STAAR Surgical Company, a Monrovia, California-based leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of implantable lenses and delivery systems for the eye, has received the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), India approval to market its Visian Implantable Collamer Lens (ICL) with CentraFLOW technology.

“Following our recent approval in Korea, we are delighted to add India to the growing list of markets in which we now have the CentraFLOW technology to help drive market share growth in the Asia Pacific region,” said Don Todd, president of the Asia Pacific Region for STAAR Surgical. “During the first half of this year, the Visian ICL with CentraFLOW contributed to the 54 per cent growth in European markets. During the past four years, the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for the Visian ICL has been 48 per cent in India. Our marketing partner, Spica Medical, has seen a lot of anticipation in the market for the CentraFLOW technology as inquiries from surgeons and clinics over the past few weeks have been tremendous. With this approval in India, we can now leverage this growing acceptance to further penetrate a significantly large market.”

Several key refractive surgeons in India have expressed their excitement about the new technology. Dr Sri Ganesh, chairman and managing director of Nethradhama Hospital, said, “STAAR has just made an excellent product better. The Visian ICL with CentraFLOW is a very innovative design which improves patient safety and efficiency for the surgeon. The patient experience now with the Visian ICL CentraFLOW technology will be as good as or even better than LASIK.”

Dr Kasu Prasad Reddy, founder of Maxivision Eye Hospitals who has conducted over 45,000 refractive procedures, added, “A little hole in the Visian ICL optic, which eliminates a surgical peripheral iridotomy procedure, is a brilliant step towards surgical ease and patient comfort.”

According to a Market Scope 2013 Comprehensive Report on The Global Refractive Surgery Market, India has a population of approximately 1.2 billion and approximately 149,000 refractive procedures were performed last year. The demand for refractive surgery in India is lower than other markets based upon a couple of key factors which make the Visian ICL procedure an attractive option. The investments required to purchase and maintain an excimer laser are high and there are documented studies that the population of India generally has thinner corneas making LASIK a more challenging procedure for treatment. The Market Scope estimate for 2012 is that overall refractive procedures grew five per cent while the Visian ICL grew 26 per cent. The Company believes the Visian ICL has over a four per cent market share of all refractive procedures in India.

The Visian ICL CentraFLOW technology was launched from a marketing perspective at two major meetings in India during the past few weeks. The first meeting was the Intraocular Implant and Refractive Society, India (IIRSI) meeting in Chennai and second major meeting was the XXI Annual Conference of the Bombay Ophthalmologists Association in Mumbai.

The CentraFLOW technology utilises the KS-AquaPORT, or KS-AP, in the centre of the ICL optic, to optimize the flow of fluid within the eye. This proprietary technology eliminates the need for the surgeon to perform a YAG peripheral iridotomy procedure days before the ICL implant, thus eliminating an additional procedure and office visit. This results in more comfort for the patient and a more convenient, efficient ICL experience for both the patient and the surgeon. The Visian ICL, which is currently the fastest growing refractive technology, has demonstrated an even greater growth rate with this enhancement. Nearly 25,000 implants of the Visian CentraFLOW technology have been successfully performed in Europe.

This approval expands the market opportunity for the Visian ICL as the range of refractive errors treatable has significantly increased. The expanded range for the Visian ICL with CentraFLOW will now go from -0.5 diopter to -18.0 diopters on the myopic range and +0.5 cylinder power to +6.0 for the Toric ICL models.