Luxottica North America recently announced it is shutting down its Winnipeg plant, which made lenses for LensCrafters, Pearle Vision and Sears. Over 200 people will be out of work.

 

The Winnipeg plant, located at the corner of St. James Street and Sargent Avenue, was the Italian company’s only Canadian manufacturing location. That work will now be shifted to a distribution facility in Toronto and US facilities.

 

Manitoba premier Greg Selinger said he was surprised by the news. “We were not given any warning,” he said. “It came as a surprise. Clearly we’re concerned about people losing their jobs.”

 

In a brief statement sent to the CBC, Luxottica states that the closure is intended to “drive efficiency and maximize resources across its manufacturing network.” At the same time, Luxottica announced a separate decision to significantly reduce the staffing levels in its Cincinnati facilities.

 

Luxottica hired a consultant to provide former employees with support services during the transition period.

Source:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/luxottica-shuts-down-winnipeg-manufacturing-plant-1.2656853

Valeant has upped its unsolicited takeover bid for Allergan and invited its directors to a meeting.

 

The new offer is US $58.30 per share, an increase of US $10 over the previous offer. As with its last attempt, Valeant is also offering 0.83 Valeant share for each Allergan share, bringing the overall offer to approximately US $50 billion. As well, Valeant is promising to pay up to US $25 per share based on the success of Darpin, an ophthalmological drug being developed by Allergan. Valeant would invest up to US $400 million in this drug and would retain the employees responsible for its development. 

 

Valeant CEO Michael Pearson has also invited Allergan’s directors to meet with them, stating that Allergan’s recent public attack on Valeant’s business model reveals a lack of understanding of the pharmaceutical company’s operations and performance. Pearson continues to maintain that Valeant’s strategy would create substantial short, medium and long-term returns for Allergan shareholders.

 

“Just as importantly, we believe that together the two companies will be better able to serve the patient and the medical communities with a more complete product offer and ongoing innovations,” he added.

 

Allergan’s board will examine the offer before making recommendations to its shareholders.

Sources:

http://ir.valeant.com/investor-relations/news-releases/news-release-details/2014/Valeant-Substantially-Increases-Merger-Proposal-For-Allergan/default.aspx

http://www.ledevoir.com/economie/actualites-economiques/409481/valeant-offre-plus-d-argent-comptant-pour-allergan

 

 

 

 

In a document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Allergan has launched an all-out attack on Valeant, the Canadian pharmaceutical company that is trying to acquire it.

 

Written by consultants, the document challenges Valeant’s business model. Allergan starts by raising concerns about Valeant’s real organic growth, which it estimates at -0.5% in 2013 and -1.4% in the first quarter of 2014.

 

Allergan also claims that Valeant’s recent acquisitions have shown poor performance. The document states that Bausch + Lomb reported erosion in units sold for three out of four of its largest products, leading to losses for which Valeant compensated with list price increases.

 

Allergan questions Valeant’s ability to manage a company of Allergan’s scale, due to its “limited experience with large, global scale products” and the stability of its management team and accounting practices.

 

Finally, the document attacks the inherent value of Valeant’s business model, which is based on serial acquisitions and cost cutting. In the specific case of Allergan, analysts doubt that Valeant will be able to cut operating costs by $3 billion without harming Allergan’s long-term viability.

 

Source:

http://eyewiretoday.com/view.asp?20140527-allergan_files_investor_presentation_detailing_concerns_about_the_sustainability_of_valeants_business_model

 

 

 

Elevating brain fluid pressure could help prevent vision loss related to conditions such as glaucoma.

 

Scientists have found that pressure from the fluid surrounding the brain plays a role in maintaining proper eye function. Their findings were recently presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), in Florida.

 

In patients with an illness like glaucoma, in which vision loss is associated with elevated intraocular pressure, the optic nerve bends backward towards the brain and away from the eye. After conducting an experiment on rats, the researchers found that an increase in pressure of the fluid surrounding the brain counterbalanced the elevated intraocular pressure. This prevented the optic nerve from bending backward.

 

Rats with higher fluid pressure from the brain maintained their ability to respond to light better than rats with lower pressure. These findings might explain why some people with normal eye pressure develop glaucoma, and why people with intraocular pressure never develop the condition.

Source:

http://www.newswise.com/articles/elevating-brain-fluid-pressure-could-prevent-vision-loss

 

Contact lenses coated with an antimicrobial peptide could help to lower the risk of eye infections, according to the authors of a paper recently published in Optometry and Vision Science.

 

“This study has shown that melimine coated contact lenses can be safely worn by humans without any major side effects,” wrote the authors from The University of South Wales, in Australia.

 

Melimine is not an antibiotic, but rather a cationic peptide with broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity. It is already part of the immune system of all multicellular organisms that have the innate ability to inhibit microbial growth.

 

The researchers tested disposable contact lenses to which melimine was molecularly bonded. In a first study, rabbits wore the lenses for three weeks, without any problems. In a subsequent study, humans wore them for a day. In addition to not causing any health problems, the lenses had the usual characteristics of wettability, surface deposits, lens stability, comfort, and coverage of the cornea. 

 

“While the study is one of the earlier demonstrations, it does appear to be promising,” concluded Dr. Anthony Addams, editor-in-chief of the magazine.

Source:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140424112744.htm