Alcon Launches PanOptix Trifocal IOL in US

Alcon introduced its PanOptix trifocal lens in the US on Aug. 27 after gaining FDA approval for the lens.

The PanOptix is the only trifocal IOL available in the US.

Alcon said it plans to begin training US ophthalmologists and making PanOptix and PanOptix Toric IOLs available immediately.

The PanOptix gained CE marking in June 2015. It is built on Alcon’s AcrySof IQ IOL platform that has been implanted in more than 120 million eyes globally, the company said.

FDA approval of the PanOptix was based on a pivotal study at 12 US sites. Alcon said PanOptix recipients demonstrated exceptional uninterrupted vision and showed high patient satisfaction, with more than 99 percent saying they would choose the same lens again.

Kerry Solomon, MD, a PanOptix clinical trial investigator, said in a video accompanying the announcement that the PanOptix lens is a game changer, and he gets emotional seeing the joy in patients who have been given a full range of vision with the PanOptix, allowing them to function without glasses.

Robert Cionni, MD, another investigator, said he was cautious in promising good near vision to patients at the start of the clinical trial, telling them that they would get good distance and intermediate vision, but they might need glasses for reading. Instead, patients have been “thrilled with their reading vision,” he said.

Alcon is registered in Switzerland, with US headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas.