AMO acquisition puts focus on the patient, J&J chairman says

Issue: March 2017

Johnson & Johnson completed the acquisition of Abbott Medical Optics in an all-cash $4.325 billion payment, according to a J&J press release issued today.

Perspective from Kerry Giedd, OD, MS, FAAO

The transaction includes ophthalmic products in three areas of patient care: cataract surgery, laser refractive surgery and consumer eye health, and the combined organization will operate under the name Johnson & Johnson Vision (J&J Vision).

Ashley McEvoy

“What we get very excited about, under the umbrella of J&J Vision, is putting the patient in the middle and bridging the two O’s [optometry and ophthalmology] to best serve patients,” Ashley McEvoy, company group chairman, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Medical Devices, said in an interview with Primary Care Optometry News.

“Optometrists play a strong role in primary eye health,” McEvoy said, and surgeons need to be in surgery and in the operating room. Leveraging the skill set of these professions to better serve patients is an important priority for the company, she said.

J&J pursued Abbott for many reasons, McEvoy explained.

“We really liked their strong, foundational base in surgical ophthalmics (they are No. 2), they have a very strong differentiated portfolio in IOLs, a very competitive platform in femtosecond lasers and a leadership position in refractive surgery, which is No. 1 in the world, with some neat innovation on the way,” she said.

McEvoy added that J&J Vision has a big opportunity in professional outreach for both eye care segments.

“In addition to tapping into what I’ll call our surgical platform,” she continued, “we also have access to J&J, a world leader in surgery, with over a hundred institutes that we can take advantage of, for curriculum with patient education and in the health care profession.”

At nearly $70 billion, eye health is one of the largest, fastest-growing and most underserved segments in health care today, according to the release. – by Abigail Sutton

Perspective

Kerry Giedd, OD, MS, FAAO

It’s my belief that because their contact lens care solutions market share is so small, initially the real push for J&J in this deal is to break into the surgical space with IOLs and medical devices, which doesn’t impact optometry much. I don’t see in the short term that it will shake things up at all.

As far as solutions go, it certainly opens things up. The name J&J carries a lot of value and impact not only in the health care industry, but in the consumer market. Perhaps they’ll rebrand existing products as opposed to developing new products in-house.

There is a general wariness in private practice optometry of big companies becoming even bigger, what their motives are and how well they will continue to align with and advocate for optometry. Essilor and Luxottica are the prime example of that right now. I have no reason to think J&J is going down a bad path in that regard, but we are curious to see how that plays out. It’s the dilemma we face as small business owners. Despite this wariness, big companies have resources and can oftentimes be effective in ways that small companies can’t in terms of bringing positive things into the industry.

Kerry Giedd, OD, MS, FAAO

Eola Eyes, Orlando, Fla.

Primary Care Optometry News Editorial Board member

Disclosures: Giedd reports she consults for Bausch + Lomb and has previously consulted for Alcon, CooperVision and Johnson & Johnson.