Company: STAA
Filing Date: 2025-09-29
Form Type: DFAN14A
Source: 0001213900-25-093211
Chunk: 15

Company: STAAR SURGICAL CO
Filing Date: 2025-09-29
Form: DFAN14A
Chunk 15
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 FDA’s willingness to highlight these risks and consider standardized checklists suggests that regulatory scrutiny of LASIK is increasing, a trend that could shift patient preference toward alternatives like ICLs.

Alcon’s Expanding Reach

Alcon, a dominant player in eye care and LASIK technology, and makers of the WaveLight line of LASIK and PRK lasers, has been on an acquisition spree, completing six deals or majority investments since July 2024.

The company’s history with STAAR runs deep. Proxy filings reveal regular talks between Alcon CEO David Endicott and former Staar CEO Thomas Frinzi, which ultimately produced Alcon’s first and second bids.

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There are governance questions too. Staar Chairwoman Dr. Elizabeth Yeu had been a consultant for Alcon as recently as October 2024. While she disclosed this relationship and was recused from one board meeting, the proxy leaves ambiguous whether she participated in the final acquisition vote. Former STAAR director Amy Winser, who stepped down in May 2025, also sits on the board of Lensar Therapeutics, another recent Alcon acquisition.

Aurion: A Case Study in Control

Perhaps the most striking precedent comes from Aurion Biotech, where Alcon’s board-level maneuvers have become the subject of litigation.

Aurion, a clinical-stage ophthalmology company preparing for a 2025 IPO, secured Series C backing from Deerfield Management and Alcon, each gaining board representation. Deerfield favored the IPO, but Alcon opposed it and steadily increased its stake.

On February 14, 2025, a day Deerfield calls the “Valentine’s Day Massacre,” Aurion’s Executive Board Chair and former STAAR CEO Thomas Frinzi abruptly resigned via email. Within minutes, Alcon installed its designee, Jeannette Bankes. The move created a 3–3 board deadlock, effectively freezing the IPO vote.

Deerfield alleges that Alcon deliberately engineered this deadlock to block the IPO and acquire Aurion at a discount, citing the relationship between Frinzi and Endicott, who were reported to be golf partners. In March, Alcon went further, acquiring a majority stake, replacing Aurion’s CEO, and taking control of the company’s strategy. Litigation is ongoing over whether these moves breached fiduciary duties and unfairly disadvantaged other shareholders.

The Bigger Picture

To critics, the STAAR deal fits a pattern: a dominant industry player consolidating