The story
In 1959, the contact business unit started as Frontier Contact Lenses in Buffalo, New York.
The surgical business unit started when implantable medical device company Heyer-Schulte Co., started a ophthalmic research division, named Heyer-Schulte Medical Optics Center (HSMOC), focusing on aphakic lenses and extended-wear cosmetic contact lenses. In 1974, American Hospital Supply Corporation (AHSC), acquired and merged with Heyer-Schulte Co., and renamed HSMOC to American Medical Optics (AMO). In 1976, AMO focused its business in the early development of intraocular lenses for cataract patients.
In 1981, Johnson & Johnson acquires Frontier.
In 1983, American Medical Optics, the Santa Ana eye product division of American Hospital Supply Corp., began to manufacture the tissue lens.
In 1986, Allergan acquired American Medical Optics, and as Allergan Medical Optics, continued to manufacture the lenticules.
In 1987, JJV introduces the world's first disposable soft contact lenses under the name ACUVUE Brand Contact Lenses.
AMO was spun off from Allergan in 2002.
In 2004, Advanced Medical Optics bought Pfizer's surgical ophthalmology business for $450 million in cash.
Read the full text
AMO acquired VisX Inc. in a stock and cash transaction valued at approximately $1.27 billion, in November 2004. The combined company retained the Advanced Medical Optics name and AMO's Santa Ana, Calif., headquarters. The laser franchise retained the VisX brand name, and VisX continued manufacturing and research and development activities at its Santa Clara, Calif., site. The AMO portfolio already included the Amadeus II microkeratome, the Verisyse phakic IOL, and the ReZoom, Array and Tecnis IOLs.
In Jan. 16, 2007 AMO announced the acquisition of privately held WaveFront Sciences Inc., a provider of wavefront diagnostic systems for refractive surgery and medical research, for $20 million in cash.
AMO acquired Irvine-based IntraLase Corp. for $808 million in January 2007. This allowed AMO to combine IntraLase technology for cutting a flap in the cornea with AMO technology for reshaping the cornea. The combination of these complementary technologies has made "all-laser LASIK" possible. NASA later approved this all-laser LASIK for use on astronauts.
In August 2007 the company donated $2.5 million to UC-Irvine's Department of Ophthalmology to boost the university's planned Eye Institute.
On February 26, 2009, Abbott Laboratories announced that it had completed its acquisition of Advanced Medical Optics (AMO) in a $2.8 billion deal. AMO had become a wholly owned subsidiary of Abbott and was renamed Abbott Medical Optics Inc (AMO).
In 2009, AMO bought Visiogen and 2013, OptiMedica.
In September 2016, pharmaceutical and medical device company Johnson & Johnson announced they were buying Abbott Medical Optics for $4.3 billion.
On February 27, 2017, Abbott Medical Optics changed its name to Johnson & Johnson Vision following its $4.3 billion acquisition by Johnson & Johnson.
In 2017, JJV acquired TearScience.
From Wikipedia’s article on Johnson & Johnson Vision, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3