symposia covering four continents and was invited to participate in both the Delphi International Society at Wilmer- John's Hopkins that includes the top 25 Dry Eye Disease ("DED") experts in the world, and the National Eye Institute's DED committee.

Contact angle measurements are used to infer the clinical wetting characteristics of contact lenses. Such characterization has become more commonplace since the introduction of silicone hydrogel contact lens materials, which have been associated with reduced in vivo wetting due to the inclusion of siloxane-containing components.
     Using consistent methodology and a single investigator, advancing and receding contact angles were measured for 11 commercially available silicone hydrogel contact lens types with a dynamic captive bubble technique employing customized, fully automated image analysis. Advancing contact angles were found to range between 20 degrees and 72 degrees with the lenses falling into six statistically discrete groupings. Receding contact angles fell within a narrower range, between 17 degrees and 22 degrees, with the lenses segregated into three groups.
     The researchers concluded that the relationship between these laboratory measurements and the clinical performance of the lenses requires further investigation.
Read ML, Morgan PB, Kelly JM, Maldonado-Codina C. Dynamic Contact Angle Analysis of Silicone Hydrogel Contact Lenses. J Biomater Appl 2010.

I was able to attend the Netherland Contact Lens Congress (NCC) this past week, and what an exciting meeting it was. It was, without question, one of the best contact lens-based educational meetings I have ever attended. There were over 40 international speakers present with over 1600 unique registrants. It's very exciting to see contact lenses thriving in other parts of the world.
Jason J. Nichols, OD, MPH, PhD, FAAO 

This month at www.siliconehydrogels.org: a review of the potential uses, efficacy, safety and clinical performance of antimicrobial contact lens technology.