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September 16, 2016April 24, 2018

Johnson & Johnson Acquires Abbott Medical Optics

Johnson & Johnson today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Abbott Medical Optics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Abbott Laboratories, for $4.325 billion in cash. AMO reported sales of $1.1 billion for 2015. The acquisition will include ophthalmic products in three business segments: cataract surgery, laser refractive surgery and consumer eye health.

“Eye health is one of the largest, fastest growing and most underserved segments in health care today,” said Ashley McEvoy, Company Group Chairman, responsible for Johnson & Johnson’s Vision Care Companies. “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. Importantly, with this acquisition we will enter cataract surgery – one of the most commonly performed surgeries and the number one cause of preventable blindness.”

AMO is a global leader in ophthalmic surgery and is known for world-class intraocular lenses used in cataract surgery. The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 20 million people are blind from age-related cataracts and that there are at least 100 million eyes with compromised visual acuity caused by cataracts. These numbers are steadily rising due to population growth and increasing life expectancy.

In addition to the cataract business, AMO has advanced laser vision (LASIK) technologies designed to enhance surgeon productivity and correct near sightedness, far sightedness and astigmatism. The acquisition also includes AMO’s consumer eye health products – over-the-counter drops for dry eye, as well as multipurpose solutions and hydrogen peroxide cleaning systems for patients who wear contact lenses.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017 and would be modestly accretive immediately to adjusted earnings per share. The closing is subject to antitrust clearance and other customary closing conditions. Following the expected closing, sales will be reported in the Medical Devices segment as a separate platform within Vision Care.

September 15, 2016May 19, 2026

Documentary on Vision is First Film Adapted for the Colour-Blind

Sight: The Story of Vision, a documentary on the science, medicine and technology of human vision, narrated by Sir Elton John, is the first film to be broadcast with a colour correction that is adapted for the vision of people with colour blindness. Like Closed Captioning (CC) for the hearing impaired, and Video Description (VD) for low vision and the blind, the colour blind accessible correction (CA) helps those with limited red-green colour sensitivity better see differences between colours they normally struggle to distinguish.

“A few weeks ago, I tried a pair of EnChroma glasses designed to help with colour blindness,” said Kris Koenig, the film’s writer and director. “When I looked through the glasses, greens and reds became more vibrant without degrading the rest of the visible spectrum. It got me thinking about applying colour correction for the colour blind to the film, like EnChroma does with its glasses.”

Koenig worked with EnChroma President and CEO, Andrew Schmeder, to develop a colour calibration method to approximate the effect of EnChroma glasses. Steve Challot, the film’s editor, used the calibration data to implement the correction, which isolates and enhances colour along the red-green axis of colour space. The result improves the viewing experience for up to 80% of people with red-green colour blindness, depending on type and severity. An estimated 300 million people worldwide have some form of colour vision deficiency.

Full Press Release available HERE.

September 15, 2016April 24, 2018

RightEye Developing Eye-tracking Tests for Autism and Parkinson’s Disease

RightEye LLC, a health technology company using eye tracking to revolutionize vision performance and patient care, announced today that it has acquired the exclusive rights to two internationally recognized eye movement tests that help doctors more accurately and objectively identify early stages of autism in children 12 to 40 months old, and detect Parkinson’s disease in patients of all ages. The tests, which are based on extensive clinical studies, help identify both disorders earlier and more accurately, which can lead to earlier and more appropriate intervention.

“RightEye has consistently pioneered the use of eye-tracking technology to help solve some of health care’s greatest challenges,” said Barbara Barclay, president of RightEye. “Acquiring these tests has implications that reach far beyond our business — as our eye movement technology platform will now enable parents, patients and providers to get reliable and objective answers they need, when they need them, anywhere in the world at a lower cost.”

RightEye’s newly acquired test to identify autism is the GeoPref Autism Test, developed by Dr. Karen Pierce, which uses eye-tracking technology to compare the amount of time children spend looking at videos of people with the amount of time they spend looking at videos of geometric shapes. According to peer-reviewed research, children with healthy brains will spend more time looking at the videos containing faces. This new test results in identifying in one in five cases, and identifies children for further testing in nearly half of cases, allowing for early therapy intervention, which can have a profound impact on outcomes. The American Pediatric Association recommends intervention before age 3, yet often children are not diagnosed until later.

“In developing the GeoPref Autism Test, my goal was to make it easier, faster and more affordable to identify toddlers at risk for autism,” said Dr. Karen Pierce, the developer of the test and a leading researcher in understanding autism. “By partnering with RightEye, I knew that I would be able to make my test more accessible to health care providers and parents of young children seeking answers about an often-misunderstood and late-diagnosed disorder.”

RightEye’s POM (Parkinson’s and Other Movement) Disorders Test identifies Parkinson’s and other rare movement disorders, including Huntington’s disease and Essential Tremor. Developed by a neurologist and researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University’s Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Center and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the test accurately identifies and assesses patterns of eye movement that are affected in patients with movement disorders. The test, which offers more accuracy than traditional diagnostic methods, takes only five minutes and has a dramatically lower cost than the extensive, costly PET scans and MRIs usually required for diagnosis.

September 15, 2016May 19, 2026

Carl Zeiss Meditec Appoints Global Sales Leader for Ophthalmic Devices

DUBLIN, CA USA / JENA, GERMANY- In August 2016, Carl Zeiss Meditec consolidated its ophthalmic diagnostic and surgical business into a single Strategic Business Unit (SBU) Global Ophthalmic Devices headed by Jim Mazzo. ZEISS announces that the Global Sales organization for the newly consolidated SBU, comprised of Surgical Ophthalmology, Ophthalmic Diagnostics and Refractive Lasers, will be led by Andrew Ihan Chang.

Prior to joining ZEISS, Chang was General Manager and Senior Vice President for Bausch + Lomb Surgical where he led the sales, marketing, operations and business development for the US. Previously at Optimedica Corporation / Abbott Medical Optics, Inc., Chang led the marketing and launch of new laser systems and new indications globally. At ISTA Pharmaceutical / Bausch + Lomb, Chang held various marketing, sales and product development roles and led the market introductions of ophthalmic pharmaceuticals.

For full press release, click HERE.

September 15, 2016May 19, 2026

Optometry Giving Sight Leads Coalition in Support of World Sight Day

Denver, CO – Leading North American optometric companies, networks, schools and practices will once again join forces in a coalition led by Optometry Giving Sight in support of World Sight Day (October 13^th) and the World Sight Day Challenge, which runs throughout September and October.

This is the 10^th year of the Challenge, which encourages all members of the vision care community to make a donation or participate in a fundraising event to help fund sustainable eye health projects for people who are needlessly blind or vison impaired. This year will have a specific focus on the need for effective, sustainable eye health initiatives for children and adolescents as part of the Our Children’s Vision campaign.

Coalition members include ABB Optical Group, Alcon Foundation, AllAboutVision.com^®, Bausch + Lomb, CooperVision, Essilor, EyePromise, FYidoctors, Vision Source^®, VOSH International and VSP Global^®.

They will be joined by A&A Optical, Acuity Pro, Advance Optical, Allergan, Amcon, Art Optical, Bard Optical, Clearvision, DAC Vision, De Rigo REM, Europa, Eye Recommend, GPLI / CLMA, Heidelburg, Hilco, Jobson, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care (Canada), Linden Optometry, Match Eyewear, MODO, Nikon/Elaine Turner, Optos, OSI, PECAA, Primary Care Optometry Magazine/Slack Inc., Reptile Sun, Ron’s Optical, RX Optical, Signet Armorlite, Synergeyes, Texas State Optical, Tura, Vision One Credit Union, VmaxVision, Wave Contact Lens, Westgroupe, White Ophthalmic Supply Ltd, Wiley X, and ZEISS (Canada), all of whom are participating in the Challenge in some way. More companies, networks and practices are signing up every day.

“We are excited to be leading this industry based coalition in support of the 10^th Anniversary of the World Sight Day Challenge in North America,” said Clive Miller, CEO of Optometry Giving Sight. “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.”

For more information about the World Sight Day Challenge, or to make your donation today, please visit givingsight.org

To read full press release click HERE.

Johnson & Johnson Acquires Abbott Medical Optics

Documentary on Vision is First Film Adapted for the Colour-Blind

RightEye Developing Eye-tracking Tests for Autism and Parkinson’s Disease

Carl Zeiss Meditec Appoints Global Sales Leader for Ophthalmic Devices

Optometry Giving Sight Leads Coalition in Support of World Sight Day

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