Alcon Wins FDA OK for Lens
Alcon
(ACL)
shares rose Thursday after the Food and Drug Administration approved the eye care company's new implanted lens.
In clinical trials, 84% of patients with implanted AcrysoSof ReSTOR lenses alone achieved near-perfect vision, while only 23% of the control group using contacts or glasses achieved these results.
ReSTOR is an intraocular lens implanted in patients with cataracts, using a technology that allows images at various distances to focus correctly on the retina without the requiring the lens to move, as it does in the natural eye.
Alcon, a Switzerland-based company with operations in the U.S., announced the FDA approval after the markets closed Wednesday. It will begin training surgeons to implant the lens in April and expects U.S. commercial shipments to begin in May.
AcrySof brand intraocular lenses are the most frequently implanted lenses in the world, with more than 21 million implants since their introduction in the early '90s. These foldable acrylic lenses allow for insertion through a smaller incision than necessary to implant silicone lenses.
Shares were up 90 cents, or 1% to $88.20.