Presbia purchases company working to treat presbyopia

Presbia announced the completion of the purchase of Neoptics AG’s assets, including its intellectual property portfolio.

“The acquisition of Neoptics’ assets, including its patent portfolio, consolidates the principal intellectual property (‘IP’) and ‘know-how’ underpinning the use of an optically powered micro-lens for the correction of presbyopia (near-vision loss), a condition affecting 1.8 billion people globally,” Presbia President and CEO Todd Cooper said in the announcement. “This consolidation of IP and know-how from Presbia and Neoptics has also created a patent protected platform to deploy our ‘micro-lens’ technology into solutions for vision problems beyond presbyopia, significantly expanding our addressable market into the future.”

Presbia is the developer of the Presbia Flexivue Microlens, a presbyopia-correcting device. The 3mm diameter lens helps to correct age-related eyesight issues that affect the ability to read or focus on near objects. While the lens is an implant, it can be removed and replaced “without any residual effect on the eye,” the company explained on its website.

Presbia’s lens has a CE mark, though it has not received FDA approval and is not commercially available in the U.S.

Switzerland-based Neoptics AG is the creator of the Icolens, according to Bloomberg’s snapshot on the company. The Icolens is also used to treat the natural aging of the eye. The lens is implanted during an outpatient procedure, and aims to reduce or eliminate the need for reading glasses, while also not impairing distance vision.

- here's the press release
- here's the Presbia website

- and here's the Bloomberg snapshot on Neoptics

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