Valeant Reportedly Considering Sale of Paragon

CNBC has posted the following Reuters story: "Valeant Pharmaceuticals is reaching out to potential buyers for its specialty contact lens manufacturing division, Paragon Vision Sciences, amid scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission, according to two people familiar with the matter.

"A sale of Paragon, which Valeant's Bausch & Lomb unit purchased earlier this year for an undisclosed sum, would deal a blow to the specialty pharmaceutical company's attempt to consolidate the market for gas permeable contact lenses, a type of rigid lens popular among people with keratoconus, a thinning disorder of the cornea, among other eye diseases. The FTC [Federal Trade Commission] has been investigating Valeant for potentially cornering a portion of the lens market." Read more.

Battle about Unilateral Pricing of Contact Lenses Now in Federal Appeals Court

"A legal battle over a hotly contested Utah law banning minimum prices for contact lenses is set to come before a federal appeals court on Thursday," reports U.S. News & World Report in an Associated Press post. "The nation's largest contact lens companies are asking the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver to strike down the measure that could have wide-ranging effects on the $4 billion industry. Alcon Laboratories, Johnson & Johnson and Bausch & Lomb call the law a brazen overreach written specifically to help Utah-based discount seller 1-800 Contacts. Lawmakers deny that. The state's attorney general contends the contacts manufacturers are wrongly driving up prices." Read more.

Meanwhile, "as part of the Federal Trade Commission's systematic review of all current FTC rules and guides, the FTC is seeking public comment on the efficiency, costs, benefits, and impact of the Contact Lens Rule," notes the Yuma News Now. "The Rule, effective since August 2004, helps to promote competition in the contact lens market by requiring eye care prescribers to provide a copy of a consumer’s prescription to the consumer after a contact lens fitting is completed and verify with, or provide prescriptions to, authorized contact lens sellers. It also mandates that a contact lens seller may sell contact lenses only in accordance with a prescription the seller has received from the patient or prescriber, or has verified via direct communication with the prescriber. The Commission vote approving the Federal Register Notice was 5-0. It is available on the FTC's website and as a link to this press release and will be published in the Federal Register soon." Read more.

1-800 Contacts Wins! Federal Appeals Court Will Allow Ban on UPP of Contact Lenses

"A federal appeals court ruling has cleared the way for discount contact lens retailers to drop prices while a legal battle is waged between the state of Utah and manufacturers who want to impose minimum prices on their products," reports U.S. News & World Report. "The decision handed down from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver on Friday comes after three of the nation's largest contact lens manufacturers sued to halt a hotly contested law. Supporters, including Utah-based discount seller 1-800 Contacts, say the newly enacted legislation bans price fixing for contact lenses. But opponents, including Alcon Laboratories, Johnson & Johnson and Bausch & Lomb, say it's a brazen overreach that allows discount sellers to violate interstate commerce regulations and skirt industry price standards. Utah's attorney general has said the companies are wrongly driving up prices, and the law is a legitimate antitrust measure designed to enhance competition and help customers. Attorney General Sean Reyes' office didn't have a comment on the decision Friday." 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.

China Reportedly Fines Essilor, Johnson & Johnson, Meditec, Valeant, Bausch & Lomb, Zeiss, and Nikon

People's Republic of China Emblem (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"China on Thursday fined several foreign eyewear makers more than 19 million yuan ($3.1 million) for 'price manipulation,' the government said, in the latest targeting of overseas firms in the giant market," according to Yahoo! News Singapore. "The powerful National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner, launched an investigation last August into alleged violations of anti-monopoly law in the sector, the agency said in a statement. Five companies -- all foreign -- were given penalties ranging from 1.7 million yuan to 8.8 million yuan, it said. They included units of France's Essilor, Germany's Carl Zeiss, and Japan's Nikon Optical, as well as Bausch & Lomb and Johnson & Johnson -- both of the United States -- according to the statement." In other news stories, Meditec and Valeant Pharmaceuticals were also said to have been fined. Read more.