Eyecare Giant Buys Israeli Contactless Laser Surgery Firm For $466M 

Belkin Vision, an Israeli startup that developed automatic and noninvasive laser surgery for glaucoma, has been bought by Swiss-American eyecare giant Alcon Pharmaceuticals for $466 million.

The Eagle device is the first and only contactless laser surgery for glaucoma, one of the main causes of blindness in the world, affecting about 70 million patients across the globe. It received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration in December.

The agreement between Belkin and Alcon was signed in May and completed at the start of July.  

Belkin is one of the startups established as part of a collaboration between the ARC Center for Digital Innovation at Sheba Medical Center, Israel’s largest hospital, and Ramot, the technology transfer company of Tel Aviv University. 

The company was founded in 2013 by Prof. Michael Belkin of Tel Aviv University’s Eye Research Institute at Sheba, while its CEO Daria Lemann-Blumenthal developed the Eagle device. 

“We congratulate the management of Belkin Vision, led by CEO Daria Lemann-Blumenthal, for achieving international success despite the challenges of our time. The company is forging the path towards groundbreaking advancements in vision preservation,” said Avner Halperin, CEO of Sheba Impact, the medical center’s entrepreneurship and commercialization arm. 

“The Belkin Vision team has grown the company in close collaboration with Sheba’s teams, creating a life-changing solution for all of humanity,” he said.