Utah's Ban on Minimum Priced Contact Lenses Withstands Suit

"A federal judge is refusing to block a Utah law banning minimum prices for contact lens that has drawn the ire of the nation's largest manufacturers," according to an Associated Press story on Fox Business. "In a decision handed down Monday in Salt Lake City, U.S. District Judge Dee Benson said contact-lens makers like Johnson & Johnson and Bausch & Lomb haven't shown that the law is unconstitutional. The manufacturers sued the state last month amid an increasingly bitter fight with discount retailers like 1-800-Contacts. They said the law was written at the behest of the Utah-based discounter and minimum prices help eye doctors make recommendations." Read more.

Utah Bans Unilateral Pricing on Contact Lenses

Utah has become the first state to ban contact lens manufacturers from using Unilateral Pricing Policies (UPP) to set prices for contact lenses. Its legislators signed into law the Contact Lens Consumer Protection Act, according to a press release from 1-800 Contacts. The law will go into effect in May 2015.

UPP programs also are under investigation both by the Federal Trade Commission and by several State Attorneys General. During the past two weeks, attorneys are said to have filed 15 consumer class-action suits against the manufacturers.

Nearly 40 million Americans spend $4.2 billion annually for contact lenses. Johnson & Johnson, Bausch & Lomb, Alcon, and CooperVision began using UPP in 2013. Since then, contact lens wearers reportedly have seen some online prices increase as much as 150%. Read more.

1-800 Contacts Starts New Battle in Mississippi

About two weeks ago, 1-800 Contacts asked the stare legislature of Oregon to look into the pricing policies of contact lens suppliers. It's doing the same in Mississippi as reported in the Clarion-Ledger:

A major online seller of contact lenses wants Mississippi to adopt a law to prevent suppliers and manufacturers from setting a minimum price for them.

1-800-Contacts, a supporter of Senate Bill 2016, says Johnson & Johnson Vision Care implemented a new pricing strategy last year that requires a minimum price for some of their contact lenses.

The Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee conducted a public hearing today on the bill, hearing from both 1-800-Contacts officials and officials of Johnson & Johnson.

Johnson & Johnson says the unilateral pricing policies will lead to lower prices for consumers.1-800-Contacts says the pricing strategy is leading to higher prices for consumers that will continue to increase.

Read more.