All right, good morning. I'm Larry Biegelsen, the medical device analyst at Wells Fargo, and it's my pleasure to host this session with the management team from Bausch + Lomb. I'm especially pleased because this is the, I think the first investor meeting, first fireside chat with the new CEO, Brent Saunders, Chairman and CEO. So Brent, thanks so much for giving us this opportunity.
Yeah, thanks for inviting me in. I'm happy to be here.
In terms of format, again, it's gonna be fireside chat. If anybody has a question, please raise your hand. So, let's jump right in. Brent, you know, love to hear how you see, you know, Bausch + Lomb's strategy evolving over the next few years and what differentiates Bausch + Lomb from its competitors.
Sure. So, you know, Bausch + Lomb has a lot of really, I think, special attributes, but probably the best place to start is history, right? It's a 170-year-old eye health company. And so as we think about the future, it's important to understand our past, and we have a long one. We've had a lot of successes, we've had a lot of challenges over the 170 years, but yet we're in a good position today to think about the next, the next evolution of this company.
And when I look at it, I say, "Okay, the most important attribute we have is a integrated eye health company." From surgical to consumer to pharmaceuticals and everything in between, we have one common theme, which is advancing eye health.
And for us, that really is our goal. So when I think about it, what should we set up over the next few years for this company? It's really to be the best at what we do. And what does that mean? That means we have the best innovation in eye health. We have, you know, the best financial profile. We have the best products. We have the best people. And so that's, you know, it's aspirational, right? 'Cause you never really achieve being the best. It's something that you're constantly in the state of trying to achieve, but that's our goal.
And so when I look at the foundation we have, we have a lot of really strong foundation. We have some really good. We're in good markets. We have good people. We have some good products, but we need better products, and we need stronger R&D pipeline across all of our businesses. And so that's where we're gonna focus, fixing those things.
What are your priorities over the next twelve months?
Yeah. So in the next 12 months, we have big. You know, I've been at the company almost seven months now, and my big focus in the short term was really building out our management team and building the right capabilities. You know, over the course of the first six months, you know, from the executive team, I replaced all but two executives.
I pulled the businesses up to report directly to me, and I think that's important for a company, A, of our size, and B, to accomplish what we do. To have all these layers didn't make a lot of sense, and we've been reducing layers. We've been working on, you know, obviously some M&A. We brought in XIIDRA, which will close probably in about a month or so.
We brought in Blink, which we just closed on. We're investing in some of our capabilities, particularly on the front line, building out our sales forces and getting ready for some product launches. And then I've mentioned quite a bit in the last earnings call, really focusing on our supply chain. Making sure that we can make and deliver our products at a competitive cost and with reliable, high-quality supply.
And that's a bit of a challenge for us. It's something that probably was a decade in the making, and then COVID was an aggravating circumstance to everybody's supply chain, including ours. And that, I think, identified a lot more weaknesses in the supply chain.
We clearly had some issues in the last quarter, and our distribution center for U.S. contact lenses in Lynchburg, Virginia, those types of things we have to stop doing. And so we brought in a new head of our supply chain, very excited. He's been with us just for a few weeks now, but already having a great positive impact on the company. And we're gonna get in a position in a year or two where supply chain is a competitive weapon, not a liability for us.
That's helpful. You know, you're gonna be meeting with investors today. I'm sure people are gonna ask you about the Bausch Health stake and the spin. You know, what's the status, and what do you say to investors who are interested in investing in Bausch + Lomb, but they're on the sidelines because of the uncertainty around the spin?
Yeah. So first, I understand it makes sense. And, you know, I've said this from the day I've arrived, that the decision around the spin is a matter for the BHC board. They own approximately 90% of our shares, and a little less than 90% of our shares, and it, you know, they have to make the decision for them when it's right to happen.
I do think that they spend a lot of time thinking about it. It's something that I think they really do want to accomplish. And, you know, my two cents is it will happen, but I'm a little less concerned about when. We have enough work to do. We have a lot of stuff.
You know, as you said, Larry, when I sat down, this is my first investor conference that I've done since I joined the company in seven months. You know, while I love talking to investors and it's important to spend time with investors, I can use the time to focus internally in the short term. It's like being a semi-private company, and it allows us to really focus on setting up our foundation, planning for the future, and when the spin comes, then we can spend a lot more time with our investors. Right now, I just have to take the elevator down two floors, and I can see the 90% shareholder. It's not that hard.
Right. That's helpful. Let's dig into the business itself. At the time of the IPO, which I know you were not a part of, you know, Bausch saw itself as a mid-single-digit grower. Do you still see Bausch as a mid-single-digit grower, or can you do better?
Yeah, I mean, I think, look, the goal is to do better. The current goal that we have for the team over the next year or two is to grow at or better than the market. The market is roughly historically has been a mid-single-digit grower. I think the last quarter, across the industry, we saw a little better performance from everybody, so perhaps it's ticking up, and we need to stay at a minimum competitive with that. And hopefully, you know, as we go, get better than that, because that's how we're going to take share, and that's how we're going to get stronger. So yeah, I would say the floor is mid-single digits, for sure.
Got it. And what's the growth outlook for each segment? Which segments do you think will grow faster or which may be below the corporate average?
Yeah, so I think in the short term, and short term, I'm defining over the next, let's say, 12-24 months. I would say, you know, you're going to see for organic and inorganic growth, pharma is going to grow nicely because we have a new product launch. Actually, next week, we'll be launching MIEBO for dry eye. We'll bring in XIIDRA in the October-ish timeframe.
And so that will create a growth platform as well. So that will be a good one. I think when we solve the Lynchburg issues in. And that will happen, I believe, this year, probably in the fourth quarter. That, you know, the INFUSE multifocal, the INFUSE contact lens plus the multifocal launches and everything else happening there, that should grow above.
I think, consumer, we saw strong growth there, particularly in volume in the second quarter. It was really nice to see. Surgical is the one that's going to continue to struggle, but it also has the most supply chain issues. So...
That's helpful. In the end markets, Brent, how are you feeling just about the end markets? I mean, Alcon has talked about some of the end markets running, you know, David Endicott's word, a little hot. The ophthalmology, you know, end markets, how are you feeling about those?
Yeah, so as I said, I think we saw across the board, everybody do better than market growth, which means the market's growing because everybody can't do better, right? There should be-
Right
... losers and, winners. And so, yeah, the market, I think, to, to David's point, is running a little hot, which is good. I think that's, that's a positive. But you know, for us, I, I hate to say this, but in some ways, you know, obviously, we really do care, and we'd love to see the market run hot. It doesn't matter. We have so much share we can take. When you're, it's David and Goliath, right?
Right.
I get why David says market share really matters. When you have that market share, you want to see the market grow. For us, you know, we clearly would like to see that happen, but we have a lot to look up to, right? There's a lot to go, to grow into.
That's helpful. Then just touching on some key products here, I just want to start with LUMIFY, which has been a major success. What's the growth runway here? Y ou went out on a limb and gave peak sales for MIEBO on the Q2 call. What do you think peak sales for LUMIFY could be?
You know, it's hard to say because it doesn't seem like there's an end in sight, right? And you know, if we do our job right and are good stewards of that brand, we'll keep innovating around that brand to have it grow even, you know, through patent expiry or private label entry, I should say, is a better way to think about it. We have new markets to grow into.
We have new combinations. Right now, we have about 50% of the market, but it's such a superior product to the other products in the market. I don't see why, you know, even at 50%, we should feel like we've gotten even close to the top. And every week, every month feels like a new record. So it's a good problem to have. Where it ends, I don't know. I think the next pullback would be, you know, a private label entry, hopefully not for several years.
I think you've said the patent goes through this decade, or?
It does. But you know, there'll be challenges, there'll be fights. So, I think we can continue to innovate around it to make that less of an issue, but it will be a grower for a long time.
That's helpful. So, I mean, let's, you know, transition to XIIDRA. You know, you did a sizable deal, you know, pretty quickly out of the gate. I think people are interested to know. Well, first of all, just talk about the rationale for the deal, and then we can talk about the growth outlook.
Yeah, so look, I mean, there haven't been many. Well, I guess if you think about eye drops versus injections, I think there's only been two drugs that have surpassed $1 billion in sales, right? So this hasn't been a category that has, you know, the traditional sense of blockbusters, right? In eye care, a blockbuster eye drop was $100 million-$200 million.
So, you know, a drug that's doing somewhere in the $400 million range is a very unique asset, particularly one that has, you know, approximately 10 years of patent life left to it. And so just that being available for sale at in what we believe to be a pretty discounted rate versus the previous two buyers of the asset, right? Because it was bought twice.
You know, it was an opportunistic, you know, time to try to get something like that. In our hands, it made a lot of strategic sense. We are in the pharmaceutical business. One of the issues we have with our margins and structures, we don't have a blockbuster drug. The last big one we had was, you know, has been off patent for some time. It dates back to when I was at the company the last time. So, you know, I think it gives us a lot of permission to play in the space. It gives us more relevance to managed care, and most importantly, it gives us a lot of relevance to physicians.
And with the launch of MIEBO now a week away, to have the full treatment paradigm of inflammatory and evaporative dry eye in one portfolio, and, and really approaching dry eye as a disease and portfolio approach to the customer, I think really puts us in a very strong, unique position. And so I think we'll do well with it in and of itself, but I also think it makes us do MIEBO better. And so that, that was why I think we were better owners for it than Novartis.
I think people can see the script trends, oh, and also the sales. Novartis is still reporting. I think it was down 24%.
Yep.
The script trends have also. You, you've talked about following the script trends, but those have also kind of flattened a bit in July.
Yeah, New Rx was about 3%, or TRx was 3%, right? It was up about, George, 3%.
So, I mean, I guess the question is, how are you thinking about just the, kind of the growth outlook for XIIDRA?
Yeah, so you know, we clearly anticipated. Well, well, first of all, let's follow the history, right? It was launched by Shire, bought by Takeda, bought by Novartis, now sold to Bausch + Lomb. So despite all that changing of hands, and every time you change hands of a drug, you know, you go through the rollercoaster of sales, it's still a $400+ million drug. So still an impressive outcome.
Sure.
Right? We knew that once Novartis put it up for sale, and it was publicly up for sale, sales reps are human beings. They know that, you know, that, that the drug is for sale. They don't know who's going to be the owner, what their future is. That creates a lot of instability. So we, we had modeled in, that it would be pretty flat.
And so it, it, it's at, at our, you know, right around our expectation of what would happen. The key is getting it in, integrating it well, and showing that the, the representatives, that they now are in an eye care company versus a big pharmaceutical company with the only eye care product. They now have a home. They can be eye care specialists. There's a future. It should be exciting. We have other products.
They're not going to be just selling one product. I think it's a real opportunity for them, and it's a great opportunity for us to put some adrenaline back into the program. So I feel pretty good about it. They, you know, the thing that Novartis did very nicely is get managed care coverage. Shire and Takeda didn't do such a great job with that, and Novartis solved that. I think they have around 70% managed care coverage, which is pretty good, so.
Have you said how many reps are coming over from Novartis with the deal?
Our goal is to get them all.
How many people?
I don't... I think it's, do you know, George, the number?
A sizable number.
Yeah, it's a full sleeve. It's a full complement. I can get you the real number later, or we can disclose it in the earnings call next quarter. But, it's a couple hundred people.
That's helpful.
Yeah.
You know, staying on dry eye-
Okay
... and MIEBO, the launch coming up next week, you talked about, a few questions on MIEBO. I guess one, you're going to be integrating XIIDRA at the same time. So how, how did you think about the timing and not, you know, having XIIDRA being complementary, not disruptive to the MIEBO launch?
Yeah, so the MIEBO field force was hired, has been trained. The launch meeting is in Arizona next week. I'll be at it. And they are not touching XIIDRA right away. So their plan is to just be MIEBO reps. Remember, we thought we were going to go through a prolonged FTC reviews, which was the most likely outcome, which didn't happen.
And we thought it would close in end of the year, and we'd be integrating in the first quarter. So things have accelerated, but we'll just keep them separate for a short period of time, and then we'll figure out how to bring them together, probably in the first quarter next year. So they'll be kept, you know, pretty focused. I would say I don't worry about distraction here too much.
There's not an ophthalmologist or, or eye care professional that doesn't want to talk to us if they're interested in dry eye. We've got the two, two most important drugs now, the most innovative and, and the biggest. So we are highly relevant. Our reps are highly motivated. If you. You know, I really focus on sales rep morale. Sales reps want to be welcomed into the office. They want to have exciting news. They want to, you know, earn trust of the physician. When you're, you're now a Bausch + Lomb rep in dry eye, where would you rather be?
Right.
Like, where—where's the other game in town? So we are, you know, it's a massive problem. It is an underserved, underdiagnosed, undertreated patient population. I know from running Restasis for years, it is a highly promotionally sensitive market. And so we have—we have now the size, the credibility, the product profile, the number of reps you need. You know, I think we're in. It's all about execution. We're in the catbird seat. We just got to execute now.
Just to close the loop on XIIDRA, I don't think I heard you talk about kind of what you think it can grow, you know, in your hands once the deal closes?
I think you got to look at it as a mid-single digit till we, till we really get-
Revenue
... control. Yeah, I agree. Top line, mid-single digit. I think we'll give you a better sense earlier next year. I mean, we— Remember, there's still some things we don't know because of gun jumping rules. So let us get ahold of it. Let us close the deal. Let us get the reps on board. Let's look at some of the things that we haven't been able to see, and we'll give you a better picture. But I think our deal model was very reasonable. We didn't make any aggressive assumptions. Mid-single digit in the deal model, and for now, that's the guidance I would give you.
That's helpful. And on MIEBO, you know, I was a little surprised, you know, you put out a number on the Q2 call. You said you wouldn't, you'd be disappointed if sales, peak sales didn't exceed $350 million.
Correct.
My, I guess.
I think you asked me the question.
Yeah.
Yes.
Well, I didn't. You know, I can ask a lot of questions. I don't always get a straight answer.
Right, right.
But on that question, I did. So my question is, you know, how did you come up with the $350, and what's the ramp look like?
Yeah, so, the way, you know, the way I came up with the number is modeling, right? We looked at a variety of scenarios. We obviously looked at Restasis and XIIDRA launches. We looked at other parallel opportunities, other market proxies. We look at the market itself, you know, as I said, there's a massive number of undertreated, underdiagnosed, and underserved patients in the category.
The disease itself is accelerating, as we know, as people spend more time staring at screens and pollution and everything. All the factors are contributing to the disease state.
And so, you know, you look at it and you say you have a drug that, for the first time, is addressing about 80% of the patient needs in the category, versus all the other drugs addressing 20%. And incredibly safe, really good, strong safety data in the label. And you know, the issue now is just execution, and it's two points, right?
Can you get physician and patients interested, and can you get Managed Care to reimburse? And clearly, Managed Care will be the toughest of all those aspects. But I think we have a really compelling story, quality of life, quality of vision, for Managed Care.
you know, I think if we do that, you can see a nice ramp in the peak sales I just described in a couple of years.
You think this is a rapid ramp? I mean, dry eye is a-
It won't be a rapid ramp because of Managed Care. In the old days, I think it would have been a rapid ramp, but, you know, Managed Care just. You can't. It will take two or three years to get, you know, something closer to 70% of covered lives, and that's the goal, is to get somewhere between 70% and 80%.
Any initial feedback from Managed Care? I mean, the-
Early, very early feedback has been positive, but it's way too early to call that a trend or indicative of what's going to happen.
That's-
We'll know a lot. You know, most. You go in cycles, right? So as we get to the launch a week away, we'll start that. The conversations will start to accelerate with managed care for 2024, and we'll have a really much better sense in the next few months.
That's helpful. You know, just switching gears, Brent, you know, surgical is actually a relatively small business for Bausch + Lomb, and the margins are relatively low. What's the strategy for that segment?
Yeah, I agree. And, you know, you look at it, and it's the one business that you truly love. It's got a great, you know, perpetuity value type of situation, great products. We have a great reputation. We've been inconsistent with supply, and we've been low on innovation. I think we can solve those things. You know, the supply is a work in progress.
You know, we have it with Stellaris, and we have it with the packs, and those are kind of the bread and butter of that business. On the IOL side, you know, we need to move into the higher margin premium category. That's happening in 2024. There's going to be a lot of launches, in that space.
And so, you know, I think we've got some work to do, but I think the next year or two, you'll start to see that business really start to respond.
The 2024 US trifocal launch?
That's correct.
Is that an early or late 2024?
Early, I believe. Right, it's first half. Yep, first half.
And, you know, after the XIIDRA deal, I'm guessing that your firepower for M&A is relatively limited, so we would expect maybe small tuck-in deals.
I think that's right. Look, we have. I, I've said this before, right after we did the XIIDRA deal, we were gonna digest and delever, and we'll do that. I. You know, the deal, I think we walked you through it. You know, we should. It would take about 12 months to get to a delevering position where, where, you know, you would feel comfortable doing something. So yeah, small things, a few million dollars here, $10 million there, maybe, but very focused, very, you know, perhaps more R&D-based, a little lower risk R&D-based deals. But, yeah.
And how, at a high level, what's the algorithm for Bausch + Lomb, you know, for investors? Mid-single digit top plus top-line growth. How much annual, you know, operating leverage.
Yeah. No, I think you're right. You know, we've got to focus on margin improvement, right? You, the way to be successful in the company is to grow top line and improve margins, right? That's the algorithm, right? Grow the top line, improve the margins. That's a winning formula. I think we can grow the top line, hopefully better than market.
And you know, when I look at margin, you know, I say there's real opportunity in this company to improve margin. Part of it is cost reduction, part of it is better utilization of the current infrastructure, and then it's product mix, higher, higher, higher margin mix. And we're optimizing costs now. We've got to invest in launches in 2024.
I think we had a slide in the earnings deck that showed how many launches we have in 2024, including INFUSE around the world, you know, MIEBO, the trifocal, the whole, you know, probably the largest launch year ever in the history of Bausch + Lomb, as far as I could track it. And so I still think we can see some very modest improvement next year in margin, for sure, despite the launches. And then, you know, from there, then you really set the base to go.
When you talk about margin improvement next year, you're talking about with XIIDRA, or you're talking about base improvement?
Base.
Plus laying on XIIDRA.
Base, and then I think inorganically from, from XIIDRA.
Okay. It should be a pretty nice step up in-
I think it could be. I think it, yeah. I mean, I think Sam has mentioned that XIIDRA could, would roughly do about 200 basis points of EBITDA margin improvement. I think that's still true. And then hopefully a modest from the, from some of the efficiencies we've gotten in the business and some mix. And then in 2025, the business should start to, the launch investment should start paying back and/or moderating, and then you should start to see that sustainable margin improvement going forward.
That's helpful. Just focusing on 2023 for a minute. Very strong growth in the first half of the year, 10% constant currency growth. The guidance implies, you know, call it 4%, mid single digit in the second half. Why, why would the momentum slow so much?
I don't think it necessarily will. You know, I would, I would put some of that, too, on new. I'm going to be conservative till I get, you know, a real firm handle on, on the rhythm of the business and the predictability. The supply chain still scares me, and what we don't know, we don't know until it happens. And so we've built in some of that. You know, we, we had some favorable comps. China was a, was a very favorable comp for us, and that will start to lapse. So, you know, I think there, there's some real reasons, but I'm, I'm, you know, I'm still optimistic that we'll do better than that, for sure.
That's helpful. You mentioned China. China has been very topical, especially in the medical device-
Mm-hmm
... field, recently because of the new anti-corruption policies. You know, it's about 8% of your sales, I believe. So just at a high level, you know, how are you thinking about the recovery in China and this anti-corruption initiative?
Yeah. So for us, the anti-corruption is obviously important and, you know, we watch it, but it's not really much of an impact for us. We probably are more focused on macroeconomic issues and the consumer strength in China than the corruption issues. You know, most of our business is contact lens or contact lens related. And, you know, I would say that market, it looks really good today, and we just, you know, what I worry about is, you know, what happens tomorrow to the consumer.
In the Tier 1 cities, the consumer still feels very strong, a little less so in the Tier 2 and below. And so we're just keeping a close eye on it.
But, you know, even then, even in, you know, so that you had a little bit of a consumer pullback in China, I don't... I think would have a modest impact, but not a, you know, game-changing impact on the business.
You grew, like, 20%, almost 25%.
Correct. Yep.
Um-
Infuse just, you know, the dailies SiHy INFUSE, they don't call it Infuse in China. I think it's ULTRA. It's what they call it. So I have to remember all, you know, you have so many, 700,000 products, it's hard to always remember every brand name. But, you know, that just launched, and it's a great lens. I was just saying to Bob, who used to be a board member at Bausch + Lomb, I just got fitted for the lens, and my biggest issue with the lens is, I forget to take it out at night because I don't remember I'm wearing it. You don't feel it. I really don't, I don't notice it.
And usually, when I wear contact lenses, I'd be ready to rip them out of my eye at the end of the day because they were so uncomfortable, because of end of day dryness or fatigue. And my biggest issue is I get into bed at night, I'm like, "Oh, my God, I forgot to take my lenses out. I got to get back up." I, I don't remember they're in there.
That's helpful.
Yeah.
You talked about 2024 a little bit. Any other, on the margin side, which was super helpful, any other puts and takes we should think about?
No, I mean, I think we've talked. You know, we have an LOE in pharma on PROLENSA. That's probably-
End of this year, or end, end of this year?
Yeah, but it will impact the P&L next year. You know, and so that's an offset. That's probably the biggest LOE that we have next year. You know, I think for us it's about you know, spending our money wisely, right? Investing in the new products, investing in the supply chain fixes that have to happen. That's not a heavy capital, it's more process people and whatnot, and you know, getting everything back running again.
You know, for example, the contact lens business in the second quarter, a lot of people think we can't make them, the contact. We can make them perfectly, we just can't put them in a box and ship them. It's the distribution center that went down. And so that's just an unforced error. That should never—that's ridiculous, right?
We got to get that back running, not just to old efficiency, but to the investment that the company made, obviously, prior to I got there, for why we automated that, that distribution center, attempted to automate it. I think that will happen, you know, probably sometime in the fourth quarter or certainly by the first quarter of next year. But that's really important. Like, those types of things can't happen anymore or should happen very rarely, if at all.
That's helpful. In contact lenses, I mean, there was a time when you and Cooper were actually, Bausch + Lomb and Cooper were actually neck and neck in share. Cooper's like in the mid-20s now, you're, you know, around 10-ish. How do you think about your, you know, share once you fix the supply issues in the contact lens market?
We have a long way to go. That's why I say, when you look at our share, you know, you obviously want the market to continue to grow, but there, just to get back to our fair share, there's a lot of growth opportunity. You know, we have good products. We have great, you know, we have a great range of offerings.
As INFUSE continues to do Multifocal Toric, Multifocal Torics, and everything else, and build out that line, I think that's gonna be a really important part. And then it's about what's next in the innovation of contact lenses. And we have some very early, but we have some real. You know, that's an area where we have real R&D strength. And, you know, first thing I did when I came here was visit with that R&D team, and we've got a couple things we're working on.
We'll see if they work. We have to get the proof of concept before we start talking about them and get them and getting excited about them. But, you know, I think the way to win that market share back is really good execution, great manufacturing, efficiency, and innovation. And so it's all three of those have to work together to do it, but I think we've got a real shot at it.
So within contact lenses, you do have a play in myopia or an investment in myopia management?
We have a lot, yeah. We have real R&D across the board, new materials, new manufacturing techniques, myopia control, the whole nine yards. We've just got to continue to get best-in-class new innovations out the door.
You know, I was struck at the beginning of the conversation when you said, you know, your vision is to be best in at everything you do, but you also, I think, acknowledged it's difficult, right?
Well, it's an aspiration.
It's an aspiration.
Yeah.
We've seen a lot of divestitures in the healthcare space in recent years. Bausch + Lomb plays in a lot of different end markets. Are you happy with the mixed businesses today?
Yeah, I mean, I think to be fair, one of the things we're now evaluating is not necessarily like just selling one of the businesses, but how do we get more efficient and play where we can succeed within those businesses? So that means rationalizing geography and perhaps rationalizing SKUs, right, or products.
And, you know, or just arbitrarily, I'll use, should we eliminate 10% of our markets and 10% of our our lower margin or underperforming SKUs? Perhaps. You know, and that work, we're just starting to to analyze. But, you know, there, there may be, and that would be real margin improvement too, potentially. So there, there are lots of things to do, to get more focused and be able to, to do the things that we believe we can win at doing.
In a process like that, how long does that usually take? I mean, investors are gonna say, "Well, when, when are we gonna get an update on that, Brent?
Well, we just, you know, we just, we just started. I probably shouldn't even have talked about it. We just started talking about it internally between Sam and I a week ago, so it's, it's just something we're starting to-
A couple of weeks. I'm kidding.
Yeah. So a couple. No, look, I think we'll probably start talking about it after the fourth quarter. We got a lot on our plate right now, so we can't overload the organization either.
That makes sense.
Yeah.
I mean, what do you think is most underappreciated about Bausch + Lomb? And you know, I know we're running out of time here. What made you want to come back and do it again?
Well, easy. Eye care is, I think, one of the greatest therapeutic areas to work in. Greatest customers, greatest people, great innovation, you know, really a good group of people. I think Bausch + Lomb is the most storied, you know, greatest history in the space, and it deserves to be, you know, looked at among the best companies. So there's just so much opportunity. You know, I really look at it and say, "There's so much opportunity for the company, for investors, for employees, for customers, for patients, to do better and create real value.
All right. Well, we'll leave it there. Really appreciate you being here, and good luck in the new role.
Yeah. Thank you, Larry.