Nov. 12 at 8:28 PM
Alcon posted modest third-quarter growth and reaffirmed its full-year outlook, sending its shares up 4%. However, Broadwood Partners — the largest shareholder of STAAR Surgical — criticized the results, saying they underscore why “Alcon needs STAAR far more than STAAR needs Alcon.”
Broadwood founder Neal C. Bradsher said Alcon’s ongoing weakness in its implant division highlights its dependence on the proposed deal with STAAR. He argued that Alcon’s recent public pessimism toward STAAR is “a transparent tactic to deter competing bidders and allow Alcon to acquire STAAR cheaply.”
Alcon’s implant sales rose just 2% in Q3 to
$432 million, reflecting the PanOptix Pro launch but also “continued competitive pressure,” according to the company. For the first nine months of 2025, implant revenue reached
$1.3 billion, down 1% from a year earlier or flat on a constant-currency basis — a sluggish trend that, according to Bradsher, reinforces Alcon’s strategic need for STAAR.
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