Similasan: Impact of FDA Ban on Eye Drops and Layoffs at Swiss Homeopathic Manufacturer

2023-10-28 07:20:50

The Swiss manufacturer of homeopathic products Similasan will “preventatively” lay off 27 employees out of the 130 at its headquarters in Jonen (AG). The measure follows the ban on the importation of eye drops into the United States.

On September 11, the United States Medicines Agency (FDA) tightened its requirements for manufacturers of eye drops, resulting in in fine the ban on the distribution of several products in the United States, including those of Similasan.

The health agency criticizes these products present a risk to the health of their users for several reasons, which may be the presence of harmful compounds – notably silver derivatives -, quality problems linked to the sterility of the products, or even the presence on the packaging of illegitimate mentions evoking effects on diseases such as conjunctivitis, glaucoma or cataracts.

According to the FDA, these claims are likely to cause delays in care by “causing consumers to delay or stop medical treatments that have been shown to be safe and effective.”

Growth in recent years interrupted

This ban resulted in a 90% drop in the Aargau company’s sales across the Atlantic. In recent years, however, it has recorded strong growth in this market, which has been accompanied by the recruitment of more than 40 people over the last 18 months.

In a press release released on Friday, Similasan expressed its desire to individually support the employees concerned and assured that it would carry out the workforce reduction “in the most socially acceptable way possible”. She also mentions that a request for partial unemployment was refused by the local authorities.

In contact with Swissmedic

Similasan “currently does not know whether and to what extent homeopathic eye drops still have a future as a product category on the American market” due to the regulatory adaptation. The Aargau company says it is working closely with the American authorities and Swissmedic in order to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.

The FDA mainly has manufacturers of homeopathic products in its crosshairs. Various products from companies competing with Similasan caused adverse effects in American patients at the start of the year, problems from which the Aargau company says it completely distances itself. Since its establishment in the United States in 1987, Similasan has sold more than 100 million doses of eye drops.

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