MONROVIA, Calif., Feb. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- STAAR Surgical
Company (NASDAQ: STAA), a leading developer, manufacturer and
marketer of implantable lenses and delivery systems for the eye,
and Aier Eye Hospital Group Co. Ltd. (SHE: 300015), the largest
refractive surgery provider in China, today announced they have entered into
an agreement to provide STAAR's CentraFLOW® intraocular lenses
(ICL) as a primary and premium option for refractive eye
treatment.
"Aier Eye Hospital Group is dedicated to providing our patients
with exceptional refractive vision care solutions. We
currently operate 100 eye hospitals with a strategic plan to grow
to over 200 eye hospitals by 2020. This growth is necessary
to be able to provide the very large number of patients with the
opportunity for the best myopic correction possible," said Mr.
Li Li, CEO of Aier Eye Hospital
Group.
According to A Research Report on the Vision Health of
Chinese People, authored by the China Health Development
Research Center, Peking University, published on June 12, 2015, "The number of people with high
myopia alone is far greater than the totality of those with other
types of vision defects. Myopia is particularly widespread among
teenagers. It is estimated that in 2012, there were totally 480 to
531 million people suffering from myopia, with as many as 29 to
30.4 million having high myopia."
"We believe that our partnership with STAAR will provide a
strong collaboration projected to include surgeon training,
clinical studies, patient registries, local inventory including the
more custom Toric lenses, patient information both in person and
through digital communications and an ability to meet patient
demand within the day of interest. All of these partnership
terms are significant and very important to make the ICL a primary
and premium treatment option for our mid to high myopic patients.
We will also be an enthusiastic clinical contributor to the STAAR
Asia Experts Meeting in Shanghai
in March," concluded Mr. Li
Li.
"STAAR is pleased to have entered into a Strategic Cooperation
Agreement with Aier Hospital Group where the CentraFLOW Visian
implantable Collamer® lens will be positioned as a primary and
premium vision correction solution for their patients. Our
distributor, Shanghai Lansheng Resources Co. Ltd, has expanded to
specialized distribution with a dedicated ICL division and has
partnered with us to provide Aier Eye Hospital Group with close
cooperation and committed levels of support as contracted lens
purchase unit milestones are achieved. STAAR considers
cooperation and strategic agreements as fundamental to its
transformational goal to provide outstanding vision care experience
and outcome for patients with exceptional clinical support as a
core tenet," said Caren Mason,
President & CEO of STAAR.
About STAAR Surgical
STAAR, which has been dedicated solely to ophthalmic surgery for
over 25 years, designs, develops, manufactures and markets
implantable lenses for the eye with companion delivery systems.
These lenses are intended to provide visual freedom for patients
lessening or eliminating the reliance on glasses or contact lenses.
All of these lenses are foldable, which permits the surgeon
to insert them through a small incision. STAAR's lens used in
refractive surgery is called an Implantable Collamer® Lens or
"ICL". More than 550,000 Visian ICLs have been implanted to date.
To learn more about the ICL go to: www.visianinfo.com. STAAR has
approximately 300 employees and markets lenses in over 60
countries. Headquartered in Monrovia,
CA, the company operates manufacturing facilities in
Aliso Viejo, CA and Monrovia, CA. For more information, please
visit the Company's website at www.staar.com.
Safe Harbor
All statements in this press release that are not statements of
historical fact are forward-looking statements, including
statements about any of the following: statements regarding
products or potential future sales in China, including but not limited to sales to
Aier Eye Hospital Group, current or future and any statements of
assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Important
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from
those indicated by such forward-looking statements are set forth in
the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
January 2, 2015, under the caption
"Risk Factors," which is on file with the Securities and Exchange
Commission and available in the "Investor Information" section of
the company's website under the heading "SEC Filings."
These statements are based on expectations and assumptions as of
the date of this press release and are subject to numerous risks
and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ
materially from those described in the forward-looking
statements.
CONTACT:
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Investors
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Media
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EVC
Group
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EVC Group
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Brian Moore,
310-579-6199
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Dave Schemelia,
646-445-4800
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Doug Sherk,
415-652-9100
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SOURCE STAAR Surgical Company