Johnson & Johnson Chairman and Chief Executive Alex Gorsky discussed the company’s $4.3 billion acquisition of Abbott Medical Optics Inc. in Santa Ana—rebranded Johnson & Johnson Vision—at the fourth OCTANe Ophthalmology Technology Summit held at Island Hotel in Newport Beach on June 23 and 24. Gorsky noted that “the day a company enters J&J, it’s no longer a small company,” though the Fortune 10 healthcare giant aims to strike a balance.
“I truly see size being a good thing,” Gorsky said. He noted that while being small can be beneficial when it comes to connecting with patients and driving innovations, “size works better when it comes to clinical capability, regulatory capability … and [commercialization]—globally we have scale and footprint outside the U.S.”
New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson completed its acquisition of Abbott Medical Optics in February. In conjunction with the purchase, the company said its vision care platform will have two operations, two headquarters and two leaders.
Its surgical platform in Santa Ana that includes cataract and laser refractive surgery will be headed by Tom Frinzi, chief executive and worldwide president of Johnson & Johnson Vision’s surgical platform. He previously served as president of Abbott Laboratories and senior vice president of its subsidiary, Abbott Medical Optics. Swami Raote is worldwide president of Johnson & Johnson Vision’s contact lens operation in Jacksonville, Fla. The Florida operation includes Acuvue contact lenses and Abbott Medical Optics’ consumer eye health business that has contact lens solutions and drops for dry eyes. The consumer eye health team will not relocate to Florida.
Frinzi and Raote report to Ashley McEvoy, company group chairman for Johnson & Johnson’s consumer medical devices business. She headed Johnson & Johnson’s vision care companies.
Gorsky said keeping Frinzi on board is vital to ensuring a smooth transition. He also said Johnson & Johnson—true to its history—is open to acquiring more companies, adding that more than 50% of the company’s innovations are sourced externally.
Following Gorsky’s interview by Jim Mazzo, global president of ophthalmic devices at Carl Zeiss Meditec Inc., discussions included customer connections, utilization of data, physician practice innovation, the private-pay market, and the role of private equity in physician practices.
The customer connection discussion included a panel of prominent ophthalmic leaders: Frinzi; Glaukos Corp. Chief Operating Officer Chris Calcaterra; Aerie Pharmaceuticals Inc. President and Chief Operating Officer Tom Mitro; Bill Meury, executive vice president and chief commercial officer of Allergan PLC; and Michael Onuscheck, global franchise head of the surgical division at Alcon, a subsidiary of Novartis International AG.
Mazzo and Frinzi presented the event’s first lifetime achievement award to Dr. Roger Steinert, 66. The former chair of the department of ophthalmology at the University of California-Irvine and director of the Gavin Herbert Eye Institute was best known for revolutionizing vision surgery using lasers. Steinert’s widow, April, accepted the award.
Mazzo, calling OC the “great ophthalmology hub,” attributed the industry’s success to “great people … and inspiring leaders” including Steinert, Allergan founder Gavin Herbert Sr. and healthcare investment veteran Bill Link. Both Herbert and Link were at the event.
OCTANe Chief Executive Bill Carpou said attendance at the summit spiked from 200 to 350 with the number of ophthalmologists growing from about 40 to 80.
Summit sponsor Aliso Viejo-based OCTANe connects biotech, medical device and technology startups with investors and resources. LaunchPad is its accelerator-incubator arm and it also has an investment vehicle—Visionary Venture Fund—that targets ophthalmic opportunities ranging from $500,000 to $5 million. The fund closed in April with up to $30 million to invest.
Carpou said the goal of the summit is to introduce entrepreneurial physicians to investors and align key opinion leaders with industry players. The second day of the summit is invite-only, connecting “KOL [key opinion leader] physicians with tier-one sponsors.”
Tier one sponsors include Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Alcon, Allergan, Johnson & Johnson Vision and Zeiss.
