April 12 (Bloomberg) -- Stores across America started clearing their shelves of a Bausch & Lomb Inc. contact lens cleanser linked to a rare infection that can cause blindness, and doctors said there may be more cases.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Walgreen Co., and Rite Aid Corp. yesterday stopped selling Bausch & Lomb's ReNu with MoistureLoc. The contact lens maker suspended shipments without recalling the product after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was reviewing reports of 109 cases of suspected fungal infection in the cornea.

Bausch & Lomb, whose shares fell the most in five years, is working with retailers to switch patients to the company's MultiPlus solution, said Chief Executive Officer Ronald Zarrella in a conference call. Doctors said they didn't know what to tell the 30 million American contact lens wearers and were concerned that summer weather would encourage the infection to spread.

``We realize that this is a potential problem of significant proportion,'' said Art Epstein, a Long Island optometrist who is chairman of the American Optometric Association's contact lens and cornea section, in an interview yesterday. ``My guess is that there are probably a significant number of patients who have not yet been reported.''

Bausch & Lomb, a 153-year-old maker of optical products based in Rochester, New York, gets 23 percent of its sales from lens-care products. The company had 2004 revenue of $2.2 billion. While ReNu with MoistureLoc accounted for $45 million of 2005 sales, other products in the ReNu line may also be tarnished, said Michael Weinstein, a J.P. Morgan analyst in New York, in a note to clients.

Shares

The shares fell 67 cents to $48.36 at 9:30 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, after yesterday falling 15 percent. Yesterday's drop was the biggest since a 36 percent plunge on Aug. 24, 2000. Analysts at First Albany Corp., Robert W. Baird & Co., Piper Jaffray & Co. and J.P. Morgan issued downgrades yesterday.

Of 30 cases reviewed so far by the Atlanta-based CDC, 26 involved wearers of soft contact lenses who were using Bausch & Lomb's ReNu products, the company said in an April 10 statement. Two of the patients didn't use contact lenses and two didn't remember which cleansing solution they used, the CDC said.

Eight people who contracted the infection needed corneal transplants, the CDC said. The eye fungus, known as fungal keratitis, can cause severe corneal infections that can lead to blindness, according to the St Louis-based American Optometric Association, representing 34,000 optometrists, students and technicians. Symptoms include sudden blurred or fuzzy vision, red, irritated eyes, pain and sensitivity to light.

Waitress's Scare

Christina Michiels, a 25-year-old Sarasota, Florida, waitress, said her eyes were so red and swollen she could no longer wear her contact lenses. Her eyes burned with pain, and she was scared she might lose her eyesight altogether. Initially diagnosed with allergies, she learned a week later from a specialist that she had the fungal infection.

``The doctor said if I waited another week I could have lost total vision in my right eye,'' Michiels said yesterday in an interview. Now she's taking medication every four hours to treat the disorder, she said. ``It's been so painful,'' she said.

About two weeks ago, the CDC sent a letter to doctors asking that they report any incidents of fungal infection in contact lens wearers, said Christopher Rapuano, co-director of the cornea department at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. Rapuano said the hospital found about 10 cases after receiving the letter and doctors haven't been given more information.

Asia

The company on Feb. 21 said it voluntarily pulled the eye solution off the market in Asia following similar outbreaks in Singapore and Hong Kong. Bausch & Lomb said in a statement that it initiated the suspension of ReNu, even though there is ``no scientific evidence'' to link it to a rise in the incidence of fungal eye infections in Singapore.

Bausch & Lomb is the biggest supplier of contact-lens solution to Singapore consumers. The company said on March 10 that its first-quarter sales would be hurt by about $10 million because of that withdrawal.

Alcon Inc., the world's biggest eye-care company, has not been affected by the problem, a spokesman for parent company Nestle SA said. ``So far no Alcon products have been associated with the problems that have been detected,'' Nestle spokesman Francois Perroud said.

Hunenberg, Switzerland-based Alcon, whose U.S. headquarters are in Fort Worth, Texas, is 75 percent-owned by Nestle, the world's biggest foodmaker.

No Estimate on Halt

Bausch & Lomb had no estimate for how long shipments may be halted in the U.S., Zarella said on the conference call today. If the investigation isn't resolved in a ``reasonable'' period of time, the company will take the product back, he said.

In the interim, the company is working with trade partners to shift customers to MultiPlus and ramping up production, Zarella said. It may also accelerate development of its next generation solution, he said.

``This created a lot of confusion'' for customers, said spokesman Michael Polzin of No. 1 drugstore chain Walgreen, based in Deerfield, Illinois. ``To try to alleviate that customer confusion, we are taking out all the ReNu line.''

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, is removing ReNu with MoistureLoc from its shelves and has stopped sales ``pending further tests'' by the CDC, said spokesman Kevin Gardner in an e-mailed statement.

Removing the Product

No. 3 U.S. drugstore chain Rite Aid, based in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, will remove the Bausch & Lomb product from its stores in the next 24 hours, said spokeswoman Jody Cook in an interview. Jean Coutu Group Inc., which owns 1,853 Eckerd and Brooks stores, is also removing the product from stores, spokeswoman Helene Bisson said.

Visits to stores yesterday turned up considerable confusion.

Even after Rite Aid, Walgreen and Safeway corporate headquarters said the product was being removed, ReNu with MoistureLoc was still on shelves at a Safeway store in downtown San Francisco last night while all but two canisters had been pulled from a Rite Aid store. Walgreen had removed the item from its downtown San Francisco stores as of last night. Store managers referred a reporter to headquarters for comment.

Tschiffely Pharmacy, near DuPont Circle in northwest Washington, D.C., hadn't pulled the lens solution, said chief pharmacist Paul Gambino in a telephone interview.

CVS Corp., the Woonsocket, Rhode Island-based second- biggest U.S. drugstore chain, will continue to sell the contact lens cleaner, said spokesman Mike DeAngelis.

At a CVS pharmacy on 14th Street Northwest in Washington, two blocks east of the White House, stocks were being pulled off shelves after a fax and e-mails from the company, said night shift supervisor Shadreck Tembo.

(To hear a replay of Bausch & Lomb's conference call, held at 8:30 a.m. New York time, call (1)(719) 457-0820 and enter confirmation code 2047677.)


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i tried moistureloc before and didt like it