David Challinor and Alison Ewbank begin our three-part review of last month's Optrafair exhibition, concentrating on what the contact lens companies had to offer
Optrafair 2005 lived up to its aim that it would represent all that is topical and immediate in the profession. Aside from the new products and trends on show, the exhibition's aisles hummed with the bubbling resentment over the CET points fiasco.
The NEC show provided an enlarged showcase for technology developments aimed at helping the busy practitioner, a strong fashion frame element in the 'Boulevard' area, and special events dotted around hall 20.
Many of those who attended felt that although exhibitor numbers were up, attendance was down. In fact, visitor figures matched that of 2003's Optrafair - at around 11,600 - with the show 'finding its natural level' of popularity according to organisers.
Perhaps the show, which has in the past tried to match the high profile of other European events, has also found its natural strength, as several stand representatives were impressed at the levels of buying taking place during the three days.
With a rumoured expansion into London next year, and its well-attended additional events - such as the profession's Awards hosted by optician on the show's opening night - the Optrafair brand has staked its claim as the profession's most popular meeting place.
For those readers who couldn't find everything they wanted at the NEC - and for those who couldn't attend - over the next three weeks optician will provide a full round-up of what was new and appealing at the show, starting with contact lenses.
Only 12 companies were listed in the contact lens and care product sectors but among those who did attend there were several new products and some interesting views on issues affecting the market. Improved daily disposable lenses and a greater choice of silicone hydrogels were the key trends at the show.
Of the big four manufacturers, CooperVision was this year's absentee, while Johnson & Johnson returned to Optrafair for the first time in four years. J&J senior product manager Shirley Bovansombat said concerns that contact lenses had not had the profile they deserved at previous shows had been addressed by the organisers and the event fitted in well with timing of the company's product launches.
Introduced to its Acuvue Centres of Excellence at a series of seminars last month, J&J's new silicone hydrogel lens, Acuvue Oasys with Hydraclear Plus, will be available to all customers by mid-May. The second product in the Ultra Comfort series, the lens is designed for two-weekly daily wear or weekly extended wear and is aimed at those who experience dryness symptoms or work in challenging environments.
COMFORT ZONE
Practitioners who had trialled Acuvue Oasys were on hand to fit visitors with the lens and endorse its comfort benefits. More than 400 delegates tried the lens at the show and of 100 surveyed, 86 per cent rated it the most comfortable lens they had worn.
'Practitioners are really buying into the Ultra Comfort series. The level of comfort it's offering patients is really appreciated by the practitioner - even their nightmare patients are happily wearing the lenses for long wearing times,' said Bovansombat.
Prominent on the stand were showcards for another new product headed 'Daily disposables are about to change' and promoting the lens as 'more comfortable than 1-Day Acuvue'. 'Weeks rather than months away' was J&J's estimation of the likely launch date and opinions elsewhere at the show were divided as to whether this would be an improved conventional hydrogel or the first silicone hydrogel daily disposable.
Visitors to the Ciba Vision stand had no need to wait to hear about improvements to the Focus Dailies lens, now with a built-in moisturising agent, AquaRelease. Professional affairs manager Dr Vicki Evans explained that the new lens contained five times more free PVA than the original Dailies lens. PVA was released into the tear film throughout the day for improved end-of-day comfort. From last week, all Focus Dailies supplied would be the new version, which also incorporates a handling tint.
On show on the Ciba stand alongside Focus Dailies was the O2Optix monthly replacement silicone hydrogel, launched six months ago. Evans said that understanding of the silicone hydrogel segment had improved as O2Optix had been added. It was positioned as 'the daily wear lens that gives a safety net if the patient falls asleep', as opposed to Night & Day, 'the lens they plan to sleep in'. O2Optix Toric would be introduced towards the end of this year.
Optrafair also marked the launch of Sauflon Pharmaceuticals' daily disposable lens NewDay, a front-surface aspheric design with a thin edge profile to optimise comfort. The lens also incorporates UV protection. Aside from these technical attributes, the key feature Sauflon was promoting was its 'optician-only' supply policy.
UK sales director Bradley Wells said that the UK market was 'crying out' for an optician-only daily lens and added that the NewDay parameters were chosen to ensure non-optical outlets could not offer an alternative product. His view was that it was only a matter of time before daily disposables were available through chemists and supermarkets. 'Dailies are definitely seen as a commodity product,' he said.
Opinions elsewhere at the show were divided as to the extent of the threat from these supply routes. Pricing and discounts remained contentious but the full implications of the recent legislative changes were still far from clear. Practitioners and manufacturers were more comfortable discussing strategies for discouraging internet supply than predicting what might happen from July when the new regulations are due to take effect.
Malcolm Louch is director of professional services at daily disposable manufacturer Provis, which prices its daysoftUV lens at 14p. For Louch, the key issue was how practitioners could separate charges for products from professional services so that they could remain competitive. 'The market's polarising into silicone hydrogels and daily disposables but interestingly both are more expensive modalities,' he observed.
But cost was clearly not the only issue at stake. John Doherty, product manager at Bausch & Lomb, which has products in both sectors, pointed to other benefits to fitting silicone hydrogels. 'Daily disposables are ideal if patients just want to wear their lenses for eight hours. But modern life's not like that. Continuous wear has to be the ideal in terms of building a relationship with the consumer. The practitioner is a unique position in being able to build that relationship.' Doherty's view was that people only looked at alternative supply channels if they were not happy with the service they were getting.
Daily disposable lens NewDay was launched on the Sauflon Pharmaceuticals stand |
B&L used Optrafair to promote new branding throughout its range and to discuss PureVision Toric - the first silicone hydrogel toric lens, introduced last autumn. A PureVision multifocal will follow towards the end of this year. Also prominent on the stand was the company's latest multipurpose solution, ReNu with MoistureLoc, one of very few developments in care products at the show. Alcon and AMO were notable absentees in this sector.
Another new player in daily disposable lenses is Clearlab, now a subsidiary of US internet supplier 1-800 Contacts, and with manufacturing facilities in Singapore and Plymouth. June will see the official UK launch of Clear 1-day, the world's first biocompatible daily disposable lens, and All-day, a monthly biocompatible lens. Both are manufactured from the hioxifilcon A material and toric options will be added later this year.
Clearlab lenses were previously available in the UK from No 7 Laboratories but are now distributed by frame company Sigma Optical. Clearlab regional manager Malcolm Jones said that, despite its ownership, Clearlab's policy was not to supply any internet contact lens supplier.
Reassuring UK practitioners, he added: 'I can categorically say that 1-800 isn't going to move into Europe.'
COLOURED OPTIONS
In another interesting development, frame company Vision-Eyecare exhibited the Bescon range of contact lenses which is manufactured in South Korea and available in the US and Japan. The range includes cast-moulded frequent replacement soft lenses, coloured options and RGPs, as well as solutions.
Over on the Menicon stand, Atsushi Yamashita and Pierre Renon were presenting the Menisoft high-water monthly replacement lens alongside the Menicon Z and Menifocal Z RGPs for continuous wear. The company's Progent and Menilab solutions, CE marked for disinfecting RGP trial lenses against prions, were also on display. Next door, mark 'ennovy was showing its toric and multifocal lenses and promoting the concept of 'tailor-made disposable lenses' as a way that practitioners could position its specialist range.
At No 7 Contact Lens Laboratories, director Ian Goble reported strong interest in the company's Ortho K system of customising reverse-geometry lenses based on topographical data.
Goble said that practitioners were coming along specifically to talk about the system and, interestingly, not all were experienced RGP fitters.
Simplifying ortho-K by an empirical approach and technical support throughout the fitting process had brought it within reach of more practitioners, he said.
Soft lens wearers were good candidates for ortho-K, as were those interested in laser refractive surgery but put off by recent safety warnings.
Goble was in discussion with laser eye clinics in the Harley Street area to see whether they might offer ortho-K as an alternative to laser surgery.
The remaining exhibitor in this sector, wholesaler Mid-Optic reflected the future role of optometry with the launch of a division specialising in ophthalmic drugs and a dedicated catalogue with more than 200 new products. These included a range of post-Lasik and cataract aftercare kits of eye drops, eye shields and protective glasses, a sign perhaps of things to come when profession and industry gather for the next Optrafair in Birmingham, in 2007.