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TIPS, TRENDS & NEWS YOU CAN USE

JOHNSON & JOHNSON ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT TO PURCHASE AMO

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) announced it reached an agreement to purchase Abbott Medical Optics for $4.325 billion. The deal is expected to close in 2017.

The acquisition will include three business segments: cataract surgery, laser refractive surgery and consumer eye health.

“With the acquisition of Abbott Medical Optics’ strong and differentiated surgical ophthalmic portfolio, coupled with our world-leading Acuvue contact lens business, we will become a more broad-based leader in vision care,” says Ashley McEvoy, J&J company group chair, responsible for vision care companies.

Ms. McEvoy says eye health is one of the top health care markets, growing at 5% a year. As O.D.s provide more medical services, it creates opportunities for optometrists and ophthalmologists “to coordinate care,” says Ms. McEvoy. “We think there is a unique role J&J can play with connecting communities of care, really in the service of patients.” ■

PRACTICES THAT STORE MULTIFOCALS INCREASE SALES, SAYS ABB OPTICAL

Practices that store multifocal contact lenses increase their multifocal sales 3.1 times faster than the market, reveals ABB Optical Group, an optical products distributor that serves two-thirds of U.S. practicing optometrists and that recently assessed the multifocal contact lens market.

Other findings:

• Practices more active in fitting multifocals tend to increase their total contact lens portfolios faster than those that are not; those practices with, at minimum, 15% of their total contact lens revenue in multifocals are increasing their total contact lens portfolios by almost 60% faster than the market.

• A multifocal contact lens fit commonly drives 52% more of a dollar margin vs. a spherical fit.

• The multifocal contact lens segment is up 17% overall, on a dollar basis, through the first half of the year, prompted mostly by a growth in daily disposable multifocals, which are up more than 90% year-to-date. ■

Courtesy, ABB Optical

NDA SUBMITTED FOR ONCE-A-DAY GLAUCOMA DROP

Aerie Pharmaceuticals has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the FDA for its once-a-day IOP-lowering drop netarsudil ophthalmic solution 0.02% (Rhopressa) for glaucoma or ocular hypertension patients.

Rhopressa targets the trabecular meshwork and has been shown to inhibit both Rho Kinase and norepinephrine transporter. Aerie says preclinical research is underway to assess whether Rhopressa offers any neuroprotective benefits. ■

Once-a-day drop in the works

FDA GIVES NOD TO MYOPIA-CORRECTING DEVICE

ZEISS’s Visumax Small Incision Lenticule Extraction (SMILE) flapless procedure has received FDA approval for the elimination of myopia (-1.00D to -8.00D, with ≤ -0.50D cylinder and MRSE -8.25D) in patients 22 or older who have documentation of stable manifest refraction through the past year.

Specifically, surgeons use VisuMax femtosecond laser to make a thin disc-shaped lenticule in the cornea. Surgeons then remove the lenticule through a small cut on the cornea’s surface, also made by the laser.

The outer corneal layer remains largely intact, aiding in the eye’s biomechanical and refractive stability and quick recovery.

SMILE has been available in 61 countries around the world, and more than 500,000 procedures have been performed internationally since its 2011 debut, the company says.

ZEISS is now assessing whether astigmatic myopia could also benefit from SMILE ■

OGS’S 10TH WORLD SIGHT DAY CHALLENGE FOCUSES ON CHILDREN

Optometry Giving Sight has joined forces with several optometric companies in a coalition to support the 10th Annual World Sight Day Challenge, which runs through the month of October.

This year’s Challenge encourages members of the vision care community to make a donation or participate in a fundraising event to help fund sustainable eye health projects for children and adolescents who are vision impaired or blind.

“We are grateful for the support that we receive and encourage all eye and vision care companies, networks, schools and practices to take the Challenge and make a donation so that we can help end avoidable blindness and give sight and hope to the millions of people — including children and adolescents — in need,” says Clive Miller, CEO of Optometry Giving Sight.

For additional information about the Challenge and how you may get involved, visit givingsight.org, which provides a slew of methods to give, or call (888) 647-4483 (USA) or (403) 670-2619 (Canada) ■

COOPERVISION LOOKING FOR NEXT ‘BEST PRACTICES’

In an effort to showcase practice innovations in business and patient care to help others in the optometric profession, Cooper-Vision is on the lookout for a new class of “Best Practices.”

To be considered, your practice must fit contact lenses, and you must share your insights and experiences in innovation, industry leadership and patient experience via practice profiles and stories in either written or video form at EyeCareBestPractices.com. All submissions will be accepted until Nov. 27.

The second class of “Best Practices” will be announced early 2017, CooperVision says. For additional information, visit, EyeCareBestPractices.com ■

A HALLOWEEN REMINDER

It’s the time of year to remind patients that decorative contact lenses, like all contact lenses, are medical devices that require a prescription. The AOA 2015 Eye-Q survey reports that of 16% of Americans who have worn decorative contact lenses, 26% purchased them without a prescription from a source other than an eye doctor. ■

O.D.S OFFER FASTER PHYSICAL ACCESS TO EYE CARE, STUDY REVEALS

More than 90% of Medicare beneficiaries live within 15 minutes driving distance of O.D.s, while they live within 30 minutes driving distance of ophthalmologists, reveals a study in September’s Ophthalmology.

“We [she and her fellow researchers] do not believe our study findings would impact patients’ choice on eye care providers,” says Cecilia S. Lee, M.D., assistant professor at University of Washington Medicine’s department of ophthalmology. “We believe that both optometrists and ophthalmologists are an essential part of eye care in the States and were pleased to find out that the majority of the Medicare population lives within reasonable distance from both . . .”

Specifically, the researchers looked at 2012 Medicare Provider Utilization and Payment Data from the CMS to acquire the addresses of all practicing O.D.s and M.D.s in each state who billed Medicare in 2012. Next, they assessed 2010 U.S. Census data to calculate the geolocation of the population and those older than age 65 in each location. Finally, the researchers used the geometries and driving speed limits of every street, road and highway to determine the driving distance and time to the closest eye doctor ■