NEWS spectrum

B&L, Alcon Settle Lawsuit

Bausch & Lomb and Alcon Laboratories, Inc., settled a lawsuit that was filed by B&L claiming some of Alcon's promotional material made false and misleading claims about ReNu MultiPlus multi-purpose contact lens solution and other contact lens care solutions.

In light of the agreement, the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York has been dismissed with prejudice, without any payment of damages from either party.

The lawsuit centered on Alcon's use of a color-coded chart showing differences in superficial punctate transient corneal staining profiles observed in Dr. Gary Andrasko's research. In a statement by both companies after the agreement, Alcon said it would change the red-yellow color scheme used in its promotional materials to address the concerns expressed by B&L.

The joint statement further elaborated that the use of the color scheme in Alcon's materials was not intended to communicate that the lens-solution combinations designated red or yellow meant danger or caution, and was not meant to suggest an increased risk of corneal infection. There are several factors that may contribute to the risk of corneal infection, and Alcon and B&L that there is no clinical evidence that the differences in corneal staining observed by Dr. Andrasko increase the risk of infection.

WaveTouch Technologies Certifies Marco Aberrometer

■ WaveTouch Technologies recently completed certification of the Marco 3D Wave Analyzer to aid in the production of its individualized WaveTouch soft contact lenses.

WaveTouch soft contact lenses are manufactured from patient information gathered from in-office aberrometry readings that measure both lower- (defocus and astigmatism) and higher- (spherical aberration, coma trefoil, etc.) order aberrations.

Vincent S. Zuccaro, OD, FAAO, WaveTouch Technologies chairman, said he was "delighted" about the certification. "As such, U.S. practitioners owning a Marco 3D Wave will be among the first that will be able to dispense WaveTouch contact lenses when they are rolled out into the marketplace later this year," he said.

CLAO Meeting, Grant Winners

The Contact Lens Association of Ophthalmologists (CLAO) held its annual meeting this month at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas from Oct. 5 to 6. The meeting immediately followed the CLAO Education and Research Foundation (CLAO ERF) Scientific Symposium, which took place Oct. 4 to 5. Highlights included major international symposia presented by the Japan Contact Lens Society, the European Contact Lens Society of Ophthalmologists and the Brazil Society of Cornea and Contact Lenses. In addition, Elizabeth Cohen, MD, presented the Oliver H. Dabezies, Jr. Lectureship, titled "Keratoconus: Diagnosis and Management," and Raymond M. Stein, MD, presented the Harold A. Stein Lectureship, titled "Innovations in Refractive Surgery."

CLAO ERF also recently announced its 2007 Scientific Grant Recipients:

• Loretta Szczotka-Flynn, OD, MS, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio, research title: "Role of Bacterial Biofilms in Infiltrative Keratitis."
• Danielle M. Robertson, OD, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, research title: "CTL/IGFBP3 Regulation of Corneal Epithelial Apoptosis."
• Amanda Ackerman, University of California, Berkeley, research title: "Exploring Corneal Epithelial Barriers to Bacterial Infection."

Understanding Paraoptometry

The American Optometric Association's (AOA) Paraoptometric Section has released results of a Practice Efficiencies survey conducted in January to determine optometrists' understanding of the role of paraoptometrics in the practice and the scope and function for which staff are currently responsible. The AOA also wanted to explore what assistance would be most helpful to optometrists in the training of their staff. The survey was provided through an education grant from Vistakon and sent to a random sampling of 4,000 optometrists, 712 of whom responded.

Some findings included:

• The average number of total personnel per office in 2006 was 7.8, performing a variety of duties.
• 44 percent said at least some staff were certified, on average employing 2.9 certified staff members.
• 92 percent provided in-office training; 98 percent provided on-the-job training and 43 percent provided for staff to participate in state optometric/paraoptometric association training.
• 52 percent pay for staff to become certified. 70 percent pay for staff to attend or participate in related continuing education courses.
• 85 percent are interested in learning how to more effectively utilize their staff. 63 percent preferred to receive this training at state meetings and 50 percent would like to see online CE offered for this training.
• Training (58 percent), compensation (55 percent) and motivation (53 percent) were the issues the ODs reported relating to non-OD office staff.