Parties
aren't disclosing terms
The
Egg Factory signs big deal
ROANOKE TIMES
Friday, December 13, 2002
by Duncan Adams
Johnson & Johnson now has exclusive worldwide
rights for the use of an Egg Factory subsidiary's electroactive lens
technology.
The Egg Factory in Roanoke
recently inked its first big score, signing a licensing
agreement with a huge global company familiar to Egg Factory founder
Ron Blum.
The company is Johnson & Johnson.
And this latest deal covers familiar ground - the
potential for a notable advance in eyeglass lenses for people who
suffer from presbyopia.
Related to aging, presbyopia causes a loss in flexibility
of the eye's crystalline lens. The condition is treated with multifocal
lenses, including bifocals and progressive addition lenses.
EVision, a subsidiary of The Egg Factory, and Johnson
& Johnson Vision Care Inc. have negotiated a licensing agreement
that grants Johnson & Johnson exclusive worldwide rights for the
use of eVision's electroactive lens technology for ophthalmic lens
use.
In other words, eVision has developed a prototype
for a microprocessor-driven "intelligent" eyeglass lens
- one that relies on chemistry and electrical impulses to instantly
focus wherever the wearer looks. And Johnson & Johnson has cut
a deal with The Egg Factory allowing the global health care and personal
products giant to develop, manufacture and distribute eyeglass or
contact lenses that use eVision's technology.
On Thursday, when contacted by The Roanoke Times,
Marc Monseau, a spokesman for Johnson & Johnson, confirmed the
exclusive licensing agreement was signed last month but offered few
details.
"The terms are not being disclosed," he
said.
In interviews in late summer and early fall, Blum
predicted one of The Egg Factory's products in development would soon
"score" - meaning a Fortune 500 company would either buy
or license rights . The Egg Factory describes its innovations as "golden
eggs " and has been developing several such eggs during the past
three and a half years.
On Thursday, Blum, who is also the president and
chief executive officer of The Egg Factory, said, "We are very,
very pleased to have a company of this stature license one of our
first eggs. We firmly believe that this validates the business model
of The Egg Factory and also the potential for eVision's technology."
Like Monseau, Blum said he could not discuss terms
of the licensing transaction.
"But, without question, the licensing is very
helpful to both eVision and The Egg Factory," Blum said.
"Of course, the product has to be proven a commercial
success when it is fully developed and launched by Johnson & Johnson,"
he added. "Assuming that happens, I see no reason why the shareholders
and investors of our company should not be very happy."
Neither Blum nor Monseau would guess when a product
launch might occur. Blum emphasized that the electroactive lenses
are experimental and in early development.
"It's my hope and belief that having a company
as capable and competent as J&J involved will help speed the product
to market," Blum said.
Another eyeglass lens innovation that built on research
by Blum and colleagues at Innotech - a former Blum company - has not
yet achieved a national product launch by Johnson & Johnson, which
purchased Innotech in 1997. Johnson & Johnson's Definity 2 lens,
described as an improved lens for wearers of no-line bifocals, is
reportedly receiving a positive response in test markets. But a redesign
of its high-tech manufacturing process has delayed a national launch.
Johnson & Johnson built a multimillion-dollar
production facility in Roanoke
to manufacture the Definity 2 lens through its Spectacle
Lens Group. Monseau would not speculate about whether that facility
might someday manufacture lenses that could emerge from the eVision
technology.
In a separate but related development, The Egg Factory
learned this week it had secured two patents significant to eVision.
Blum said the patents "provide eVision with strong patent protection
in the area of electroactive lens technology."
Bill Kokonaski, vice president of technologies for
The Egg Factory, said eVision's technology holds great promise. "We
firmly believe this technology, once more fully developed and commercialized,
will be embraced by the vision care industry," he said.
Sunder Malkani, an executive vice president for The Egg Factory, said the
company plans to aggressively market and license other potential applications
for the electroactive lens technology. Those applications could include
equipment employed for eye exams, he said.
