(Press Release)
Bausch + Lomb posted the following letter written by Mark McKenna, senior vice president and general manager, U.S. Vision Care, on its website.
Mark McKenna, senior VP and general manager of U.S. Vision Care, Bausch + Lomb
Dear Eye Care Practitioner,
I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your continued alliance with Bausch + Lomb and update you on our ongoing efforts to help your patients see better to live better by providing innovative products and resources to better serve your patients.
First, as part of our work with the Coalition for Patient Vision Care Safety, we continue to work closely with legislators in Washington, D.C., garnering support for the recently introduced “Cassidy Bill,” which seeks to strengthen some of the requirements of the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumer Act. We continue to stand firm in our commitment to our Unilateral Pricing Policy (UPP), designed to allow you to devote the time to understand and educate your patients on the technology and benefits behind these innovative products.
As an additional measure to help you provide an optimal vision experience to more of your patients, we have added two new products to our portfolio. We are confident that both products will help you better serve your patients, particularly those with presbyopia or age-related macular degeneration.
- In March, we introduced Bausch + Lomb ULTRA For Presbyopia contact lenses, an advancement in contact lens technology, combining the company’s innovative MoistureSeal technology, which delivers exceptional end-of-day comfort, with the proven 3-Zone Progressive design.
- This past month, we introduced PreserVision AREDS 2 Formula + Multivitamin, the first leading brand to combine the AREDS2 study formula with other essential vitamins and minerals typically found in daily multivitamins. This convenient 2-in-1 formula helps make it simpler for patients to take their supplements by reducing the number of pills taken each day.
We are continuously striving to help ensure that patients are connecting with their eye care professionals to help provide the opportunity to consider new approaches to improving their vision. With that goal in mind, we’ve embarked on several patient-focused initiatives to encourage people to schedule an office visit.
- In April, we launched a campaign directed at consumers, including television, digital, social media and in-office material. The goal of the initiative is to encourage contact lens wearers to expect more from their lenses when it comes to visual acuity and comfort. The “Are your contacts still comfortable?” campaign is centered on our Bausch + Lomb ULTRA contact lenses and the comfort they afford the screen-focused contact lens users.
- Also in April, we expanded our “Biotruths,” a new content series that illustrate examples of contact lens discomfort and show how Biotrue Multi-Purpose solution helps make wearing contact lenses easy on your eyes. The videos will appear on Hulu and social channels including YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. A second installment in the digital video content series will debut in August.
We also hope you will have an opportunity to take advantage of some of the new educational resources we are offering to you and your staff including:
- A mechanism of action video focused on the science behind our peroxide-based lens solution, PeroxiClear solution. This video clearly explains how it enables patients to clean and disinfect contact lenses in four hours.
- Our B+Lieve education and training series. To date, we’ve held nine meetings and welcomed over 1,100 ECPs. We look forward to seeing you at events in the future.
You may have also heard that our Surgical Division is now collaborating with IBM to develop an app for use on the iPhone and iPad for surgeons performing cataract surgery. The app will help streamline workflow by delivering patient information and clinical insights as well as intraocular lens (IOL) options on a single, digital platform at the point of care. We believe that bringing a much-needed mobile solution to cataract surgeons will help improve efficiencies for surgeons.
As always, we deeply appreciate your continued alliance and support, and the insights that you share about your patients’ needs and experiences. We continue to value your feedback, as it helps us deliver products that will best serve your patients.
Should you have any questions or feedback, please do not hesitate to contact me directly at Mark.McKenna@bausch.com.
Sincerely,
Mark McKenna
Senior Vice President & General Manager, U.S. Vision Care