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Bausch & Lomb added
that it is critically important that contact lens wearers follow
instructions when cleaning their contact lenses. |
Eye-care product maker Bausch & Lomb has suspended sales of its
ReNu contact lens solution in
Hong Kong, less than a week after suspending sales in Singapore following
reports of a series of eye
infections.
The company halted
sales of ReNu in Singapore last week after the city-state raised concerns
about the product. Singapore's health ministry said on Tuesday it
"strongly advises" contact lens users to stop using ReNu as a precaution.
It said 34 out of 39 people who contracted a hard-to-treat eye infection
since 2005 had used ReNu. Three of them had to undergo urgent
cornea transplants.
"The sales suspension in Hong Kong is strictly voluntary and done as a
precaution," a company spokeswoman said on Thursday.
A Hong Kong health department spokeswoman said the department had not
seen a similar rise in fungal
corneal infection cases in
Hong Kong, but is monitoring the situation in Singapore.
In Hong Kong, 12 out of 16 people who were hit by the infection since
June 2005 had used the product, the department said in a statement.
Bausch & Lomb is looking at how to allow customers to return the
products, but stressed that it is not a product recall.
It added that as no unusual incidence of the fungal infection had been
reported in other markets, Bausch & Lomb is not suspending sales
elsewhere.
Bausch & Lomb stood by ReNu, saying investigations would put its
multipurpose lens solution in the clear.
"We are confident that a thorough scientific investigation will show
that ReNu is neither the cause of, nor associated with, this unusual and
isolated outbreak of fusarium
keratitis," it said in a statement released late on
Wednesday.
It added that it is critically important that contact lens wearers
follow instructions when cleaning their contact lenses.
The firm said it had conducted preliminary tests on samples in the U.S.
factory that supplies Singapore and found them safe, but added that
complete testing could take up to 3 weeks.
Bausch & Lomb has a market capitalisation of almost US$4 billion
and competes with Alcon Inc., the world's biggest eye-care products
company with a market value of US$35 billion.
(Agencies)
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Updated: 2006-02-24 08:58
