Aligning with its launch of clariti 1 Day Multifocal 3 Add, CooperVision recently hosted an Innovation Tour in September at its manufacturing facility in San José, Costa Rica. EB editor-in-chief Kerri Ann DeCindis joined the tour, which included three days of presentations on topics such as product innovation, presbyopia, and sustainability; an in-person, walk-and-talk look at the facility; and insightful roundtable discussions with top eyecare professionals and innovators in the contact lens field.

The Product

CooperVision’s clariti 1 day multifocal 3 Add contact lenses (available in a range from +8.00D to -12.00D) feature the company’s Binocular Progressive System, a 3 Add design for treating all levels of presbyopia that delivers optimal visual acuity at all distances, according to CooperVision. This system is designed to provide a simplified fitting process for ECPs without the need for extended chair time. 

Innovation

While attending the Innovation Tour, EB spoke exclusively with Dr. Steve Rosinski, CooperVision's senior manager of professional and academic affairs, to learn more about clariti 1 day multifocal 3 Add. Here, we share a condensed version of the full interview.

EB: Can you share background on the product and the potential need in the market?

Dr. Rosinski: When we look at the opportunity out there, it’s truly tremendous. The number of patients with presbyopia in the U.S. [is] over 100 million. Opportunities abound, whether it’s the opportunity to get a patient that’s never worn contact lenses at all and getting them into contact lenses, [or] the opportunity to get someone who is in a monthly or two-week lens and getting them into a daily disposable multifocal for the first time.

clariti 1 day multifocal 3 Add really has had three innovative additions to it. We’ve been able to take our clariti 1 day multifocal and change the design. We are adding our Binocular Progressive System, BPS—essentially CooperVision’s latest multifocal technology. It originally launched in November 2021 with our MyDay multifocal, so that's our premium contact lens technology, and now we're bringing that to the clariti 1 day multifocal. What does that mean for practitioners [and] patients? From a practitioner standpoint, this is a simple yet highly effective fitting process. Ultimately, we're able to provide improved vision [for our patients]. What’s also important to our patients is improved comfort.

EB: Speaking of comfort, how can eyecare professionals share the information on the comfort capabilities of clariti 1 day multifocal 3 Add contact lenses?

Dr. Rosinski: We took the step to [ask], “What can we do as a manufacturer to enable a really comfortable contact lens-wearing experience?” We’re proud to say that we’ve been able to change the edge design, and we are leveraging our Optimized Comfort Edge technology to change the edge, which is going to provide a thinner, more uniformly tapered edge, which is going to yield increased comfort not only with insertion but also when the contact lens settles.

Our data showcases that comfort for our patients has been met or exceeded, [which is] showing more of an improvement compared to the original clariti 1 day multifocal.

We also have our proven WetLoc Technology—inherently wettable silicon hydrogel material that’s going to retain moisture for a comfortable contact lens-wearing experience.

EB: This tour has been focused on innovation. What are the attributes that ECPs should share with both staff and patients on the lenses and innovation?

Dr. Rosinski: It’s really [about] having the conversations. It’s being excited about leveraging new technology. We have so many patients that are interested in wearing contact lenses, but they don’t know about the technology. They don’t know that multifocals even exist.

Doctors [might not] bring it up because maybe a patient hasn’t brought it up to them. On the flip side, a patient isn’t going to think [an option] is for them if a doctor doesn’t bring it up. I urge eyecare practitioners and staff to [make it] a part of every single conversation.

I would be remiss, though, if I didn’t mention the parameter options available. That’s another huge attribute that we’ve changed with this lens. When we think about the opportunity to have as many patients experience this technology, we’re proud to say it’s now matching MyDay multifocal as the widest parameter range of any daily disposable multifocal.
Staff should have comfort in saying [they] have the opportunity to hopefully be able to address not only [patients’] vision and comfort needs, but they can say that to a majority of patients.

EB: What does this lens mean for both patient acquisition and retention?

Dr. Rosinski: When we look at patients coming to our practice, they are looking for us to provide them with the latest solutions. We are looking to provide solutions to meet their lifestyles. We look at clariti 1 day multifocal as an opportunity to help [ECPs] grow their businesses, grow their practices, and really wow their patients.

Contact lens patients are going to provide more value to the practice than your traditional glasses-only patient. So, from a business perspective, that patient is being seen on a shorter interval between exams. That patient traditionally is going to [provide] about 2.5 times more revenue to the practice. 

If you are able to meet patients’ needs, wow them, and enable them to have freedom with their vision [via] multifocals…that’s going to be huge from a referral source as well. 

Sustainability

EB also spoke exclusively with Aldo Zucaro, senior director of corporate responsibility at CooperCompanies, to hear more about CooperVision in Costa Rica and the company’s sustainability efforts. Below is a condensed version of the full interview.

EB: We toured CooperVision’s Costa Rica facility yesterday, and it's clear that sustainability is a huge initiative for the company.

Aldo Zucaro: The reality of it is that we have a footprint on the earth, but that doesn't mean that we can't work every day to minimize that footprint. We started thinking about everything we do. It's amazing when you start doing that, you start inspecting the smallest of processes to the largest of processes. You find all these inefficiencies that don't need to be there.

I've got stories of people in the factory that looked at the way we were throwing away food waste and going, “Well we don't have to do that.” Two giant processes where someone goes, “No, if we fold our boxes slightly, we can save 10% of the cardboard.” 

EB: Costa Rica has so many key facets that are rooted in sustainability, and the [facility location] choice was intentional for CooperVision. Can you explain more about that?

Aldo Zucaro: This country cares. You can see it in so many different places. We're going to manufacture products, and in order to manufacture products, you have to apply energy. Burn fossil fuels [or] diesel; they are things that happen in many places around the world, [but] Costa Rica didn’t choose to do that. They capture waves, wind, solar. It makes their grid immensely efficient and resilient. This wonderful symbiotic relationship attracted us here. This is really the right place. Then you add the beautiful culture, the unbelievable landscape, and you go, “There can’t be a better one.”

 EB: How can ECPs excite their patients about sustainability initiatives?

Aldo Zucaro: I like using the idea of “made better.” The way [CooperVision is] working on contact lenses is to make them better, and we make them better in lots of different ways. We work with our scientists to make them better for the people that wear them. We work with our internal engineers to make them better from a friendlier perspective for the environment.