B&L’s New Lens-Care Product Due Out June 1
March 15, 2010 12:17 AM
ROCHESTER, N.Y.—Bausch & Lomb (B&L) plans to begin shipping a new contact lens-care product on June 1, and will officially launch the product later that month at Optometry’s Meeting in Orlando.
Steven Robins, B&L’s president, North America, Vision Care, told VM the company recently received an “approvable” letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA); FDA approval is still needed for the product’s label. B&L will introduce additional new products at the end of this year, Robins noted.
After finishing 2009 about even with 2008 in sales—although the fourth quarter was up “a couple of percentage points,” according to Robins—B&L saw “pretty significant growth” in its business in the early weeks of 2010’s first quarter. Specifically, “lens care products are showing strong momentum so far this year, while among contact lenses, multifocals and daily disposables have shown the most growth,” he commented.
Multifocal CLs currently represent 20 percent to 30 percent of B&L’s total sales, while daily disposables account for between 8 percent and 15 percent of the company’s CL volume, Robins said. B&L is working on a new program for daily disposables, to be revealed at International Vision Expo East, he added.
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