Novartis Considers Selling Alcon

"Novartis ($NVS) is mulling a sale of its contact lens care business as the company faces sluggish growth for its Alcon unit and targets eye care innovation to swing its numbers northward," states a post from Fierce Medical Devices. "The proposed sale is still in early stages and Novartis might decide not to go through with a sale, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. But if the Swiss company does unload the business, which includes products to clean lenses, it could bring in $1.6 billion, Kepler Cheuvreux analyst Fabian Wenner told the news outlet. Some analysts set that number lower, though, with Safra Sarasin analysts saying the sale would fetch no more than $1 billion. A sale would come at a critical moment for Novartis, as it deals with slumping numbers for its contact care business and Alcon unit." Read more.

Novartis to Begin Human Testing of Smart Contact Lens for Diabetics in 2016

"Novartis plans the first human tests next year of a 'smart' contact lens it is developing with Google designed to help restore the eye's natural autofocus," reports Reuters. 'This project is progressing well,' Novartis Chief Executive Joe Jimenez told Swiss newspaper Le Temps in an interview. 'I had said it would take about five years to see a product on the market,' Jimenez told the paper. 'The calendar is on track and we are already developing a technological lens prototype (that) should be tested on humans in 2016.' A Novartis spokesman told Reuters that Jimenez was referring to a smart lens for accommodative vision correction in people with presbyopia, or age-related long sightedness, who can no longer read without glasses. Under an agreement signed with Google in 2014, Novartis is also developing smart contact lenses to help diabetics track their blood glucose levels." Read more.

Autofocus Contact Lenses Worth Billions

Novartis CEO Joseph Jimenez has told the Financial Times that the market for an "Autofocus" contact lens could be worth, "anywhere between $10 billion and $50 billion in the next ten years." The Financial Times went on to say; "While Google's efforts building a smart lens with a built-in wireless chip and glucose sensor have grabbed most headlines so far, the really juicy opportunity is in corrective eyewear. If the company can build a contact lens that offers its wearer 'autofocus' powers similar to those found in digital cameras for bringing scenes into tight focus, it can address a range of eye ailments and failings with a single solution, rather than requiring the kinds of fixed prescriptions that we use now, and that are often compromises rather than perfect solutions." For the first time, EPGL is revealing specifically that it has developed technology for an "Autofocus" contact lens with CooperVision, Inc. Read more.

Google's Smart Contact Lens Out Soner than Expected?

"It appears Google's smart contact lenses are so far along, the company has already drafted a report on how it would like to package them, reports Tech Times. "There are still about three-and-a-half years left into the soft window in which Google partner Novartis projected the pair would bring smart contact lenses to market. The discovery of a patent application published on Thursday suggests those lenses are well on track to launch within the window. In the patent application (PDF), published on June 25, Google describes packaging for an 'eye-mountable device,' the smart contact lens, that rests on an annular ring at the top of a tiny pedestal." Read more.

Three Contact Lens Manufacturers Investigated for Price Fixing

“Moves by three of the four major U.S. contact lens makers to set price floors for many of their products, preventing low-cost retailers from discounting the expensive devices, have drawn scrutiny from lawmakers.,” reports Reuters. “The Senate Judiciary Committee's nine-member antitrust panel will meet on Wednesday to consider the decisions by Alcon, owned by Novartis AG ; Bausch+Lomb, owned by Valeant Pharmaceuticals ; and Johnson & Johnson to put in place minimum sale prices for some of their products. The practice would have been illegal just a decade ago but became legal when the Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that manufacturers can set minimum sale prices in some situations. Lawmakers will seek to determine whether these policies limit competition and lead to higher prices for consumers.” Read more.

Google Develops Smart CLs with Novartis

"Google is developing a smart contact lens, with pharmaceutical giant Novartis, to help patients manage diabetes – in one of a number of moves focused squarely on billions of dollars of potential revenue available across the total digital healthcare market." So starts the Forbes post. "As technology moves further into treatment with remote consultations, monitoring and operations, robotic treatments, and advanced digital diagnosis, Google has seen the opportunity to apply its own eyewear technology (up until now limited as glasses called Google Glass) to the healthcare field." Read more.

"As part of the agreement, Google[x] and Novartis' eye care division Alcon will create smart lenses that feature "non-invasive sensors, microchips and other miniaturized electronics" and focus on two main areas," reports Engadget. "The first will provide a way for diabetic patients to keep on top of their glucose levels by measuring the sugar levels in their tear fluid, feeding the data back to a smartphone or tablet. The second solution aims to help restore the eye's natural focus on near objects, restoring clear vision to those who are only farsighted (presbyopia)." Read more.

Ciba Wins CL Suit

“An Illinois federal judge handed summary judgment Monday to Novartis AG affiliate Ciba Vision Corp. in a man's suit alleging Ciba contact lenses injured his eyes, finding a lack of evidence that the lenses were defective,” notes Law 360. “U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer handed Ciba victory in the suit despite plaintiff Steven Kallal's latest argument that the fact that the O2 Optix contact lenses he used were not subject to a 2006 recall over an ion permeability problem — as he had originally alleged they were.” Read more by registering with Law 360.

Novartis Treatment May Help with VMA

Ocriplasmin

The investigational eye treatment ocriplasmin significantly resolved vitreomacular traction (VMT) and closed macular holes compared to placebo in patients with vitreomacular adhesion (VMA). That's the conclusion of two Phase III studies, involving 652 patients, that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), according to a press release from treatment's developer Novartis. VMA, including VMT and macular holes, is an age-related progressive eye disease that may lead to visual distortion, loss in visual acuity, and central blindness. More than 300,000 patients suffer from this disease in Europe alone.Read more.

Novartis Settles Class Action

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NPC) and Sanford Wittels & Heisler, LLP, counsel to the plaintiffs and the Class, have agreed to resolve the nationwide wage and hour class action against NPC currently pending in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. NPC has agreed to end the ongoing proceedings and provide a payment of up to $99 million for eligible class members.  This settlement resolves the wage and hour claims brought in 2006, as well as additional wage and hour claims covering a more recent time period. For more details, read more.

Alcon Now Part of Novartis--Finally

YahooFinance posted the following: "Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis AG said Wednesday it has reached a deal with minority shareholders of Alcon Inc. to complete its $51 billion takeover of the eye care company, the largest such deal in Swiss corporate history. Novartis said the cost of acquiring the remaining minority stake in Alcon of 23 percent will be $12.9 billion -- or about $1 billion dollars more than it had originally offered."

Forbes headlines the deal: "Novartis Is Eye-Care King After Acquiring Alcon."