C&C Vision: Small Company, Big Vision

Presbyopia, the inability to focus close-up that come with aging, represents a blockbuster market opportunity since virtually everyone eventually suffers from the condition. The success of LASIK (laser surgery for vision correction) has created a demand on the part of patients and physicians for an alternative to glasses for the middle aged. C&C Vision hopes to be the first to offer a surgical treatment for presbyopia. Like others going after the market, however, C&C aims to validate its technology by addressing a medical need first: it is initially targeting cataracts. In doing so, however, it faces the risk of sidling up to, rather than directly attacking, the presbyopia market upon which it desires to be valued.