KeraVision’s Stock Surges on FDA Action

KeraVision Inc. shares rose 23% after a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel backed the start-up eye-products company’s implants for nearsightedness. Shares of the money-losing company rose $3 to close at $16.06 on Nasdaq. The FDA panel earlier unanimously recommended agency approval of the product, made of up of two “micro-thin” transparent polymer semicircles inserted into the cornea to form a ring. The implants are designed to reshape the cornea and improve vision, and could offer an alternative to laser eye surgery. The KeraVision procedure will probably cost patients about the same as a laser procedure, about $2,300, said Thomas Loarie, chairman, president and chief executive of the Fremont based company.