(AFX) - In a Nov. 29 story about Advanced Medical Optics, The Associated Press reported erroneously that pro golfer Gary Player recently underwent laser vision correction. Instead, Player recently received intraocular lenses, or thin lenses that are permanently implanted into the eye to correct vision.
A corrrected version of the story appears below
NEW YORK (AP) -- Advanced Medical Optics Inc. does not expect to recover all market share lost in Asia from a recent contact lens solution recall, but plans to increase its presence in the laser eye surgery market, Chief Executive James V. Mazzo told investors Wednesday.
Mazzo said at a Piper Jaffray health care conference he is confident all four production lines at a plant in China will be up by May, with the first of those lines up by February.
The CEO said he was comfortable with the timeline because the company was cooperating with the Food and Drug Administration and Chinese regulators to tear down and sterilize the lines.
The company shut down the China plant earlier in the month after it recalled 2.9 million units of its Complete MoisturePlus multipurpose contact lens solution and Active Packs because of bacterial contamination in three lots made at the China plant. Most of the units were distributed in Japan. About 183,000 units made it into the U.S., because of increased demand, and were also recalled. Normally, the company supplies the U.S. from its plant in Spain.
To date, no complaints have been lodged in the U.S., and only a handful of complaints were reported elsewhere.
While the shutdown will not affect other parts of the company, Mazzo said its Asia Pacific market will definitely experience a setback.
'We expect to lose share and not get it all back,' Mazzo said. The Asia Pacific market makes up about 14 percent of the company's total eye care sales.
The Santa Ana, Calif.-based company booked about $208.6 million in total eye care product sales for the first nine months of 2006, about 28 percent of its total revenue.
Japanese regulators will also need to verify the sanitization of the plant and test products before letting the product back on the market.
The company will launch six new products in the coming year, including a new formulation of Complete MoisturePlus, even though the recall of solution had nothing to do with its formulation, Mazzo said.
Advanced Medical Optics also plans to launch a new dry eye treatment in the second half of 2007. The dry eye treatment market is linked to the laser eye surgery business, in that dry eye is a common side effect of the procedure.
The company also seeks to increase its presence in a dwindling U.S. laser eye surgery market. Mazzo said laser eye surgery procedures have faltered because practitioners have cut their advertising budgets. The CEO estimates that surgery figures are likely to remain flat until newer procedures are introduced in 2008.
With about a 60 percent market share of corporate-owned laser eye surgery centers in the U.S., the company plans to boost that to 70 percent in 2007, and launch a new direct-to-consumer ad campaign featuring pro golfer Gary Player, who recently received intraocular lenses, or thin lenses that are permanently implanted into the eyes to correct vision.
Shares of Advanced Medical Optics rose 49 cents to $35.35 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares dropped 9 percent on Nov. 21, to close at $35.75, when the U.S. recall was announced.
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