Alcon Powers Up Portfolio Ahead of Novartis Split

It's shaping up to be an interesting year for Alcon, which is expected to split from Novartis to become a standalone Switzerland-based company during the first half of 2019. Alcon just paid $285 million to acquire PowerVision and agreed to additional milestone-based payments starting in 2023. Fort Worth, TX-based PowerVision has been working to create fluid-based intraocular lens implants, but the new IOL technology won't be commercially available until after "significant additional development and clinical trials," Alcon noted. The new lens could prove to be well worth the wait, however, as it is designed to use the eye's natural accommodating response to transport fluid in the intraocular lens which is implanted in the eye's capsular bag. While most presbyopia-correcting intraocular lenses use a multifocal design that distributes light between different focal points, PowerVision's fluid-based design creates a continuously variable monofocal lens, using the natural contraction of the eye's muscles. This technology allows the patient to actively focus on objects, just as the natural crystalline lens does in a youthful eye, providing patients with a natural, continuous range of vision. "As the industry leader in cataract surgery, we're eager to accelerate development of this potentially breakthrough accommodating lens technology," said Michael Onuscheck, president of global business and innovation for the Alcon division. "By treating cataracts and restoring natural...
Source: MDDI - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Business Implants Source Type: news