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UPDATED VERSION. US retail giants Sears Holdings, CVS Corp, Wal-Mart and Walgreen Inc have withdrawn Bausch & Lomb's ReNu contact lens multipurpose solutions from their store shelves.

Synsam, which operates about 300 stores in Sweden, Finland and Norway, and Specsavers Blic Optik, which has about 40 stores in Sweden, both advised customers to change to a different brand, reports ABC News.

In due course, Bausch & Lomb has to take it on the chin, which Reuters described as "breaking rule No. 1 in crisis management".

According to Bloomberg, BusinessWeek Online and New York Times, Bausch & Lomb issued a statement today, telling wearers of contact lenses that they shouldn't use ReNu with MoistureLoc while the outbreak is being investigated. The company asked retailers to remove the solution from shelves.

Lawsuit

Meanwhile, MarketWatch reports that a man from New York has filed a lawsuit against Bausch & Lomb, alleging that the eyecare company had engaged in deceptive marketing practices and failed to disclose to consumers an inherent defect in its ReNu with MoistureLoc multipurpose solution for soft contact lenses that can result in fusarium keratitis, a serious eye infection.

Marketing fraternity in the US says Johnson & Johnson and Alcon may benefit in marketshare from the current situation plaguing Bausch & Lomb.

On the other hand, analysts have downgraded Bausch & Lomb shares, ranging from "neutral" to "sell". The target price has been reduced from $49 to $40.

Until April 13, Bausch & Lomb stock had fallen for 15 straight days through yesterday, losing 32%, or US$1.18 billion of market value, Bloomberg reported.

In a research note published last night (Malaysia time), analyst David Maris of Banc of America Securities mentioned that ReNu MoistureLoc is unlikely to return to the US market this year. The analyst expected the company’s remaining lens care business to witness at least a 10% market share contraction in 2006.

Improper behaviour

Meanwhile, Bausch & Lomb Inc. announced Thursday that it was unlikely to file its 2005 annual report until after April 30.

The company cited ongoing efforts to restate results for fiscal 2001 through 2004 and parts of 2005 as a result of tax issues and other improper behavior at subsidiaries in Brazil and Korea, reports MSN Money using a Reuters story.

Bausch & Lomb first said in mid-March it would have to delay its annual report, which was due March 31, because of those probes. It added then that it would be unlikely to file within a 15-day extension period.

The company told analysts on Wednesday that it would not be likely to make the April 30 filing deadline but did not elaborate until Thursday's filing with securities regulators. Thursday's filing does not indicate when the company now expects to file the annual report.

Bausch & Lomb Chief Executive Ronald Zarrella got off to a bumpy start when he took the top spot at Bausch & Lomb after a stint as a marketing executive at General Motors. According to Reuters Business, Zarrella forfeited a bonus of at least US$1.1 million in 2002 for falsely claiming to have completed a masters degree from New York University.

Malaysia '3rd-Worlded'

Despite having voluntarily withdrawn ReNu from Singapore, Hong Kong and the USA, Bausch & Lomb Malaysia has refused to do the same in Malaysian market though it draws from the same inventory manufactured in its Greenville, South Carolina plant, which was supplied to the Asian region covering Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei.

SOURCE: The Star, March 18, 2006

ReNu is still readily available in Guardian pharmacies in the Klang Valley.