Alcon, AMO report strong third quarter surgical sales

Two industry leaders reported strong third quarter financial results highlighted by their surgical product sales.

Advanced Medical Optics Inc. (AMO) reported that its net revenue totaled $151.2 million for the quarter, an 8.5% increase over the third quarter of 2002, according to its earnings release.

Alcon Inc. reported $822.7 million in global sales for the third quarter 2003, a 10.6% increase compared with the third quarter of 2002, according to that company’s earnings release.

Both companies credited strong worldwide sales of cataract products, particularly IOLs, as a main factor in their performance.

According to Alcon, its net earnings increased 22.4% compared to the same period in 2002, to $153.1 million. Overall, for the first 9 months of 2003, global sales increased 13.1% to $2.56 billion.

Net earnings for Alcon in the first 9 months increased 20.8% to $461.5 million. In its earnings release, the company attributed this primarily to shifting toward higher margin products, such as IOLs and glaucoma products.

Third quarter sales in the U.S. increased 5.8% over sales for the third quarter of 2002, totaling $434.6 million, according to the Alcon release. The company’s U.S. sales accounted for 52.8% of total sales in the third quarter of this year, compared to 55.2% for the third quarter 2002. Again, the company stated that sales of IOLs and glaucoma products contributed most to this figure.

Internationally, sales increased 16.5% to $388.1 million, including a 28.6% increase in pharmaceutical sales, according to the Alcon release.

Alcon’s global pharmaceutical sales for the third quarter increased 11.6% compared to the third quarter of 2002. The company noted this growth was driven by increased sales of its glaucoma drug Travatan (travoprost) ophthalmic solution, which increased 91.5% to $33.9 million. The company also noted strong international sales of another glaucoma drug, Azopt (brinzolamide), a topical carbonic anhydrase inhibitor.

Alcon noted that its bottom line was partially offset by slowed sales of seasonal allergy and ear infection products, which together grew only 3.3% during the quarter.

Alcon’s global surgical sales increased 10.5% from the previous year’s quarter to $198.8 million. IOL sales increased 13.7% to $118.6 million. The company’s cataract/vitreous product line increased sales 10.3% to $245.3 million. Alcon noted that during the quarter it began commercial shipments of its Infiniti phacoemulsification system.

The Alcon release noted that sales of its refractive surgical products negatively impacted its surgical sales growth. According to the company, adoption of higher priced custom procedures could not sufficiently offset declines in total procedure volume and equipment purchases, and this accounted for the 6.7% decrease in refractive sales for the quarter.

According to AMO’s earnings release, that company’s net income during the quarter was $6.9 million, but recapitalization and early retirement of debt caused a net loss of $3.7 million.

AMO expects net revenue for the full year to be between $575 million and $585 million, the release stated.

Overall, the release said, AMO’s gross profits increased 7.1% to $94.1 million for the quarter. This was attributed mainly to sales of the Sensar and ClariFlex IOLs, the Sovereign Compact phacoemulsification system and the growth of the Complete eye care solution product line.

According to AMO, its ophthalmic surgical revenue grew 11% during the quarter, totaling $74.2 million. Total IOL revenue for the quarter increased 13.9% to $50.4 million, including a 14.1% increase in foldable IOL revenue compared to the same quarter 2002. AMO attributed the increase to customer demand for its OptiEdge series.

AMO was spun off from Allergan in July 2002.