07.01.06
$2 Billion ($41.3B Total)
Key Executives:
Cary Rayment, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Andre Bens, PhD, Sr. VP, Global Manufacturing and Technical Operations
Gerald D. Cagle, PhD, Sr. VP, R&D and Chief Science Officer
Jacqualyn Fouse, Sr. VP, CFO and Corporate Strategy
Kevin J. Buehler, Sr. VP, Alcon United States and Chief Marketing Officer
No. of Employees: 12,700
Corporate Headquarters: Fort Worth, TX
Alcon, a subsidiary of Nestlé Company since 1977, boasts one of the most comprehensive product portfolios for the ophthalmic surgical industry, manufacturing and marketing products for virtually all ocular surgical procedures. As such, fueled largely by new product introductions and global expansion, 2005 sales of Alcon’s surgical product line reached $2 billion, an increase of 11% over $1.8 billion in 2004.
Alcon’s surgical division is comprised of three product lines: cataract, vitreoretinal and refractive.
The most prominent of Alcon’s accomplishments in 2005 was the introduction of the AcrySof ReSTOR lens. Approved by the FDA in March that year, the product is the only apodized diffractive intraocular lens for cataract patients with and without presbyopia, providing patients with a full range of vision and greatly reducing their reliance on glasses. With clinical studies showing that 80% of patients did not require glasses after surgery, lens sales accelerated quickly in the United States, contributing to overall global sales of $54 million in 2005. Moreover, the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also offered patients the right to select this technology for cataract surgery, if needed.
Sales of cataract and vitreoretina equipment, procedure packs, solutions and accessories were beneficial to the company as well, growing 10% to $1.3 million in 2005; cataract equipment sales alone increased 26% on record sales of the company’s Infiniti vision system. Sales of vitreoretinal surgical equipment also jumped 21%, while sales of related disposables were up 19%.
Additionally, Alcon introduced the OZil torsional handpiece for use with the Infiniti system.
During 2005, Alcon invested $422 million in new product development.
Although approximately 85% of Alcon’s sales presently come from developed markets, sales in emerging markets grew more than twice as fast during 2005. Alcon has answered that calling by expanding its global infrastructure developed over the past 45 years to delve into new markets.
“Over the next 25 years, the number of people over the age of 65 in less developed countries will more than double to over one billion,” said Cary Rayment, Alcon president, chairman and CEO. “These will be people who are most at risk for the majority of serious eye diseases, and Alcon intends to provide them with the best drugs and devices to preserve, restore and enhance their vision.”
The big picture shows that not all segments performed equally well for Alcon. Due to decreases in global equipment sales and procedure fees, revenues for refractive surgical products declined 11% to $56.2 million and slightly offset the gains made in cataract and vitreoretinal segments.
Another conern is Alcon’s involvement in a patent infringement lawsuit, filed by Advanced Medical Optics (AMO), challenging certain features of the Inifiniti vision system. A December ruling favored AMO and set damages at $213.9 million. This year, the court also awarded AMO interim damages, prejudgment interest and reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. Alcon, however, is appealing the decision. Due to the court’s final judgment, Alcon recorded a fourth-quarter provision of $240 million related to the litigation.
An unfortunate calamity developed after fires and explosions at an oil depot in Hemel Hempstead, England damaged Alcon’s nearby office building and warehouse, as well as equipment and inventories housed in those facilities. The company had to shell out $8.7 million for repairs.
Some personnel changes have been occurring in Alcon as well. Alcon’s management structure was shook up last year with the election of Cary Rayment, the company’s CEO since October 2004, to chair the board of directors, replacing retiree Timothy R. G. Sear.
In December 2005, Wolfgang Reichenberger, director of Alcon since the company’s initial public offering in 2002, stepped down from his post.
This year looks promising for Alcon as first-quarter 2006 global sales were $1.2 million, an increase of 8% over last year. The United States contributed half of total sales and grew 11% to $577 million.
Surgical sales were up 8% as well, accounting for 45% of total sales, and intraocular lenses increased 19%, primarily driven by the success with AcrySof ReSTOR intraocular lenses—especially in the United States, where the product was not available in the first quarter of 2005. Global sales of AcrySof ReSTOR lenses in the first quarter of 2006 were a huge victory, having jumped nearly $20 million to $23.3 million (compared to $3.2 million in the first quarter of 2005). Vitreoretinal surgical products, including equipment and disposables, continued to grow faster than the market as well.
“Our strong sales and profit results for the first quarter were consistent with our expectations and reflected the continued success of our brand building across many product lines and gross margin improvement due to favorable mix shift,” Rayment said. “The breadth of our product line as well as global new product introductions are integral to our consistent performance and will be important contributors to our performance in the future.”
Key Executives:
Cary Rayment, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Andre Bens, PhD, Sr. VP, Global Manufacturing and Technical Operations
Gerald D. Cagle, PhD, Sr. VP, R&D and Chief Science Officer
Jacqualyn Fouse, Sr. VP, CFO and Corporate Strategy
Kevin J. Buehler, Sr. VP, Alcon United States and Chief Marketing Officer
No. of Employees: 12,700
Corporate Headquarters: Fort Worth, TX
Alcon, a subsidiary of Nestlé Company since 1977, boasts one of the most comprehensive product portfolios for the ophthalmic surgical industry, manufacturing and marketing products for virtually all ocular surgical procedures. As such, fueled largely by new product introductions and global expansion, 2005 sales of Alcon’s surgical product line reached $2 billion, an increase of 11% over $1.8 billion in 2004.
Alcon’s surgical division is comprised of three product lines: cataract, vitreoretinal and refractive.
The most prominent of Alcon’s accomplishments in 2005 was the introduction of the AcrySof ReSTOR lens. Approved by the FDA in March that year, the product is the only apodized diffractive intraocular lens for cataract patients with and without presbyopia, providing patients with a full range of vision and greatly reducing their reliance on glasses. With clinical studies showing that 80% of patients did not require glasses after surgery, lens sales accelerated quickly in the United States, contributing to overall global sales of $54 million in 2005. Moreover, the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also offered patients the right to select this technology for cataract surgery, if needed.
Sales of cataract and vitreoretina equipment, procedure packs, solutions and accessories were beneficial to the company as well, growing 10% to $1.3 million in 2005; cataract equipment sales alone increased 26% on record sales of the company’s Infiniti vision system. Sales of vitreoretinal surgical equipment also jumped 21%, while sales of related disposables were up 19%.
Additionally, Alcon introduced the OZil torsional handpiece for use with the Infiniti system.
During 2005, Alcon invested $422 million in new product development.
Although approximately 85% of Alcon’s sales presently come from developed markets, sales in emerging markets grew more than twice as fast during 2005. Alcon has answered that calling by expanding its global infrastructure developed over the past 45 years to delve into new markets.
“Over the next 25 years, the number of people over the age of 65 in less developed countries will more than double to over one billion,” said Cary Rayment, Alcon president, chairman and CEO. “These will be people who are most at risk for the majority of serious eye diseases, and Alcon intends to provide them with the best drugs and devices to preserve, restore and enhance their vision.”
The big picture shows that not all segments performed equally well for Alcon. Due to decreases in global equipment sales and procedure fees, revenues for refractive surgical products declined 11% to $56.2 million and slightly offset the gains made in cataract and vitreoretinal segments.
Another conern is Alcon’s involvement in a patent infringement lawsuit, filed by Advanced Medical Optics (AMO), challenging certain features of the Inifiniti vision system. A December ruling favored AMO and set damages at $213.9 million. This year, the court also awarded AMO interim damages, prejudgment interest and reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. Alcon, however, is appealing the decision. Due to the court’s final judgment, Alcon recorded a fourth-quarter provision of $240 million related to the litigation.
An unfortunate calamity developed after fires and explosions at an oil depot in Hemel Hempstead, England damaged Alcon’s nearby office building and warehouse, as well as equipment and inventories housed in those facilities. The company had to shell out $8.7 million for repairs.
Some personnel changes have been occurring in Alcon as well. Alcon’s management structure was shook up last year with the election of Cary Rayment, the company’s CEO since October 2004, to chair the board of directors, replacing retiree Timothy R. G. Sear.
In December 2005, Wolfgang Reichenberger, director of Alcon since the company’s initial public offering in 2002, stepped down from his post.
This year looks promising for Alcon as first-quarter 2006 global sales were $1.2 million, an increase of 8% over last year. The United States contributed half of total sales and grew 11% to $577 million.
Surgical sales were up 8% as well, accounting for 45% of total sales, and intraocular lenses increased 19%, primarily driven by the success with AcrySof ReSTOR intraocular lenses—especially in the United States, where the product was not available in the first quarter of 2005. Global sales of AcrySof ReSTOR lenses in the first quarter of 2006 were a huge victory, having jumped nearly $20 million to $23.3 million (compared to $3.2 million in the first quarter of 2005). Vitreoretinal surgical products, including equipment and disposables, continued to grow faster than the market as well.
“Our strong sales and profit results for the first quarter were consistent with our expectations and reflected the continued success of our brand building across many product lines and gross margin improvement due to favorable mix shift,” Rayment said. “The breadth of our product line as well as global new product introductions are integral to our consistent performance and will be important contributors to our performance in the future.”