Anita Greggs Perez.
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PHOENIX—Paragon Vision Sciences, part of the CooperVision Specialty EyeCare division, is targeting five U.S. regions for expansion, citing rising eyecare professional (ECP) demand for myopia education and support, according to an announcement Wednesday. By mid-year, the company anticipates placing teams in Northern California, Southern California, New York/New Jersey, Houston/Dallas and Phoenix. Each team will consist of an account manager and practice management consultant, who will support ECPs to more fully integrate Paragon CRT and other contact lenses into their practices.

This includes customized clinical educational experiences for individual practitioners and staff, with a focus on hands-on collaboration, the announcement noted.

“Eyecare professionals worldwide are concentrating on myopia more than ever, given the ever-growing prevalence among patients,” Paragon president Rich Jeffries said in the announcement.

“In particular, we’re experiencing tremendous interest in China and the U.S. for enhanced education. For the first phase of our build-out, we considered regions that not only had a strong base of forward-looking doctors, but also proximity to highly respected academic centers. We believe this approach will result in better treatment and outcomes for patients—one step among many that CooperVision is taking to address the myopia epidemic,” he added.

Leading the effort is Anita Greggs Perez, who has been named U.S. commercial director for Paragon. She has more than two decades of experience in launching and growing initiatives in medical device and health care channels, most recently serving as director, U.S. sales and marketing, for diagnostics manufacturer ACON Laboratories. Previously, she founded and managed National Launch Group, spearheading market introductions for multiple pharmaceutical, medical device, food and mass market brands, according to the announcement.

Paragon expects to be fully deployed in the five chosen markets by mid-2019. It will continue to remain closely aligned with its strategic partners within its laboratory network.

The CooperVision Specialty EyeCare division accelerates eyecare professionals’ access to innovative products that help improve the way people see each day, with a focus on the development of myopia management approaches and visual correction of irregular corneas. The division encompasses Paragon Vision Sciences, Blanchard Contact Lenses,  Soflex and Procornea, which operate independently while sharing technical, clinical and commercial knowledge, benefitting from CooperVision’s global presence and infrastructure.

CooperVision is a unit of The Cooper Companies Inc. (NYSE:COO), and is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of soft contact lenses.