The ophthalmic market has seen its fair share of big-bucks wheeling and dealing in the last decade and investment interest from health care heavyweights is evident. Amid the multimillion-dollar ophthalmic technology acquisitions that have taken place since 2005, the former top three eye care companies themselves have also been swallowed up by big pharma. (See Exhibit 1.) Advanced Medical Optics Inc. went to Abbott Laboratories Inc. for $2.8 billion in 2009; Bausch & Lomb Inc. was acquired twice, first by private equity firm Warburg Pincus in 2007 for $4.5 billion then by Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. for $8.7 billion in 2013; and Novartis AG digested Alcon Inc., the biggest eye care company, in a two-part deal worth a whopping $52 billion. [See Deal][See Deal][See Deal]
The attractiveness of the ophthalmic market is fuelled by the graying population and the increasing prevalence of age-related eye disorders. Among these conditions, presbyopia – when the eye loses its ability to accommodate – is one which arguably represents the broadest and potentially most lucrative market, affecting virtually everyone from around age 40 (the onset can be later and sometimes earlier), regardless of gender or race
