LAKE FOREST, Calif.—Staar Surgical Company (NASDAQ: STAA) posted preliminary results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2021. The company expects total net sales for the fourth quarter to be approximately $59 million and full year net sales to be approximately $230 million. “Staar’s preliminary sales results for fiscal 2021 highlight the robust demand for our lenses as our ICLs are elevated within the ophthalmic community," said Caren Mason, president and CEO of Staar Surgical.

"For fiscal 2021, we achieved 40 percent growth in net sales year over year. ICL units for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021 were up 36 percent globally, year over year, including China up 44 percent, Japan up 45 percent, South Korea up 35 percent and India up 74 percent with growth partially moderated by an increasing number of COVID cases in Europe,”

“During the second half of 2021, production output was lower than planned due to COVID-related employee absences, modest supply chain challenges and throughput running lower than plan. This resulted in a continuing backlog of over 20,000 lenses in house, mostly made-to-order toric lenses, that usually would have shipped in the prescribed timeframe.

"We are committed to continuing to push hard to overcome these challenges and are doubling the footprint at our principal manufacturing facility through movement of non-production floor space requirements to other facilities. We are also purchasing and upgrading our tooling and systems to dovetail with the expansion.

"As we look forward in 2022, we remain focused on advancing our strong growth trajectory for our EVO ICL lenses. In the U.S., our submission of clinical data for Staar’s EVO ICL family of myopia lenses remains under customary interactive FDA review. For fiscal 2022, we anticipate our net sales will grow to approximately $295 million subject to no unforeseen impact from COVID on our business,” Mason said.

Staar expects to report complete fourth quarter and fiscal year results on or about February 23.