STAAR gets approval to market toric ICL in Japan

MONROVIA, Calif. — The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has granted approval for STAAR Surgical's Visian toric Implantable Collamer Lens for the treatment of myopic astigmatism, the company announced in a press release.

The approval opens a major market for STAAR, according to the release.

A 2007 study of a random sample of more than 3,000 residents from Tajima, Japan, found that nearly 42% have myopia, a rate significantly higher than that found globally, while 54% have some degree of astigmatism, the release said.

"Based on my experiences in high myopic cases, about two-thirds of those patients have corneal astigmatism of 1 D or more so that toric ICL will increase the patient's satisfaction," Dr. Kimiya Shimizu, professor and chair of ophthalmology at Kitasato University in Sagamihara, Japan, said in the release. "In addition, if a patient has dry eyes or thin cornea, the toric ICL may be the only effective treatment for refractive surgery."

In 2010, the Visian ICL became the first phakic lens to win approval in Japan. The toric ICL offers another option to ophthalmologists and patients, according to the release.

With Japanese approval of the toric ICL, the United States is now the only major market in which approval is still pending, the release said.