With debt retired, Staar Surgical puts faith in new lens. (Health Care).

STAAR Surgical Co. closed a private offering of 1 million shares of common stock that raised $9.6 million, helping it retire some troublesome short-term debt and position itself for a new product offering.

The Monrovia company that manufacturers implantable contact lenses and other ophthalmic products used part of the money to pay off a line of credit with Wells Fargo & Co. Staar Surgical had broken the covenants on the line; after paying it off, the company has about $8 million for other purposes.

Staar Surgical has lost money for three years, but it's cut its losses and said it expects to be profitable by the end of this year.

In April, the company reported positive trial results for an implantable lens that is envisioned as a competitor to the Lasik process. It could be the first such product in the general market. (The company's other lenses replace those removed during cataract surgery.)

"This could be a huge product for us," said John Bily, the company's chief financial officer. The stock was trading above $10 a share last week, more than double the roughly $4 price in February.