CONTACT LENSES TODAY

September 21, 2003

Contact Lenses Today® is edited by Dr. Joseph T. Barr and the staff of Contact Lens Spectrum. This week CLToday® reaches nearly 10,000 readers in 74 countries.

Regretfully, our e-mail service provider dedicated the weekend to making upgrades, so we were unable to send you CLToday on its normal date. We apologize for any inconvenience. this may have caused.

B&L Gets Patent Support from EPO in Munich
In response to Bausch & Lomb's challenge that a Novartis AG (parent company of CIBA Vision) patent claiming to cover extended wear contact lenses lacked novelty and was anticipated by an earlier B&L patent, the European Patent Office (EPO) in Munich fully revoked Novartis's patent. According to B&L, it will immediately seek to once again sell its PureVision contact lenses in Germany. The company will now seek a stay of the German injunction and will ask the Irish court to stay Novartis patent proceeding against B&L in Ireland.

FDA Accepts Diquafosol NDA for Filing
The FDA has accepted for filing Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc.'s New Drug Application (NDA) for diquafosol tetrasodium ophthalmic solution for the treatment of dry eye. In its Filing Review Letter, the FDA stated that it identified no potential filing review issues during the 60-day preliminary review period. Diquafosol stimulates tear production.

Valley Contax Offers New Line of Private-Label Soft Contact Lenses
Valley Contax and Alden Optical Laboratories have established an agreement to begin marketing and distributing Alden's soft lens product line to compliment Valley Contax's existing GP product menu. The company will call the new private-label line of custom soft spherical and toric lenses Sofcontax (48% water, hioxifilcon). For more information call (800)547-8815 or visit http://www.valleycontax.com.

Opti-Free Express MPDS is proven to be compatible with Silicone Hydrogel Lenses. Silicone hydrogel lenses have unique surface and matrix properties unlike other soft lenses. In a recent independent study with 50 lens wearers, Opti-Free Express was shown to be compatible with silicone hydrogel lenses worn on a daily wear basis.* (http://www.optifree.com)
*Reference: Jonesk L; MacDougall, N; Sorbara, LG. Asymptomatic Corneal Staining Associated with the Use of Balafilcon Silicone-Hydrogel Contact Lenses Disinfected With a Polyaminopropyl Biguanide-Preserved Care Regimen. Optom Vis Sci 2003 Dec; 79 (12):753-61.
--ADVERTISING

CLMA Announces 2003 Award Winners
The Contact Lens Manufacturers Association (CLMA) recently presented four individuals with awards at its annual meeting. Follow is a list of the 2003 awards and their recipients:
Honorary Recognition: Mel Sanford, Conforma Laboratories
Leonardo DaVinci: Raleigh Althisar, OD, DOS
Dr. Josef Dallas: Brien Holden, PhD
2003 Practitioner of the Year: Joe Yager, OD, FAAO

First Issue of ASCO Newsletter Available
The Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO) has announced that the first issue of its online newsletter, Eye On Education, is available at http://www.opted.org/newsletternew. You can also access the newsletter on ASCO's Web site at http://www.opted.org.

Cooper Offers Presbyopia CE
CooperVision, Inc. has scheduled CE accredited Presbyopic Educational Seminars in conjunction with the American Optometric Association Contact Lens and Cornea Section (AOA CLCS) Educational Forum to support the company's Frequency 55 Multifocal contact lens. The seminar series is planned to begin October 21, 2003 in Chicago and will present the latest information on the correction of presbyopia. Attendees will earn CE credit at no charge through a dinner meeting format. To find out the dates and locations of seminars or any other information, call the AOA CLCS at (800) 365-2219 x137 or CooperVision marketing at (800) 538-7850.

Editor's Commentary: Still a Need for CLs
Forbes magazine had a health-related column this past week on "Vision Quest," saying that laser eye surgery has worked for millions while 18,000 patients each year undergo procedures where the results "go awry." They say that 3.5 million Americans have had LASIK since 1995. They go on to describe wavefront laser procedures as the cure. Certainly this will be the case for many patients, while many others will have to resort to contact lens wear.

Fitting Tip: Make It Easy to Keep Things Straight
When choosing tint colors for RGP lenses, here's a little tip for avoiding confusion: If your patient's eye color is dark enough and your chosen material is available in different colors, then choose green for the right eye and blue for the left eye. The reason is simple. Green has an 'r' in it for right and blue has an 'l' in it for left. Also, green and right have five letters and blue and left have four letters. This avoids the confusion of which lens goes in which eye if the dots wear off.
--Charles Spielman, Optician
Dubuque, Iowa

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