STAAR Surgical Company

Invention:	Implantable Collamer Lens (ICL)
Trademark:	EVO ICL®
Patents:	65
NASDAQ:	STAA

The invention

The company's invention is an implantable eye lens made from a proprietary material, called Collamer. Collamer is a type of collagen copolymer that is formed by joining molecules of collagen derived from biological sources with synthetic monomer molecules. The biocompatibility of the Collamer material used for the ICL product line is a significant factor in the ability to place this lens safely in the posterior chamber of the eye.

Compared to LASIK and PRK, the Implantable Collamer Lens (ICL) does not require the removal of any corneal material. With over 1,000,000 patients treated, the device is FDA approved and is available globally for myopia and hyperopia.

Surgeons have published over 100 peer-reviewed articles with clinical data regarding the safety, effectiveness, and visual quality of the ICL.

ICL provides a safe and effective solution for the growing number of myopic patients who will seek visual freedom from eyeglasses and contact lenses, and who would prefer a removable implant to laser surgery. 

Addressable market

The incidence of myopia is growing globally, with high myopia becoming more common according to recently published articles, affecting nearly 5 billion and 1 billion people, respectively, by 2050 (Global Prevalence of Myopia and High Myopia and Temporal Trends from 2000through 2050, Ophthalmology, Vol. 123, No. 5, May 2016; Global trends in myopia management attitudes and strategies in clinical practice, Contact Lens and anterior Eye, Vol. 39, 2016).

Competition

The primary competitor to ICL is the laser surgical procedure. Alcon (formerly a part of Novartis), Johnson & Johnson (formerly Advanced Medical Optics or AMO), Bausch Health Companies (formerly Valeant, Bausch & Lomb or B+L), and Carl Zeiss Meditec AG, all market lasers for corneal refractive surgery.

Phakic implants that compete with the ICL are also available in the marketplace. The two principal types of phakic IOLs are (1) posterior chamber designs like the ICL, and (2) iris clip anterior chamber PIOLs like the Artisan® and Artiflex® lenses made by Ophtec. We believe the ICL has compelling clinical advantages over the other lenses, which are reflected in our strong market share of the global phakic IOL market. The ICL is the only foldable, minimally invasivePIOL approved for sale in the U.S. In addition, competitors from Asia are beginning to appear in the market with their low-cost version of a posterior chamber implantable contact lens, increasing the level of competition.