Second Sight Medical Products Announces Year Four NIH Funding of its Orion Study
July 18 2022 - 6:00AM
Business Wire
Grant proceeds support an ongoing early
feasibility study of Orion
Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. (NASDAQ: EYES) (the
“Company” or “Second Sight”), a leading developer of implantable
visual prostheses that are intended to create an artificial form of
useful vision for blind individuals, today announced that the
Company received notice from the National Institutes of Health
(“NIH”) of the release of year four funding for its Early
Feasibility Clinical Trial of a Visual Cortical Prosthesis (the
“Orion Trial”), grant 5UH3NS103442. The NIH released $1.1 million
of the $6.4 million planned five-year grant. The Company uses the
funds primarily to pay UCLA and Baylor College of Medicine to
conduct the Orion Trial. The funding supports continuation of this
important research and testing of the Orion Visual Cortical
Prosthesis.
About the Orion Visual Cortical Prosthesis System
Leveraging Second Sight’s 20 years of experience in
neuromodulation for vision, the Orion Visual Cortical Prosthesis
System (Orion) is an implanted cortical stimulation device intended
to provide useful artificial vision to individuals who are blind
due to a wide range of causes, including glaucoma, diabetic
retinopathy, optic nerve injury or disease, and eye injury. Orion
is intended to convert images captured by a miniature video camera
mounted on glasses into a series of small electrical pulses. The
device is designed to bypass diseased or injured eye anatomy and to
transmit these electrical pulses wirelessly to an array of
electrodes implanted on the surface of the brain’s visual cortex,
where it is intended to provide the perception of patterns of
light. An early feasibility study of the Orion is currently
underway at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles
and the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. No peer-reviewed
data is available yet for the Orion system.
About Second Sight Medical Products, Inc.
Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. (Nasdaq: EYES) develops
implantable visual prostheses that are intended to deliver useful
artificial vision to blind individuals. A recognized global leader
in neuromodulation devices for blindness, the Company is committed
to developing new technologies to treat the broadest population of
sight-impaired individuals. The Company’s headquarters are in Los
Angeles, California. More information is available at
secondsight.com. On February 4, 2022, Second Sight entered into a
merger agreement with Nano Precision Medical, Inc. (“NPM”), and,
following approval by shareholders of the Company, anticipates
concluding the merger in August 2022.
Safe Harbor
This press release contains certain “forward-looking statements”
within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the US
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking
statements can be identified by words such as: “target,” “believe,”
“expect,” “will,” “may,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “would,”
“positioned,” “future,” “intended” and other similar expressions
that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not
statements of historical matters. Examples of forward-looking
statements include, among others, statements made in this press
release regarding the amount of NIH grant proceeds expected to be
received. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts
nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only
on Second Sight’s current beliefs, expectations and assumptions.
Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are
subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in
circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are
outside of our control. Actual results and outcomes may differ
materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements.
Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking
statements. Important factors that could cause actual results and
outcomes to differ materially from those indicated in the
forward-looking statements include, among others, the following:
(1) legal claims or proceedings relating to Second Sight’s
termination of the Memorandum of Understanding with Pixium Vision
and costs relating thereto; (2) changes in applicable laws or
regulations; (3) the possibility that Second Sight may be adversely
affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors;
(4) the impact of COVID-19 on Second Sight’s business; (5) the
possibility that shareholders of the Company may not approve the
merger with NPM or that the merger may not be completed for any
other reason; and (6) various other risks and uncertainties. Some
of these risks and uncertainties may in the future be amplified by
the COVID-19 outbreak, including subvariants thereof and there may
be additional risks that Second Sight considers immaterial or which
are unknown. A further list and description of risks and
uncertainties can be found in Second Sight’s Annual Report on Form
10-K filed on March 29, 2022, and in the Company’s Forms 10-K/A
filed on May 2, 2022, S-4 filed on May 13, 2022, and 10-Q filed on
May 16, 2022, and as thereafter amended. Any forward-looking
statement made by us in this press release is based only on
information currently available to Second Sight and speaks only as
of the date on which it is made. Second Sight undertakes no
obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement,
whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time,
whether as a result of new information, future developments or
otherwise, except as required by law.
Additional Information and Where to Find It
This communication, among other things, relates to a proposed
business combination of the Company and NPM. The Company filed the
registration statement on Form S-4 with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (the “SEC”), which included a document that serves as a
prospectus and proxy statement of the Company. The SEC declared the
registration statement effective on June 24, 2022, and the proxy
statement/prospectus was first mailed to shareholders of the
Company on or about June 29, 2022. The proxy statement/prospectus
described above contains important information about the Company,
NPM, proposed merger, and related matters. This communication is
not a substitute for the proxy statement/prospectus described
above. Investors and securityholders are urged to carefully read
the proxy statement/prospectus and all other relevant documents
filed by the Company with the SEC because they contain important
information about the merger and related matters. All documents are
available free of charge at the SEC’s website (www.sec.gov). You
may also obtain these documents by contacting Company’s Investor
Relations department at investors@secondsight.com.
Participants of Solicitation
The Company and its respective directors and executive officers
may be deemed to be participants in any solicitation of proxies in
connection with the proposed merger. Information about the
Company’s directors and executive officers is available in the
Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, as amended, for the fiscal
year ended December 31, 2021. Other information regarding the
participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their
direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise,
is contained in the proxy statement/prospectus and all other
relevant materials filed with the SEC regarding the proposed merger
when they become available. This document is available from the
Company free of charge as described in the preceding paragraph.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220718005314/en/
Company Contact:
Scott Dunbar Acting CEO investors@secondsight.com (818)
833-5000
Investor Relations Contact:
Dave Gentry RedChip Companies Inc. 1-800-RED-CHIP (733-2447) Or
407-491-4498 Dave@redchip.com
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