Bausch & Lomb

About Bausch & Lomb

The eyes are the windows to profit for Bausch & Lomb. Operating as Bausch + Lomb, the eye care company is best known as a leading maker of contact lenses and lens care solutions (including the PureVision and ReNu brands). Along with its contact lens products, Bausch + Lomb makes prescription ophthalmic drugs Alrex, Lotemax, and Zylet. It also makes – more... over-the-counter vitamins and drops through its pharmaceuticals division. Its surgical unit makes instruments and equipment for cataract, vitreoretinal, and other ophthalmic surgeries. Bausch + Lomb markets its products in more than 100 countries worldwide. The company is owned by private equity firm  Warburg Pincus.

Geographic Reach

Bausch + Lomb has direct sales, manufacturing, or administrative branches in about 40 countries. The company is expanding its presence in international markets by opening or acquiring new locations, as well as by establishing partnerships in new regions.

Operations

Bausch + Lomb's vision care division makes a variety of contact lenses, as well as lens care and cleaning products. Meanwhile, the cataract and vitreoretinal surgery unit makes products used to surgically replace cataract-affected lenses, as well as to treat retinal disease. The company's Crystalens intraocular lens procedure is a commonly performed outpatient surgery marketed as having a short recovery period.

Bausch + Lomb's pharmaceuticals division makes prescription and over-the-counter ophthalmic drugs, as well as vitamins for ocular health. Its vitamin product line includes products for age-related macular degeneration (PreserVision) and dry eye, as well as nutritionals for diabetics. The division also sells prescription anti-inflammatory/anti-infective Zylet, and plans to develop more proprietary prescription drugs over the long term. 

Strategy

Bausch + Lomb expands its product offerings through a combination of internal research, acquisition, and partnership efforts. The company is especially enhancing its lens offerings to include bifocal and multi-focal contact lenses to cash in on an aging population in need of reading glasses. Bausch + Lomb is also boosting its surgery business in order to cash in on the boom in cataract and corrective eye surgeries in older vision patients, as well as younger consumers who are tired of wearing corrective lenses of any sort. And as it works to expand its pharmaceutical operations, Bausch + Lomb often collaborates with other drugmakers, such as CrystalGenomics, Galapagos, and Pfizer. 

The company must stay on its toes when it comes to developing new products as competition from companies such as Alcon (Opti-Free), as well as generic product manufacturers, continue to try to nudge their way toward the top of the eye care industry. New Bausch + Lomb product launches include the PureVision 2 contact lens line for astigmatism (2011), Lotemax ointment for post-operative inflammation (2011), and enVista intraocular lenses for corrective surgeries (2012).

Mergers and Acquisitions

In 2012 Bausch + Lomb acquired ISTA Pharmaceuticals for approximately $500 million. The buy nearly doubled the number of mid-to late-stage novel therapies in its pipeline and increased its offerings by adding ISTA's product portfolio which includes four prescription ophthalmology products: Bromday, Bepreve, Istalol, and Vitrase.

In 2011 Bausch + Lomb expanded its South American operations through the acquisition of Argentinean contact lens maker Waicon. – less

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