Bausch to Buy eyeonics

Bausch & Lomb announced it will acquire eyeonics inc., a private ophthalmic medical device company based in Aliso Viejo, Calif. Financial terms of the transaction, which is expected to close during the first quarter of 2008 subject to standard regulatory approval, were not disclosed.

On completion of the acquisition, eyeonics’ operations will become part of Bausch & Lomb’s surgical business, which offers intraocular lenses, phacoemulsification equipment, vitreoretinal and refractive products to ophthalmologists worldwide. The US surgical business will be led by J. Andy Corley, eyeonics’ co-founder, chairman, and CEO.

eyeonics, founded in 1998, developed and markets the crystalens intraocular lens (IOL) for the treatment of cataracts. The crystalens IOL replaces the eye’s natural lens and has been implanted in more than 95,000 eyes worldwide, Bausch & Lomb said.

"Accommodation is the eye’s method to achieve near-distance focusing by altering the curvature of the natural crystalline lens, allowing a person to easily read small type used in books, restaurant menus and on computer monitors," the company said in a statement. "As the natural lens ages, accommodation decreases. This results in a condition known as presbyopia for most people over age 40, for which reading glasses are commonly required."

Other approved IOLs only permit focusing at a fixed distances, while the crystalens IOL mimics the accommodating characteristics of a natural lens.

“This represents our first acquisition since Bausch & Lomb became a private company in a transaction led by Warburg Pincus,” said Ronald L. Zarrella, chairman and CEO of Bausch & Lomb. This acquisition immediately places Bausch & Lomb into the rapidly expanding premium IOL market. The crystalens technology complements our existing cataract surgical business, including our Stellaris Vision Enhancement System and our portfolio of monofocal IOLs.

The crystalens IOL was approved by the FDA in November 2003.

Bausch & Lomb also announced it will report fourth-quarter net sales of between $654 million and $660 million, compared to $597.6 million in the same period in 2006. That would represent an increase of approximately 10 percent, or approximately 4 percent growth excluding the effects of changes in foreign currency exchange rates. The company said it projects fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA of between $120 million and $126 million, compared to $85.7 million last year. It projects it will report net sales between $2.513 billion and $2.519 billion, compared to $2.292 billion in 2006 -- an increase of approximately 10 percent, or approximately 6 percent growth excluding foreign currency exchange rate changes. It sais it projects full-year adjusted EBITDA of between $408 million and $414 million, compared to $338.5 million in 2006.

For more information, visit: www.bausch.com