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Biotech / Medical : Staar Surgical STAA -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kevin Enderle who wrote (17)	3/30/1999 1:05:00 PM
From: Alan A. Hicks	Respond to of 50

STAAR's ICL seems to be generating some interest among eye surgeons judging from the number of papers being presented by eye doctors attending the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) Convention April 9 through April 14 in Seattle, Washington. On the ASCRS website I counted 13 papers and two films being presented relating to the ICL. In addition, the ASCRS Convention will have a course to train eye surgeons how to implant the ICL. Also, seven papers are being presented on different STAAR IOLs including two papers on STAAR's new Toric IOL lens. A paper and a film also are being presented on the AquaFlow Glaucoma Wick. It seems to be a significant convention. Over 200 companies are participating with product exhibits for various aspects of eye surgery and opthalmic practice. These include all the major companies in the field such as Bausch & Lomb, Allergan, Alcon, Pharmacia, Summit Technology, and VISX. There will even be a special event for the 50th anniversary of the IOL. Millions of IOLs for cataract patients have been implanted worldwide by thousands of eye surgeons. These eye surgeons apparently are eager to extend their IOL cataract practice with new technologies such as the ICL and the AquaFlow Wick. Financial analysts are also are expected attend this convention. With STAAR's shares selling just above a four year low hopefully some of this interest from eye surgeons will get noticed by the financial analysts.

To: Kevin Enderle who wrote (17)	4/19/1999 11:54:00 AM
From: Alan A. Hicks	Respond to of 50

From presentations by eye surgeons and doctors I talked to at the ASCRS, the ICL and LASIK, I believe, will become complementary for severe vision correction. There is only so much that can be cut from the cornea. But, by using both techniques, people who wake up in the morning and literally cannot see the fingers on their hand can be very close to 20/20 or better. These are people who only have the choice of wearing coke bottle glasses or getting an ICL. This category of people will be highly motivated to get an ICL or ICL/LASIK procedure. From the studies being presented the potential of cataracts or glaucoma have been overcome by learning the proper surgical techniques. As only a five minute procedure there will be some doctors will specialize in ICLs as well as LASIK. From an investment perspective STAAR does not have to replace laser to be a very interesting investment here. STAAR has long been the most innovative company in the cataract IOL business. STAAR introduced the injectable, foldable IOL which everyone else licensed from them. Yet the entire company could be bought for $100 million. Compare that to someone like KERA which is valued at about $200 million while losing $25 million per year and having to continually raise money by selling more shares. STAAR's ICL already outsells the KERA entire revenues 4 -1, STAAR is funding all their development internally, and is still profitable. I mentioned this to one doctor who had just bought KERA based on Phase III approval and he was astounded that STAAR, considered to be one of the quality companies in the field, could be worth only half of KERA who had only a very small booth at the show compared to STAAR which had a booth as big and well attended as anyone at the ASCRS. And STAAR not only has the ICL but also the AquaFlow glaucoma wick which promises to replace existing treatments. This is expected to finish Phase III in June. STAAR expects this to be a $200 million product for them. In addition, STAAR has several new products which will help them take market share in the IOL market. They just introduced the only IOL on the market to correct astigmatism which is about 20% of the market. They are also expected to introduce a new collagen based material this year for their IOLs. STAAR has been hurt by Alcon's acrylic IOLS over the last several years. Actually, what may end up happening is someone is likely to buy out STAAR. Potential candidates I see are VISX, BOL, Pharmacia, or Johnson & Johnson. My own opinion is STAAR is worth at least $20 to $25 today. If they are able to introduce their new products and show solid success with them, STAAR is potentially worth up to $50 two years out. And again, STAAR does not have replace laser to accomplish this.