Question-and-Answer Session
Albert White
Okay, thanks Gene, thanks Bob and we’ll take a few calls. Just let me reiterate, preferably one call per analyst so we can get through the analysts and move through the questions in ½ hour. We’ll start, operator if you could patch in Joanne from BMO.
Joanne Wuensch -BMO Capital Markets-US
Hi, can you hear me?
Eugene Midlock
Joanne?
Joanne Wuensch -BMO Capital Markets-US
Can you hear me?
Eugene Midlock
Yes, hi Joanne.
Joanne Wuensch -BMO Capital Markets-US
Hi, sorry about that. Could you walk us through some of the launch steps that you’re taking regarding Avaira in regards to how you are starting to prepare the industry that you’ve got this new product about to come out?
Robert Weiss
Yes, briefly Joanne and we are targeting for an April launch, so we’re a little over a, about a month away, we will be concentrating on a number of the chains that, if you will, have been left behind somewhat with the Biofinity side. We will be rolling out about 10,000 fitting sets and which compared to Biofinity you may recall, we launched and rolled about 7,500 between June of last year and the end of last year. So it will be a fairly robust launch. We certainly have the comfort level that, at least that level of launch can be supported by fast track, but very much to the extent that we ramp up on the Chin II line; the Puerto Rican line if you will, much faster, that would allow us to expand that roll out. What we do not want to do is get fitting sets out there that we can’t support by the continuation of the production of the product. You know we are, if you will, cautious in our approach and we’ll enjoy the upside of it if it shows up.
Joanne Wuensch -BMO Capital Markets-US
Okay so I’m to assume that most of this is being manufactured in the US and outside the United States or, I mean obviously those are your two choices, but where? Is this PR or is this a UK based launch?
Robert Weiss
The initial fitting sets will be coming out of the UK at a fast track and we are in production, as I indicated, in Puerto Rico, but that production level after 12 days certainly does not warrant the putting together the fitting sets at this point in time. So, short term UK supply that we’ve built up, we were running at over 600,000 lenses a month on fast track, around 600,00 a month, so a pretty robust level in and of itself on one fast track line. So we know we can, with that, support a product line approaching 10 million bucks.
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