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ROCHESTER, N.Y. - After two days in a tailspin, shares of Bausch & Lomb Inc. edged up Thursday as federal officials investigate whether its newest contact lens solution is to blame for a fungal eye infection that can cause blindness.
Major U.S. retailers, led by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Walgreen Co. and CVS Corp., have been pulling the ReNu with MoistureLoc solution off their shelves this week, and pressure on the eye-care company to recall the product kept building Thursday as two optician chains in Scandinavia followed suit.
The company stopped shipments of MoistureLoc in the United States on Monday when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed it was scrutinizing 109 reports of Fusarium keratitis infections in patients in 17 states over the last 10 months.
Federal health officials have made no direct link between MoistureLoc and the infections, but a high incidence of the dozens of affected patients interviewed so far had used the cleaner.
With analysts lowering their ratings, Bausch & Lomb's stock tumbled 14.6 percent Tuesday to a 2 1/2-year low and fell another 7 percent Wednesday. But the shares turned upward Thursday, rising 81 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $46.42 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
"Some may think the worst is already priced in," Piper Jaffray analyst Steven Hamill said. "This is a valuation play."
Bausch & Lomb's chief executive, Ron Zarrella, told analysts Wednesday that MoistureLoc kills the fungus that causes the cornea infection and said the source of an apparent spike in the infections remains a mystery. But Zarrella acknowledged that "we haven't begun to estimate the ripple effect that all this negative publicity will have on other ReNu products."
Walgreen, the nation's biggest drugstore chain by revenue, took the extra step of removing all ReNu contact lens solutions from its stores.
Synsam, which operates about 300 stores in Sweden, Finland and Norway, and Specsavers Blic Optik, which has about 40 stores in Sweden, both advised customers to change to a different brand.
While no eye infections have been reported in Europe, Synsam's chief executive, Gunnar Harbom, said the chain will not sell MoistureLoc until experts can rule out any health hazards.
"Until this has been investigated in the USA, the suspicion still remains. And for us the suspicion is enough," Harbom said.
Inspectors from the Food and Drug Administration have been scouring Bausch & Lomb's factory in Greenville, S.C., for almost three weeks and have so far found no evidence of contamination, Zarrella said.
In February, the company cut off shipments from its Greenville plant to the Far East after dozens of reported infections surfaced in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. MoistureLoc is shipped to European markets from its factory in Milan, Italy, and to Chinese stores from a Beijing plant.
Fusarium is commonly found in plant material and soil in tropical and subtropical regions. Without eye-drop treatment, which can last two to three months, the infection can scar the cornea and blind its victims. Symptoms can include blurry vision, pain or redness, excessive discharge and increased sensitivity to light.
MoistureLoc, which contains new-generation moisturizing and conditioning agents, first hit stores in late 2004 and generated $45 million in U.S. sales last year _ a small portion of Bausch & Lomb's more than $2 billion in annual revenues.
The company, which also makes contact lenses, ophthalmic drugs and vision-correction surgical instruments, is planning an aggressive marketing campaign to try to restore confidence in its products.
More than 30 million Americans wear contact lenses, and analysts estimate that nearly 10 million of them use Bausch & Lomb lens care solutions.