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Bausch + Lomb discusses Ista acquisition with OSN
After the deal was completed in June, Bausch + Lomb president and CEO Brent Saunders explained the acquisition and the next steps for the company.
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Ocular Surgery News: First, the obvious question: Why Ista Pharmaceuticals?
Brent Saunders: We view the Ista acquisition as being strategic on a variety of fronts. From a marketed product perspective, their products are complementary to ours. Our customer base is similar and matches well. I think it increases our relevancy for our customer base, which is clearly something that is important to us. When you can walk in with a full portfolio of steroids, allergy medications, antibiotics and an NSAID, you have all the bases covered, which is nice relevance from the perspective of a customer.
Strategically, from a pipeline perspective, it makes a lot of sense. Their pipeline fits almost like a hand in glove into our pipeline in terms of what they are studying and the timeline in which they are studying.
Operationally, we know them well. We make most of their products already, and so that is also a nice fit. When you step back from it, I think this is a great combination of two great companies, where we admired the company they had built. They have just phenomenal talent, and when you add that to our great talent, you get a 1+1=3 scenario.
OSN: How does this translate for the general ophthalmologist?
Saunders: I think that they should expect to get the same great service and dedication to eye health that they have gotten from Bausch + Lomb or Ista, but now there is one more, stronger player in the marketplace. For ophthalmologists, I think the message is just more choice. Now there is a viable, strong option that is bringing innovation that is focused on customer needs, and that is what we are committed to doing.
OSN: It is probably too early to say, but what is going to happen with the Ista brand?
Saunders: I think the company name is less important than the product brands, in all fairness. It is the great people who are there that are not going to go away, it is the great products there that are not going to go away, and it is the great pipeline projects they have that are not going to go away. We have not decided anything with the name because it is too early, but Bausch + Lomb is an iconic brand with an iconic name and 159 years of history, so I think you will likely see the Bausch + Lomb name carried forward.
OSN: Another question that is probably too early for you to say, but what happens logistically to your operations and locations?
Saunders: That is too early to say, but we have a significant operation and we operate our surgical business 10 minutes away from Ista. We like Orange County, which has a great talent base. It is a place where we have a significant operation already, so it is not like we are opening up a new outpost somewhere that we have not been to before. We are very familiar with it, and I am very comfortable with having employees in Orange County.
OSN: This is making Bausch + Lomb a large part pharma. Can you address your place in the eye care pharmaceutical marketplace?
Saunders: We are very committed to our pharmaceutical business, but we are a broad-based eye health company. Today when you look at Bausch + Lomb, we are essentially about 40% pharmaceuticals, 40% vision care and 20% surgical. I think if I could wave a magic wand and create the perfect scenario, it would be one-third for each. I like having a balance and being committed to all aspects of eye health. That is all we do. I think there is a lot of value that we can drive for our professionals, for our customers and ultimately for their patients by remaining committed to one therapeutic class, the eye. Some people have a hard time visualizing that, but we look at vision care having a strong linkage to surgical.
For example, we launched a new IOL in Europe last September called enVista. It is a hydrophobic, glistening-free acrylic IOL, and the optics on that IOL are something that we adopted from our vision care colleagues that they had on a contact lens, the PureVision2. Obviously, it has been tweaked a little bit, but the aspheric optics that are on that lens that help provide very strong vision with reduced glare and halo came from optic designers who do contact lenses. So there is a very strong fit among all of the pieces of the puzzle when you focus on one therapeutic area but do it in a broad way. So one of the things we are working for is to find those leverage points in the business and use that to bring innovation to doctors and ultimately to their patients.
OSN: What other message would you like our readers to know?
Saunders: We are a global company. We operate in 104 markets. We are absolutely committed to this profession, and at the end of the day, Bausch + Lomb has been in this space for 159 years now. We may have had some ups and downs along the way, but I think the current people at Bausch + Lomb have been working hard over the last couple of years to transform the company to be customer-centric and to drive innovation in the marketplace. We are here for the long term. We have been here for 159 years, and we hope to be here for another 159 years. The key to our success is going to be earning the trust of our customers by driving superior customer service, driving innovation for doctors to better service their patients, and remaining committed to the industry. And that is all we do. We have no distractions.