To Our U.S. Eye Care Practitioners:
CooperVision is removing three products from our UPP, effective immediately: MyDay®, clariti® 1-day and Biofinity® XR toric brands, as well as customer brands where applicable. However, we are maintaining our UPP for Biofinity Energys™.
CooperVision’s UPP was developed as a short-term program to provide incentives for eye care professionals to invest the time and effort needed to evaluate new contact lens technologies and to educate patients about breakthrough lenses – actions are that beneficial for ECPs and millions of wearers alike. Aided by our team, ECPs like you have productively responded to UPP and accomplished these goals.
MyDay, clariti 1-day and Biofinity XR toric lenses are now widely available and well established, and practices are versed in their advanced technologies and uses. We believe that UPP has accomplished its purpose with regard to these lenses.
However, Biofinity Energys is different. As the first lens of its kind, Biofinity Energys has achieved early success with eye care professionals and wearers. We believe that ECPs stand to benefit from building additional familiarity with its breakthrough technology, especially given its relatively short time in the market and still-limited distribution. Our UPP encourages ECPs to continue learning about Biofinity Energys, investing time to educate themselves and wearers, and doing so in an economically-sensible manner. We therefore believe that it still makes good business sense to continue UPP for Biofinity Energys. We will continue to evaluate the effectiveness of UPP as we go forward.
You’re aware that the State of Utah passed the so-called Contact Lens Consumer Protection Act prohibiting the application of UPP to Utah retailers. This has created a situation in which ECPs in other states, abiding by UPP, may be undercut by Utah-based online contact lens sellers. These pricing inequities reduce the effectiveness of CooperVision’s UPP.The recent federal appeals court ruling upholding Utah’s law contributed to our decision to limit our use of UPP and continue to be selective in adopting or maintaining it.
Everyone at CooperVision holds our responsibility to ECPs and your patients in the highest regard. Decisions with significant implications for our industry require thoughtful deliberation, not hasty responses. Just as we closely assessed the appropriate way to introduce our UPP, we are taking a similar approach now, initiating and ending the application of UPP to certain lenses only after careful examination of the relevant issues.
Likewise, our approach to working with prescribers has not changed. We continue to pursue and implement new and enhanced ways to help you increase contact lens fits, practice profitability and patient retention, while fulfilling our shared purpose to help improve the way people see each day. Our unwavering focus on introducing groundbreaking technologies, developing sustainable pricing and rebate programs, and being a steadfast advocate for optometry grows deeper each day. As part of that commitment, we will continue to evaluate our pricing policies for Biofinity Energys and future innovative products to ensure the continued relevance of our approach.
As always, thank you for your feedback, your partnership, and your steadfast dedication.
Sincerely,
Jerry Warner
President, Americas
CooperVision, Inc.