Alcon profit up nearly 35 percent in 2nd quarter.

Byline: Maria M. Perotin

Jul. 28--Eye-care giant Alcon's earnings climbed almost 35 percent to $325 million in 2005's second quarter, when the Fort Worth company once again boosted sales across its three main divisions.

Alcon saw the biggest gains in sales of drugs, including its treatments for glaucoma, allergies and eye infections, according to results released after the market closed Wednesday. Pharmaceutical sales reached $502.6 million in the second quarter, an increase of more than 14 percent over the same period last year.

The earnings, which amounted to $1.04 per share, compared with an adjusted profit of $241.6 million, or 78 cents per share, in the same period of 2004. Without the adjustment, which was related to various changes to Alcon's previous tax return, earnings still would have increased almost 9 percent.

Sales rose 12.8 percent to $1.17 billion.

"We continued to leverage our global infrastructure to further drive profit growth," Chief Executive Cary Rayment said in a statement Wednesday. "We also look forward to the significant new market opportunity presented by the AcrySof ReSTOR intraocular lens and plan to capitalize upon this to drive future surgical franchise growth."

ReSTOR, the newest lens in Alcon's AcrySof line, won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in March. It uses technology that aims to eliminate a patient's need for glasses after cataract surgery.