Contact lens maker Bausch & Lomb settles 600 fungus suits

According to a report by the Associated Press, contact lens maker Bausch & Lomb has settled hundreds of fungal infection lawsuits during the past year to the tune of nearly $250,000.

The company has quietly settled nearly 600 lawsuits after more than 700 people in the U.S. and Asia say they were exposed to an infection while using ReNu with MoistureLoc. It wasa new-formula multipurpose solution for cleaning, storing and moistening soft contact lenses.

Sometimes, the damage was irreparable. Seven people in Florida, Maryland, New York, Oregon, Tennessee and West Virginia had to have an eye removed. At least 60 more Americans needed vision-saving corneal transplants.

The AP report noted that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed 180 cases in 35 states from June 2005 through September 2006, when the agency's dedicated surveillance stopped, according to Dr. Benjamin Park, a CDC epidemiologist.

The culprit, an infection so rare that most eye doctors had never seen a case, somehow eluded MoistureLoc's disinfecting defenses. The outbreak appeared first in Hong Kong in spring 2005 and reached its peak in the United States just days after MoistureLoc was removed from domestic markets in April 2006.

The company has paid out upwards of $250 million to settle those suits, reported AP.

(June 1, 2009)