ReNu saga goes on as lawsuits are filed in US

The pain for contact lens giant Bausch & Lomb over fears that its ReNu with MoistureLoc solution is unsafe goes on.

The global nature of the scare has spread, with concern reported from markets as far flung as the Philippines and Scandinavia.

Although B&L's latest statement reasserts that ReNu with MoistureLoc for Europe is manufactured in Milan - and not Greenville, South Carolina from where stocks of the solution were halted earlier this month (News, April 14) - it has not prevented companies acting on their own initiative and stopping the sale of the product.

Specsavers' Blic Optic stores in Sweden have advised customers to change to another brand. Despite press reports to the contrary, Specsavers UK does not sell the solution as either a proprietary brand or under the Specsavers name.

B&L decided to place full-page advertisements in the New York Times and other US publications in an attempt to explain the situation to wearers.

The advertisements feature a personal letter from B&L chairman and chief executive Ron Zarrella addressed to 'Dear Loyal ReNu Consumer', and were published days after the company voluntarily withdrew the product from the US.

However, the litigation has already started. A lawsuit has been filed against B&L 'on behalf of all users of ReNu with MoistureLoc Solution' in a New York Court.

The legal firm behind this move also intends to take the case of a 53-year-old user who was diagnosed with Fusarium keratitis. 'The victim,' a spokesman for law firm Parker & Waichman, 'is left with only 15 per cent vision in his left eye.'