:TOP STORY
Essilor Makes 5 Acquisitions in U.S. and U.K.
Essilor International has acquired Premier Optics, Inc., Gold Optical Enterprises, Inc. and GK Optical in the U.S., according to Vision Monday. The company has also strengthened its prescription laboratory network in Europe with the acquisition of majority stakes in Sinclair Optical Services and United Optical, two independent laboratories in the U.K. Premier Optics, Inc. and Gold Optical Enterprises, Inc., are prescription labs. GK Optical, includes a group of two prescription laboratories. The three companies’ combined full-year revenue totals $8.5 million, Essilor said. Sinclair Optical serves the entire English market with a broad array of products that includes stock lenses, prescription lenses and surface treatments. Its full-year sales amount to Euro 8 million. United Optical operates a subsidiary that specializes in the edging and mounting of prescription safety lenses, and generates full-year revenue of around Euro 5.8 million, the company said.

:FINANCIAL NOTES
Alcon’s (NYSE: ACL) Board of Directors approved a new share repurchase program that allows for the purchase of up to $1.1 billion of shares of outstanding common stock targeted over a twelve-month period. The $1.1 billion share repurchase program provides for a pro-rata purchase of shares from the company's majority shareholder, Nestle, S.A. Specifically, the company will purchase three shares from Nestle for every share acquired by the company in the market pursuant to this new repurchase program.

The Cooper Companies (NYSE: COO) announced that consistent with the plan approved by its Board of Directors to pay annual dividends, the company declared a semi-annual dividend of $0.03 per share, payable on Jan. 4, 2008, to stockholders of record on Dec. 14, 2007.

:CONFERENCE CALLS
InSite Vision (AMEX: ISV) will provide an end-of-the-year company overview to investors at 1:15 p.m. PT Dec. 12. Access is at www.insitevision.com.

TLC Vision Corporation (NASDAQ: TLCV) will present Dec. 12 at 12:30 p.m. ET at the RBC Capital Markets Healthcare Conference in New York City. Access is at www.tlcv.com.

:COMPANY NEWS
Alcon (NYSE: ACL) announced that the FDA has approved TRIESENCE 40 mg/mL, a preservative-free synthetic corticosteroid for visualization during vitrectomy and treatment of sympathetic ophthalmia, temporal arteritis, uveitis, and ocular inflammatory conditions unresponsive to topical corticosteroids. The active ingredient in TRIESENCE, triamcinolone acetonide, has been used for many years to treat retinal disease. This new approval brings ophthalmologists a sterile, preservative-free formulation of the compound specifically developed for use in the eye to treat various retinal inflammatory conditions.

InSite Vision (AMEX: ISV) filed a New Drug Submission (NDS) with Health Canada seeking regulatory approval to market the topical ocular antibiotic AzaSite 1% for the treatment of bacterial conjunctivitis (pink eye) in Canada. AzaSite was approved for bacterial conjunctivitis treatment by the FDA in April 2007, and was commercially launched in the U.S in August 2007 by Inspire Pharmaceuticals.