Abbott Medical Optics to stay focused on its core business areas

OSN spoke with AMO President James V. Mazzo about Abbott’s recent acquisition and plans for future growth.

Ocular Surgery News: What do you want ophthalmologists to know about the change from Advanced Medical Optics to Abbott Medical Optics, and what differences should they expect to see?

James V. Mazzo

James V. Mazzo: One of the main things is that obviously our brand has now moved from Advanced Medical Optics to Abbott Medical Optics. As you know, our customers relate tremendously to the AMO name, so I think having the Abbott name tied to it just enhances the power. And even though the name has changed, our focus and our commitment to our customer base, as well as their customer base — the patients — has not. We still are very focused on delivering the premier type of technologies to eye care professionals as we did when we were part of Allergan, when we spun, and that’s always a commitment to ensure we’re building their practices and helping their patients with their visual needs. Now we are part of Abbott’s overall medical device business, so we’re under that umbrella, but we’re still being run as a separate entity, which is critically important to the power and the leverage of the great Abbott name.

I want to make sure people clearly understand that we are still extremely focused on all three of our core businesses: the refractive, which is the excimer, and the femto laser franchise; our leading cataract franchise; and then obviously our corneal business, which is our contact lens care and our dry eye business. And we’re leveraging those across all of our customer bases. I think from a product delivery and innovation standpoint, nothing significantly changes.

OSN: In the past, AMO was branded the complete refractive solution. Has that changed?

Mr. Mazzo: No. I think what we probably should talk about is what’s changed, and I think what’s changed is only having the power of a great organization such as Abbott. Abbott is a global health care company [with 72,000 employees] devoted to the discovery, development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical, medical devices, nutritional products and diagnostics.

AMO is still committed to the complete refractive solution. We are still one of the leading companies in our space. Nothing is changing from a service perspective or with the delivery of our products. We will continue to have the same sales reps, the same R&D group, the same responsiveness that we’ve always provided — but now with the enhancement of having Abbott behind us to completely support us, and in some cases help accelerate our ability to introduce new products. So I think you have the same great customer empathy, but delivering through a large organization.

OSN: Is there any change to your individual responsibilities?

Mr. Mazzo: I’m going to continue to lead the organization. I was the chairman of the board and CEO of AMO when we were a public entity. Now I’m the president of Abbott Medical Optics and senior vice president of Abbott, and I report to John Capek, who is in charge of all the medical devices for Abbott. I’m staying in Southern California, so again, we’re going to continue to run this as a separate business across all the functions of marketing, R&D, etc., and I will be a corporate officer of Abbott.

OSN: You seem fairly aggressive in acquiring new technologies. Does that change at all now that you’re part of Abbott?

Mr. Mazzo: We have a strategy of both organic growth and acquisitions, and we’ll continue to evaluate any potential opportunities to strengthen the diversity of our business. Our goal is always organic, meaning from our strong R&D pipeline, and that’s something that we hopefully can continue to develop and have new products coming out of our own engineering and R&D groups.

If there is a technology or a group of offerings that could enhance our value, and it makes both financial and strategic sense, then of course we’ll continue to look at those opportunities.

OSN: Has the down market affected that as well?

Mr. Mazzo: Yes, that’s probably the big question. You talk to some people one day, and they say it’s a buying opportunity. Then you talk to some people the next day, and they say you should wait on the sidelines. I guess that’s probably one of the strengths of being part of the Abbott family in that you can take advantage of opportunities when they exist. I still start with the principle that they have to be strategic and they have to make good financial sense. We try to make sure it fits because acquisitions sound easy in nature, but they’re obviously not always easy to integrate. So we don’t want to diffuse our energy. But this time, there are plenty of opportunities out there, and I think having the power of Abbott, if we feel it makes good strategic sense, we’ll continue to explore those opportunities. The market won’t stop us.

OSN: You had a very strong global strategy with Advanced Medical Optics, and now that Abbott has such a large global footprint, how does that impact you? Is that going to be a help to you?

Mr. Mazzo: Abbott has a significant global presence, and we believe it will help fuel growth opportunities internationally, especially in some of those emerging markets where there are demographics and increasing demand for our products. We have operations in more than 20 countries today and have a presence in more than 60 countries and will continue to evaluate growth as part of Abbott. If we feel it’s something that will enhance our presence to go more direct, we’ll look at that.

OSN: You’re heavily involved with AdvaMed and you’re right in the thick of things, but is that affecting either your plans for product development or even just how you’re operating within the U.S. or globally?

Mr. Mazzo: As a matter of fact, I recently returned from an AdvaMed executive meeting as I sit on its executive council. We don’t anticipate any of these regulatory processes to affect our product development, or global strategy. We believe that the process is there to ensure the protection of the public, while encouraging the prompt availability of improving patient outcomes. So we’re very close to the situations. AdvaMed has a strong government relations arm and works well with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory bodies across the globe. Its emphasis is on delivering the right technologies in the right manner and we feel there are always ways to improve that process.

OSN: Is there anything that you would you like to share with our readers?

Mr. Mazzo: I think Abbott’s decision to acquire AMO illustrates the potential they see in our marketplace and in the AMO franchise. I think that speaks volumes, especially during these times when people are wondering, “Is ophthalmology an area of focus?” I think when you can have a great company such as Abbott show interest, and then go aggressively and acquire a company of AMO’s stature that holds leading positions in the market and has an attractive product set, I think this just supports the vision care industry.

• James V. Mazzo can be reached at Abbott Medical Optics, 1700 E. St. Andrew Place, Santa Ana, CA 92705; 714-247-8400.