It’s been a busy month for Santa Ana’s Advanced Medical Optics Inc.
While Chief Executive James Mazzo updated analysts and investors on how the eye surgery and contact lens care company is doing (see story, page 1), other officials were talking with the Food and Drug Administration in Wash-ington, D.C., about plans to boost contact lens safety.
An FDA panel of eye care experts called for beefing up oversight of contact lenses and solutions. The panel is looking at several changes, including requiring warnings not to reuse cleaning solutions.
Advanced Medical and other solution makers also may have to test for acanthamoeba, which can cause a potentially blinding infection.
The company said it is supportive of the proposals and would cooperate with the agency’s efforts to boost product safety.
During the hearing, Advanced Medical emphasized its “rub and rinse” recommendations for its contact lens solutions.
The company urges customers to rinse lenses with solution and then rub them between their fingers and thumbs to get them clean. Other solutions are billed as rinse only.
“Rub and rinse has been proven to improve effectiveness against (acanthamoeba) and other microorganisms,” said David Hansen, Advanced Medical’s director of professional services.
During the FDA panel meeting, Advanced Medical said it was focused on educating eye care doctors and patients on lens care.
FDA officials said they would review the panel’s recommendations and consider updating their industry guidance.
The hearing was prompted by a pair of recent solution recalls involving two of the industry’s largest names,Advanced Medical and Bausch & Lomb Inc. of Rochester, N.Y. The recalls were driven by rare eye infections and were linked to multipurpose solutions, which are used by more than 30 million Americans who wear contact lenses.
Advanced Medical started speaking out about rubbing contact lenses clean after it recalled its original Complete MoisturePlus no-rub solution last year. The company launched a new formulation last fall with rub-and-rinse labeling.
The hearing came up during Chief Executive Mazzo’s appearance at Goldman Sachs & Co.’s healthcare conference at the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel.
Mazzo was getting e-mail updates about the FDA panel during his presentation.
“We’re actually quite pleased with the results,” he said, based on “cursory reads from the BlackBerry.”
A few days after the hearing, Advanced Medical said it was working with the Institute for Eye Research, an Australian nonprofit, to develop contact lens disinfectant and cleaning solutions and related products.
Beckman Coulter Litigation
Fullerton-based Beckman Coulter Inc. and Orchid Cellmark Inc. of Princeton, N.J., sued Sequenom Inc. of San Diego for alleged patent infringement.
Beckman and Orchid are suing over Sequenom’s iPlex DNA analysis system, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing by Sequenom.
Beckman and Orchid allege iPlex infringes on three of their patents.
The two companies want a permanent injunction barring the sale of iPlex products and unspecified damages.
Sequenom said the claims against it were without merit and that it would fight them.
Western Medical Center Leader
Josh Luke is the new chief executive of Western Medical Center-Anaheim, a 188-bed hospital. Luke replaces Casey Fatch, who left to take a position with an Arizona-based company.
Luke comes to Western Medical-Anaheim from Anaheim General Hospital. He was that hospital’s chief executive for four years.
Western Medical-Anaheim is one of four hospitals run by Integrated Healthcare Holdings Inc. of Santa Ana. Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, Coastal Communities Hospital, also in Santa Ana, and Orange’s Chapman Medical Center are part of Integrated.
The company bought the four hospitals from Tenet Healthcare Corp. in 2005.
Bits and Pieces:
Santa Ana-based Grubb & Ellis Co.’s healthcare unit has bought the Nutfield Professional Center in Derry, N.H. Nutfield is made up of 22 medical office condominiums and has some 70,000 square feet of gross leasable space. It is next to Parkland Medical Center, an 86-bed hospital. Its main tenant is HCA Health Services of New Hampshire Inc., part of Hospital Corporation of America Inc. Children’s Hospital of Orange County said a new ambulatory care center would open on its campus in July. The center was funded in large part by a $1 million donation by Walt Disney Co. and the Disneyland Resort during the theme park’s 50th anniversary in 2005 Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach said it received an award from Premier Inc., a hospital purchasing group with offices in San Diego and Charlotte, N.C. Hoag received the award for its patient care and operational efficiency.
