AJL Ophthalmic develops a digital system to improve precision in eye surgery

The Basque company has created a medical device that helps ophthalmologists carry out the corneal marking required for the implantation of toric intraocular lenses.

The LIMARKER project, spearheaded by the Álava-based company AJL Ophthalmic, has turned a clinical challenge into a proprietary technological solution aimed at improving precision in eye surgery. The project enables the digitisation of the positioning of the corneal marking axis, paves the way for more controlled procedures and strengthens the company’s capacity to develop smart medical devices.

The project has been launched as part of Fast Track Innobideak, a grant programme run by SPRI to support innovation projects and accelerate the adoption of digital technologies in Basque industrial SMEs. According to Eva Larra Mateos, Director of Regulatory Affairs and New Product Development at AJL Ophthalmic, “LIMARKER has enabled us to turn precision – a clinical necessity – into a tangible technological advantage”.

AJL Ophthalmic named among the 53 Basque companies leading their specialties worldwide

A study by Orkestra – Basque Institute of Competitiveness and the BBK Foundation recognizes AJL Ophthalmic as a global leader in the manufacturing of medical devices for ophthalmology.

We are proud to announce that AJL Ophthalmic has been included in the list of the 53 Basque companies that are global leaders in their respective sectors.

This recognition highlights companies that have achieved outstanding international positioning in highly specialized fields through innovation, expertise, and long-term commitment. For AJL Ophthalmic, it acknowledges our role as a leading manufacturer of medical devices for ophthalmology, contributing to the advancement of eye care and visual health worldwide.

This achievement reflects the dedication and talent of our team, as well as the trust placed in us by our customers, partners, distributors, and healthcare professionals around the world.

We will continue to drive innovation, excellence, and international growth, bringing ophthalmic solutions developed in the Basque Country to patients and professionals across the globe.

AJL Ophthalmic wins third prize in the 2025 Awards for Good Practices in Sustainable Industrialisation, Clean Energy and Eco-design

AJL Ophthalmic has been recognised with third prize in the 2025 Awards for Good Practices in Sustainable Industrialisation, Clean Energy and Eco-design, an award that distinguishes companies’ commitment to the circular economy, industrial sustainability and the implementation of clean energy.

The award ceremony took place at the Álava Provincial Council building, where Luís López, Plant and Energy Efficiency Manager at AJL Ophthalmic, collected the award on behalf of the company.

This recognition highlights AJL Ophthalmic’s commitment to sustainability and responsible innovation, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda. The projects developed by the company include the installation of a photovoltaic park at its facilities and the implementation of aerothermal air conditioning systems, significantly reducing its carbon footprint and improving the energy efficiency of its production processes.

With this award, AJL Ophthalmic reaffirms its commitment to a more sustainable industrial model, based on environmental responsibility and the continuous improvement of its production practices.

Pedro José Salazar, CEO of AJL Ophthalmic, winner of the José Miguel Azkoitia Award

Pedro José Salazar Salegui, CEO of AJL Ophthalmic, has been distinguished with the José Miguel Azkoitia Award in recognition of his commitment and career in promoting the Biosciences and Health sector in the Basque Country.

The award was presented at the BASQUE HEALTH CLUSTER Eguna, held at the Iberdrola Tower in Bilbao, an event that brought together leading figures from the Basque healthcare ecosystem. The day began with a welcome address by Asier Albizu and Idoia Muñoz, president and director of the Basque Health Cluster, respectively, and continued with a keynote speech by Manuel Cendoya on the reindustrialisation of the health sector in Europe.

This recognition highlights the work of AJL Ophthalmic as a key company in the development of innovative solutions in the field of eye health.

Within the framework of Álava Emprende 2025, Mr. Pedro José Salazar, Executive Director of AJL Ophthalmic, has been distinguished with the Entrepreneurial Career Award

Over its 32-year history, AJL Ophthalmic has evolved from a distributor of ophthalmic products to a company with a prominent manufacturing plant in Vitoria-Gasteiz, operating in more than 80 countries.

This prestigious recognition, granted by the Provincial Council of Álava, the Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council, the Basque Government, and the Vital Foundation, also represents a tribute to the entrepreneurial culture that characterizes AJL Ophthalmic: a culture of closeness, commitment, and deep roots in the Álava region.

DALK: ENDO-K PRO and NEORING 2025 Accreditation Course

ENDO-K PRO and NEORING represent innovative solutions for reducing the rejection rate in corneal transplants, and we are proud to contribute to their dissemination among professionals committed to excellence in ophthalmology.
Thank you for joining us for this training session led by Dr. José F. Alfonso, and we hope to see you at future meetings.

AJL Ophthalmic received the SME of the Year 2025 award at the Euskadi Avanza Awards held on February 24 at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

Congratulations to Dr. Elena Arrondo, her nurse Marta Oller (CLINICA IMO DE BARCELONA), and Drs. Alejandra Sosa, Lashly Méndez, Lucia Silva, Gabriela Martínez, and the entire team at CLINICA VISUALIZA DE GUATEMALA for their collaboration to prevent blindness in underprivileged patients in GUATEMALA.

Campaigns like these speak volumes about your personal and professional profile. Thank you very much!

AJL Ophthalmic S.A. has received funding from the European Union’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan – Next Generation.

AJL Ophtalmic S.A. has implemented a project under the incentive program for the implementation of thermal renewable energy installations in different sectors of the economy, within the framework of the recovery, transformation, and resilience plan.

Project: Installation of three aerothermal heat pump units to air-condition the offices of the E3 building.

Investment: €49,888.30

Grant obtained: €16,523.32

AJL OOKP at OFTALVIST Clinic

New success story with AJL OOKP (osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis) implanted by Dr. María Fideliz De la Paz at the OFTALVIST clinic in Barcelona

Bronze A for Advanced Management EUSKALIT 2024

AJL Ophthalmic has received the Bronze A award for Advanced Management 2024, recognizing AJL Ophthalmic as one of the most advanced organizations with the best management practices in the Basque Country.

Research into new medical devices and diagnostic devices as levers for healthy ageing

The increase in life expectancy in developed countries, thanks to medical and technological advances, and changes in our lifestyles, poses significant social, economic, and scientific challenges. With an increasingly aging population, it is crucial for society to ensure that this increased longevity is accompanied by a good quality of life and personal autonomy. In the Basque Country, it is projected that by 2036, people over 65 will constitute almost 30% of the population, which has led the Basque Government to develop the Basque 2030 Strategy for the Demographic Challenge, with special emphasis on healthy aging. This strategy seeks to increase disability-free life expectancy by promoting the functional capacity of older adults, thereby improving the quality of life of this population segment.

In this context, the SENIOR project emerged, an acronym for “Research into new medical devices and diagnostic devices as levers for achieving healthy aging.” This is a collaborative project led by the Alava-based company AJL OPHTHALMIC S.A., with Basque biomedical companies such as HISTOCELL S.L., UNIKARE Bioscience S.L., FESIA Technology S.L., IMG Pharma Biotech S.L., MATZ-ERREKA S.Coop., COCOON Bioscience S.L., and CERTINALIA S.L. as partners. Furthermore, the SENIOR project collaborates with technology centers within the Basque Science and Technology Network, such as TECNALIA, CIDETEC, GAIKER, and LEARTIKER, which have joined forces to promote research and development in the field of healthcare.

The main objective of the SENIOR project is to make a technological leap forward in the care and treatment of the elderly population through research into biomarkers, prediction models, and biosensing for the detection and monitoring of pathologies, enabling the establishment and implementation of personalized treatments for key conditions. This will involve the development of diagnostic devices that allow for the early detection of warning signs associated with certain pathologies, as well as advanced, personalized medical devices for their treatment.

The SENIOR project consortium will promote the growth of the diagnostic device and medical device industry focused on three therapeutic areas: ophthalmology, mucocutaneous tissue, and neuromuscular diseases. These areas are experiencing high market demand, both in diagnosis and treatment, where the increasingly significant aging of the global population is considered one of the main critical factors for the growth of the healthcare industry.
To this end, the eight participating companies will have a global budget of €3.5 million. SENIOR will also have an implementation period extending until December 2026, in order to meet the ambitious objectives of the research project. The project has been funded by the Basque Government with €1.76 million under the Hazitek 2024 call for proposals, within the strategic projects line.

With a focus on scientific excellence and interdisciplinary collaboration, the SENIOR consortium aims to mark a milestone in the field of diagnosis and treatment of pathologies affecting the elderly, while also fostering a competitive network of Basque companies capable of developing proprietary technologies and providing added value to the biomedical sector.

EVRS in Budapest, lovely city to present All the truth and only but the truth on MACULAR BUCKLE for MTM

Congratulations to Dr. Barbara Parolini for your contribution to develop with AJL a very safe and effective device to treat MTM. Thanks to you and your collaborators for conducting such interesting course on NPB held during the EVRS . Dr. Jaime Rosales Francisco Padròn (Mexico), Dr. Ahmed Magdy Bedda (Egypt), Dr. Levent Akduman (USA), Dr. Francyne Veiga Reis Cyrino (Brazil), Dr. Eleonora Lavaque. (Argentina), Dr. Nabil Taright (France), Dr. Roberta Penzani (Italy).

See you in Cancún EVRS 2025!

ESASO Posterior Lamellar Keratoplasty & Artificial Endothelial Device for Endothelial Dysfuction

🗓️ Dates: 02-03 December
📍 Location: Lugano, Switzerland 🇨🇭

We are excited to announce this specialized course, featuring the esteemed Dr. Carlos Lisa, who will lead both the course and the wetlab sessions with ENDO-K and NEORING.

Don’t miss this opportunity to advance your skills and knowledge in posterior lamellar keratoplasty. We look forward to seeing you there!

NPB Macular Buckle in Asia

We were thrilled to witness Dr. Laurence Lim, mentored by Dr. Parolini, successfully performed the inaugural NPB (Macular Buckle) procedure in Asia. This innovative technology and groundbreaking novel product will    benefit those patients who suffer from high myopic patients in the region.

You may refer to Dr. Lim’s linked-in for more info:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7133808388555108352/

Diploma for Advanced Management EUSKALIT 2023

AJL Ophthalmic has received the Diploma for Advanced Management 2023, recognizing AJL Ophthalmic as one of the most advanced organizations with the best management practices in the Basque Country

AJL Ophthalmic turns 30

The Alava-based company AJL Ophthalmic S.A., a leader in the manufacturing and marketing of ophthalmological material sector, celebrates its 30th anniversary this July.

Vitoria-Gasteiz, June 30, 2022

AJL Ophthalmic S.A. turns 30 on July 1, 2022, being the only Spanish company dedicated to the manufacture of intraocular lenses and other medical devices for the field of ophthalmology. Currently, the company from Alava has more than 70 employees, 85 distributors around the world and a growth of 190% in the last decade.

AJL Ophthalmic S.A. was founded on July 1, 1992 in Las Arenas (Bizkaia) initially dedicated to the distribution of medical supplies imported mainly from the USA. Six years later, AJL Ophthalmic built its own manufacturing plant in the Álava Technology Park, located in Miñano. In this plant the foundations are established to develop a line of implants for the field of ophthalmology.

At the beginning of the new century, important research and development work is being carried out on new products in order to improve its global competitiveness and meet the demand of the health sector. 2006 was a key year for AJL Ophthalmic, as it strengthened its management structure to address the challenge of opening up new markets abroad in order to boost the export of its products. In 2007 AJL Ophthalmic opened a new line of business with the design of an optical laryngoscope and an intubation cannula in order to improve the safety and efficacy of anesthesia processes for patients.

In 2010 AJL Ophthalmic inaugurated the current facilities also in Miñano, thus having a two-story building with a surface area of ​​3000m2. The facilities have solar panels on top that generate part of the electricity it consumes. In the field of manufacturing, it has ISO 7 and ISO 6 class clean rooms and ethylene oxide and steam sterilization chambers.

Among the products that AJL markets, most are manufactured in the company itself. The rest of the turnover comes from the distribution of other products such as instruments, surgical packs or other equipment and accessories for ophthalmological surgery. AJL Ophthalmic’s outstanding products include intraocular lenses, implants for the surgical treatment of glaucoma, intrastromal rings for keratoconus, and iris expanders, among others. 51% of turnover comes from self-manufactured products.

AJL Ophthalmic abroad

Today AJL Ophthalmic has a more prominent presence abroad. In 2013, it acquired the entire North American company Addition Technology Inc (ATI), the only company globally with FDA approval to market intracorneal rings for the treatment of keratoconus. The integration of ATI together with Ferrara e Hijos S.L., exponentially boosted the company’s exports, thus making 29% of the turnover currently due to exports, when in 2010 it only accounted for 5%.

An inclusive company

AJL Ophthalmic is a company committed to diversity and the inclusion of women in positions of responsibility. Its three management positions are managed by three women, thus making AJL Ophthalmic a modern company that is committed to equality in society. In addition, among the workforce, there are two people with reduced hearing capacity and a specialist in the area of ​​keratoconus from Ukraine, a refugee from the war in her country.

AJL Ophthalmic continues to grow and innovate day by day thanks to its R&D department, which is why it has also developed its own line of AJL VET products for the veterinary sector and to meet the demand for specific ophthalmological products for dogs and cats.