BIOLASE Issued Broad New Patent for Treating Eye Conditions, Including Presbyopia, Cataracts, and Glaucoma

Download as PDF

Provides Additional Support for Ophthalmic Applications

IRVINE, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/29/13 -- BIOLASE, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIOL), the world's leading manufacturer and distributor of dental lasers, announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued BIOLASE a new patent covering the use of its laser technologies for treating various conditions of the eye, including presbyopia, cataracts, and glaucoma.

Patent 8,448,465 is titled "Methods for Treating Eye Conditions," and significantly broadens the claims for this patent family and anticipates using complementary technologies to automate and perfect procedures to identify the rigidity of the eye to optimize treatment locations in presbyopia procedures.

Federico Pignatelli, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "This patent extends and reinforces the ability of BIOLASE's wholly owned subsidiary OCCULASE, Inc. to strategically partner with companies that offer complimentary technologies that enhance our core laser technologies. Such strategic affiliations will allow for greater predictability and more consistent visual outcomes for the patient. Our revolutionary technology has the ability to reduce the learning curve for ophthalmologists and decrease the required surgical time. We will continue to expand our intellectual property in order to establish OCCULASE as a leader in the ophthalmic laser arena, not only by developing the best clinical solutions but also cost effective ones."

This is the tenth U.S. patent issued under the "Methods for Treating Eye Conditions" patent family with an additional three patents issued internationally and six more pending worldwide. BIOLASE currently holds a total of 20 issued and 20 pending U.S. and international patents in seven patent families in the field of ophthalmology. These patents give BIOLASE and its wholly-owned subsidiary, OCCULASE, the widest range of potential applications and coverage in the field.

"This patent further leverages our innovative WaterLase technology and incorporates the ocular rigidity theory which broadens our patent family to allow the laser parameters and groupings of tissue treatment to compensate for correlation in the various layers in ocular tissue for treating eye conditions such as presbyopia, cataract, and glaucoma, among many others," added Marcia Van Valen, Director of Business Development.

"This new patent and those currently under application further demonstrate how broad the applications are for our patented laser technologies within ophthalmology," concluded Pignatelli.

About BIOLASE, Inc.
BIOLASE, Inc. is a biomedical company that develops, manufactures, and markets innovative lasers in dentistry and medicine and also markets and distributes high-end 2D and 3D digital imaging equipment and CAD/CAM intraoral scanners; products that are focused on technologies that advance the practice of dentistry and medicine. The Company's proprietary laser products incorporate over 350 patented and patent-pending technologies designed to provide biologically clinically superior performance with less pain and faster recovery times. Its imaginative products provide cutting-edge technology at competitive prices to deliver the best results for dentists and patients. BIOLASE's principal products are revolutionary dental laser systems that perform a broad range of dental procedures, including cosmetic and complex surgical applications, and a full line of dental imaging equipment. BIOLASE has sold more than 22,500 lasers. Other laser products under development address ophthalmology and other medical and consumer markets.

For updates and information on WaterLase® and laser dentistry, find BIOLASE® online at www.biolase.com, Facebook at www.facebook.com/biolaseinc, Twitter at www.twitter.com/biolaseinc, Pinterest at www.pinterest.com/biolase, LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/biolase, Instagram at www.instagram.com/biolaseinc and YouTube at www.youtube.com/biolasevideos.

BIOLASE® and WaterLase® are registered trademarks of BIOLASE, Inc. 

For further information, please contact:
Michael Porter
Porter, LeVay & Rose, Inc.
212-564-4700

Source: BIOLASE, Inc.

Released May 29, 2013