MONROVIA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--STAAR Surgical Company (NASDAQ: STAA), a leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of implantable lenses and companion delivery systems for the eye, today announced a multi-year Strategic Alliance Agreement with Dr. Tobias Neuhann of the Augenklinik am Marienplatz (Eye Clinic at Marienplatz) in Munich, Germany. The agreement serves as a global partnership model for smaller and single site refractive surgery eye clinics that aim to provide STAAR's EVO Visian ICL™ intraocular lenses as a primary and premium option for patients seeking visual freedom from spectacles and contact lenses.
Caren Mason, President & CEO of STAAR, stated, “Our agreement with Dr. Tobias Neuhann highlights the collaborative excellence possible between STAAR and ophthalmologists operating clinics outside large hospital, university and multi-site settings. Offering many of the benefits of our larger strategic cooperation agreements to these clinics is an important component of STAAR’s growth strategy. Dr. Neuhann is a pioneer with a long history of excellence working with the ICL including our latest generation of the EVO family of lenses. His passion for the ICL is shared by his family. His son, Raphael Neuhann, is on staff at Augenklinik am Marienplatz as a dedicated ICL surgeon. The family also loves sailing and sails a Flying Phantom catamaran as part of an EVO Visian ICL branded sailing team. The catamaran prominently features EVO as part of STAAR’s 'Break Free From Glasses' campaign and illustrates one aspect of our company’s creative approach to marketing with our ophthalmology customers. We are thrilled to formally expand our collaboration with this highly-regarded doctor and his family’s clinic.”
“My clinic and staff look forward to further deepening our relationship with STAAR and its stellar family of ICL lenses as an official Strategic Alliance Partner. We are committed to providing STAAR’s ICL lens, and the associated implantation procedure that preserves the natural anatomy of the eye, as a primary and premium option for patients wanting to experience high quality vision,” stated Dr. Tobias Neuhann, Practice Owner and Medical Head of Augenklinik am Marienplatz. “I have successfully implanted the ICL lenses in my wife’s eyes and hundreds of additional patients seeking visual freedom from spectacles and contact lenses. We believe the additional patient education, marketing and support provided by STAAR under this strategic alliance will facilitate our commitment to accelerating the growth of the ICL in our practice,” concluded Dr. Neuhann.
In January 2016 STAAR Surgical Company announced the first Strategic Cooperation Agreements with two of the largest and most respected eye hospitals in the world. The Strategic Alliance Agreement with Dr. Tobias Neuhann of the Augenklinik am Marienplatz includes similar marketing, patient education and surgeon training support provided by STAAR. The agreements are tailored and optimized for the unique needs of smaller and single site refractive centers while providing STAAR with committed levels of growth by the clinic and premium and primary positioning of the ICL family of lenses.
About STAAR Surgical
STAAR, which has been dedicated solely to ophthalmic surgery for over 30 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”, which includes the EVO Visian ICL™ product line. More than 900,000 Visian ICLs have been implanted to date. To learn more about the ICL go to: www.discovericl.com. STAAR has approximately 400 full-time equivalent employees and markets lenses in over 75 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.
