Synergetics has asserted that it has suffered losses in the tens of millions of dollars resulting from Alcon’s alleged unfair practices and seeks a recovery that it believes could exceed $100 million.
In its filing with the Court, Synergetics alleges that Alcon has used its monopoly power in the market for vitrectomy machines used in vitreoretinal surgery, to control purchasing decisions in favor of its surgical illumination sources and associated accessories, and has done this to the detriment of sales of Synergetics’s products, particularly of the Photon line of light sources, light pipes, laser probes and other accessories.
The lawsuit suit also describes an alleged scheme employed by Alcon to gain and maintain market share by making sales of its light pipes conditional to sales of its patented fluid collection cassettes that are required in order to perform each vitreoretinal surgery.