Profile: STAAR Surgical Co (STAA.OQ)

STAAR Surgical Company, incorporated in 1982, designs, develops, manufactures and sells implantable lenses for the eye. The Company is the maker of lenses used worldwide in corrective or refractive surgery. It also makes lenses for use in surgery that treats cataracts. All of the lenses it makes are foldable, which permits the surgeon to insert them through a small incision during minimally invasive surgery. Refractive surgery corrects the types of visual disorders that glasses or contact lenses have traditionally treated. It refers to its lenses used in refractive surgery as implantable Collamer lenses (ICLs). The field of refractive surgery includes both lens-based procedures, using products like its ICL, and laser-based procedures like laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis (LASIK). STAAR’s principal products are intraocular lens (IOLs) and ICLs used in ophthalmic surgery.

Cataract surgery is a common outpatient procedure where the surgeon removes the eye’s natural lens and replaces it with an artificial lens called an IOL to restore the patient’s vision. Collamer is the brand name for STAAR’s collagen copolymer lens material. IOLs are prosthetic intraocular lenses used to restore vision that has been adversely affected by cataracts, and include the Company’s lines of silicone and Collamer IOLs and the Preloaded Injector (a silicone or acrylic IOL preloaded into a single-use disposable injector). ICLs, consisting of the Company’s Visian ICL and Toric implantable Collamer lens (TICL), are intraocular lenses used to correct refractive conditions, such as myopia (near-sightedness), hyperopia (far-sightedness) and astigmatism.

Principal Products

The ICL can treat a range of refractive errors. ICLs correct refractive disorders, such as myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism. The ICL folds for minimally invasive implantation behind the iris and in front of the natural crystalline lens, using techniques similar to those used to implant an IOL during cataract surgery, except that the natural lens remains intact in the eye. The surgeon typically implants the ICL using topical anesthesia on an outpatient basis. The patient usually recovers vision within one to 24 hours. The Hyperopic ICL, which treats far-sightedness, is approved for use in countries that require the European Union Conformite Europeenne (CE) Mark and in Canada. The ICL is available for myopia in the United States in four lengths and 27 powers for each length. Outside the United States, the ICL is available for myopia and hyperopia and is available in multiple models and lengths in a total of 740 inventoried parts.

The Company produces and markets a line of foldable IOLs for use in minimally invasive cataract surgical procedures. Because these lenses fold, surgeons can implant them into the eye through an incision less than three millimeters (mm) in length, and for one model as small as 2.2 millimeters. Once inserted, the IOL unfolds naturally to replace the cataractous lens. Its foldable IOLs are manufactured from both its Collamer material and silicone. Sales of IOLs accounted for approximately 44% of its total sales during the year ended December 31, 2011.

Other Surgical Products

The Company sells other related instruments and devices that it manufactures or that are manufactured by others. During 2011, it exited the surgical pack business. Sales of other surgical products accounted for approximately 5% of its total sales in 2011.

The Company competes with Novartis, Abbott Medical Optics and Bausch & Lomb.