FORT WORTH, Texas—Despite news reports that Alcon’s smart contact lens research project with Alphabet Inc.’s Verily unit is behind schedule, the company maintains that it is in fact on track, VMail has learned.

Responding to a Reuters article published last Friday that said Alcon’s parent company, Novartis, had scrapped plans to start human testing of an autofocus contact lens in 2016—despite a bullish prediction about the timetable for clinical trials made by Novartis chief executive, Joe Jimenez, in September, 2015—an Alcon spokesperson told VMail “Nothing has changed with respect to Alcon’s collaboration with Verily. The ‘smart lens’ projects remain active and we are pleased with the progress of the collaboration to date. For complex, cutting-edge technology, the projects are progressing steadily.”

Verily is the life sciences unit that was carved out from Google in 2015. Novatis announced in July, 2014 that Alcon had entered into an agreement with a division of Google Inc. to license its "smart lens" technology for all ocular medical uses. The agreement called for the development of autofocusing lenses for presbyopes, and a contact lens designed to measure tear fluid in the eye and that would connect wirelessly with a mobile device.

The Alcon spokesperson noted, “Elements of the ‘smart lens’ technology we are developing with Verily are in early clinical development. This technology has the potential to transform eyecare and further enhance our pipeline and global leadership in the contact lens and intraocular lens space.

“Given the external visibility of these projects and the competitive landscape, both Alcon and Verily have made a conscious effort to maintain confidentiality around the programs,” the spokesperson added.