Beneficiaries in the U.S. Medicare program have access to several technologies and procedures for treatment of glaucoma, but Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) seem to be looking sideways at some of these offerings. Both Wisconsin Physician Services and Palmetto GBA have floated draft local coverage proposals that deem procedures such as goniotomy and the combination of canaloplasty and trabeculectomy to be investigational, suggesting that claims for these and other services and devices will not be paid by these MACs.

Bausch + Lomb Corp. reported its U.S. launch of an ophthalmic viscosurgical device (OVD) designed to protect patients during cataract surgery. The Totalvisc viscoelastic system is a dual action chemical protection system that employs viscoelastics which have the properties of both a fluid and an elastic. Unlike its competitors it also features sorbitol to eliminate free radicals that cause oxidative damage in eye tissue.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) annual meeting in Chicago Sept. 30 to Oct. 3 covered the waterfront in the ophthalmic market, with positive signs for continued or improving health as supply kinks work out. Hurricane Ian’s impact on the other side of the country was also a topic, as Florida accounts for a disproportionate percentage of cataract surgeries, which may be delayed as a result of the destruction in the state. We provide some highlights from the conference, analysts’ meetings with company executives and some timely new developments in the sector.

A more than 20-year uneasy biopharma romance between two Swiss giants will be ending as Novartis AG plans to sell its stake in Roche Holding AG back to Roche for about $20.7 billion. Roche described it as a “disentanglement of the two competitors” that will allow it to regain “full strategic flexibility.” Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis currently owns about one-third of Roche, whose shareholders get the final say-so when they vote yea or nay at the company’s Nov. 26 extraordinary general meeting. Novartis was very clear about how it views its stake in Roche, as the company said it “does not consider the financial investment in Roche as part of its core business and therefore not a strategic asset” and that it’s time to “monetize our investment.”