Bausch and Lomb is an American company based in Rochester, New York, specialized in medical optics like contact lenses and surgical instruments. The company was founded in 1853 by Germans John Jacob Bausch and Henry Lomb. It employs over 10,000 people today.

Controversies

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PureVision

Bausch and Lomb was involved in numerous lawsuits with Novartis which claimed to have patents on one of Bausch and Lomb's products called PureVision. On August 2, 2002, Bausch and Lomb announced its intention to move the production from the US to Ireland since a request to continue making and selling its contact lenses in the US while it appeals a decision in the patent lawsuit was denied by a federal appeals court. On July 2, 2004, the company announced that it had licensed the intellectual property of Novartis. Bausch & Lomb will pay the CIBA Vision unit of Novartis a royalty on net U.S. sales of its PureVision brand contact lenses until 2014 and on net sales outside the U.S. until 2016. Specific terms of the agreement are confidential.

ReNu

On April 11, 2006, Bausch & Lomb stopped shipments of its ReNu with MoistureLoc contact lens solution when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found what appeared to be a high correlation between use of the product and cases of suspected fungal keratitis ^*.

ReNu Litigation

A number of class actions have been filed against Bausch and Lomb and the estimated potential cost of this litigation could be in the billions. ^* The market value of the company has been negatively impacted as a result of the ReNu litigation.

Diversity

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Bausch and Lomb received a 100% rating on the Corporate Equality Index released by the Human Rights Campaign starting in 2003, the second year of the report.

Companies based in New York | Rochester, New York | Eyewear brands | S&P 500