Schmidt & Clark AMO Lawsuits Mentioned in Wall Street Journal Complete MoisturePlus Article

Source | DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

By Jon Kamp

U.S. health authorities are concerned that contact-lens wearers are still using an Advanced Medical Optics Inc. (EYE) lens solution pulled from the market two months ago due to infection links, and that the company hasn’t done enough to raise public awareness.

At least four cases of the serious eye-infection Acanthamoeba keratitis have been connected to use of Advanced Medical’s Complete MoisturePlus solution since the late May recall, said Michael Beach, an epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC has found that many people are unaware of the recall.

The Food and Drug Administration, meantime, recently found that solution bottles are still on some retail shelves, said Tim Ulatowski, director of compliance in the FDA’s medical devices branch. The CDC believes there may also be millions of bottles still in the homes of contact-lens wearers.

Tough-to-treat Acanthamoeba infections can potentially bind people.

“We really want people to hear about this and check their medicine cabinets,” Beach said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday. “To me this is a real tragedy when people are still using the product after the recall.”

The recall has also led to product liability lawsuits against Advanced Medical. In a release Tuesday, law firm Schmidt & Clark LLP said four additional suits have been filed against the company in Orange County Superior Court in California, all brought by individuals alleging they contracted Acanthamoeba infections while using Complete MoisturePlus. The suits were filed by law firm Moore Labriola LLP.

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