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Ron Kurtz: Revolutionizing Cataract Surgery

Dr. Ron Kurtz joined RxSight Inc. in 2015 when the company had no revenue because he said he believed in the product.

RxSight at the time was developing the world’s first and only eye lenses that can be adjusted using lights after cataract surgery.

“I had been familiar with the Light Adjustable Lens (LAL) technology, as it had been in development for some time and always considered it to be highly innovative,” Kurtz told the Business Journal.

Since then, Kurtz has led RxSight from no revenue to sales that are estimated to be $139.6 million in 2024, a 57% jump from the prior year. Furthermore, analysts are expecting sales to climb another 34% to $187.1 million in 2025.

As a result, shares of RxSight have more than tripled in the past two years, climbing to $34.50 each and a $1.4 billion market cap; the Aliso Viejo-based company went public in 2021 at $16 a share (Nasdaq: RXST).

The company’s success is directly related to the quality of the company’s lenses, according to Kurtz.

“Patients undergoing cataract surgery have higher and higher expectations for their vision, and our product helps doctors meet those expectations,” he said.

Kurtz is being honored along with three others who are playing a pivotal role in the ophthalmology industry: Bobak “Bobby” Azamian at Tarsus Pharmaceuticals and Thomas Burns at Glaukos Corp. as well as Gavin Herbert Jr., who is receiving the first ever Orange County Business Journal’s Lifetime Business Achievement Award.

Kurtz agrees that Orange County is the epicenter for both ophthalmic pharmaceuticals and devices with companies such as Aliso Viejo-based Glaukos and Irvine-based Tarsus (for more, see pages 6 and 16).

“I expect that Orange County will continue to be a hotbed for ophthalmic research and development and am hopeful for the future,” Kurtz said.

Commercializing the LAL+

Last April, RxSight commercially launched its newest Light Adjustable Lens (LAL), the LAL+.

The lens, designed to extend the depth of focus, is fully rolled out in the U.S. and recently gained approval in Canada, according to Kurtz.

The LAL+ delivers an average of 1.3 additional lines of distance-corrected near vision with 90% of patients achieving distance vision of 20/20 or better without glasses, according to data the company presented at the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting last October.

Both the LAL and LAL+ are adjustable lenses that give patients the ability to customize their vision after their cataract has been removed.

In a typical cataract surgery, the natural lens that has become cloudy is replaced with a man-made lens that is adjusted to the person’s sight before the surgery. After the surgery, if the patient still cannot see well enough, prescription glasses are ordered.

With RxSight’s system, doctors can change the shape and prescription of the new lens after surgery if needed.

Its Light Delivery Device (LDD) uses proprietary software and algorithms to deliver a short UV exposure treatment that, it says, can adjust the lens in less than 60 seconds.

The company has sponsored education programs for optometrists to helps spread the word about LAL.

Optometrists are the primary eye care providers with about 50,000 in U.S., according to Kurtz.

“As much as we can educate the general optometric community about the Light Adjustable Lens and the benefits thereof, that’s going to help when those patients are referred into ophthalmic practices for surgery that they’ve already been provided some information, or at least when that patient comes back to their trusted optometrist, have some background in the technology even if they themselves have not taken care of LAL patients,” Kurtz told analysts in a third-quarter earnings call in November.

In the most recent quarter, the company reported selling 24,554 LALs, a 59% increase in procedure volume from the year prior. It also sold 78 LDDs, expanding the installed bases to 888 offices.

Experienced Ophthalmic Leader

Kurtz has extensive experience in the ophthalmology space.

He was first exposed to ophthalmology through an undergraduate project at Harvard, where he earned a degree in biochemistry, and later gained clinical experience while pursuing a medical degree at the University of California, San Diego.

He found ophthalmology to be a good combination of surgical and medical therapy that involved nearly every one of the basic sciences, such as neuroscience and other physical sciences.

“With this variety, I knew I would not become bored and that has certainly been the case,” Kurtz said.

Prior to RxSight, Kurtz co-founded and served as CEO and president of LenSx Lasers Inc., the maker of a surgical laser used for cataract procedures, which was acquired by Alcon Inc. (NYSE: ALC) in 2010 and was renamed to Alcon LenSx thereafter.

Kurtz also co-founded Irvine-based IntraLase Corp. with former University of California, Irvine professor of ophthalmology and biomedical engineering Tibor Juhasz in 1997 to commercialize their approach to corrective eye surgery.

The IntraLase femtosecond laser, now widely used in LASIK surgeries, emits pulses that are about a quadrillionth of a second in duration to cut into the cornea without the use of a blade.

IntraLase went public in 2004 and raised $86.6 million in an initial public offering. Santa Ana’s Advanced Medical Optics Inc. (NYSE: AMO) then acquired the company in 2007.
Kurtz previously taught ophthalmology as a professor at UCI and the University of Michigan.

In 2015, Kurtz joined what was then called Calhoun Vision, which at that time had 20 employees, and changed the name to RxSight after he became CEO.

The company was undergoing a re-organization of the business led by Chairman Andy Corley, who Kurtz said that he has known for years, but never had the opportunity of working with until then. RxSight completed clinical trials in 2017 and launched its product at the end of 2019.

“I’ve been lucky enough to learn from one of the smartest and nicest leaders in the ophthalmic industry for nearly 10 years now,” Kurtz said.

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Sonia Chung
Sonia Chung
Sonia Chung joined the Orange County Business Journal in 2021 as their Marketing Creative Director. In her role she creates all visual content as it relates to the marketing needs for the sales and events teams. Her responsibilities include the creation of marketing materials for six annual corporate events, weekly print advertisements, sales flyers in correspondence to the editorial calendar, social media graphics, PowerPoint presentation decks, e-blasts, and maintains the online presence for Orange County Business Journal’s corporate events.
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