Senator Chuck Schumer says after a difficult week last week for Rochester, there's some good news this Monday -- jobs are being added at Bausch and Lomb.
He says Bausch and Lomb had originally intended to have its new contact lens manufactured in Ireland.
But after Valeant Pharmaceuticals took over B&L, he urged the new parent company to make the ULTRA lens here.
Valeant CEO and Chairman Mike Pearson announced Monday they will be adding four manufacturing lines -- two more than Schumer had expected them to announce -- to their Rochester facility, adding around 240 jobs while retaining a thousand others.
Pearson says right now they're selling every new ULTRA lens they've made in a pilot manufacturing line, and he expects the new, more comfortable B&L contact lens to be a "blockbuster."
Pearson, says right now they're selling every new ULTRA lens they've made in a pilot manufacturing line
He adds Bausch and Lomb is also installing 3,667 solar panels which will reduce the company's carbon dioxide emissions by some 800 tons annually.
Here's video of today's announcement from Bausch and Lomb:
http://youtu.be/2aR1ZtHjgyo