Second Sight Medical Products Announces Successful Completion of its Merger with Nano Precision Medical and its Name Change to Vivani Medical, Inc.
August 30 2022 - 6:00AM
Business Wire
Vivani will be traded under the new ticker
(Nasdaq: VANI)
Second Sight Medical Products, Inc.(NASDAQ: EYES) (the “Company”
or “Second Sight”), a leading developer of implantable visual
prosthetics that are intended to create an artificial form of
useful vision for blind individuals, announced today the completion
of its merger with Nano Precision Medical, Inc. (“NPM”). NPM is a
biopharmaceutical business which develops miniaturized, subdermal
drug implants utilizing its proprietary NanoPortal™ technology to
enable long-term, near constant-rate delivery of a broad range of
medicines to treat chronic diseases.
In connection with the merger, Second Sight changed its name to
Vivani Medical, Inc. (“Vivani”). The Company’s common stock will
trade on The Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “VANI”.
ThinkEquity acted as the financial advisor to Second Sight in
connection with the merger.
Upon completion of the merger, the Company has approximately $55
million in cash to advance the development of Vivani’s portfolio,
which includes lead asset NPM-119 (exenatide implant), into
clinical-stage development for the treatment of patients with Type
2 diabetes and to identify and execute strategic options to advance
it’s clinical-stage Orion visual prosthetic device to treat
individuals with blindness due to a wide range of underlying
causes.
The Company will operate under the leadership of NPM’s CEO, Dr.
Adam Mendelsohn, and his leadership team of seasoned industry
veterans.
“The completion of the merger marks a significant milestone for
Vivani as we continue to grow the company with a strong team,
sufficient funding, and an attractive group of investors who
support our pursuit to develop and commercialize a new portfolio of
miniaturized drug implants which can effectively address medication
non-adherence, a major challenge in the treatment of chronic
disease, including Type II diabetes. We are also committed to
identifying a sustainable path forward to bring Second Sight’s
Orion Visual Cortical Prosthesis System to individuals who are
blind due to a wide range of causes,” said Adam Mendelsohn, Ph.D.,
Chief Executive Officer of the Company. “Our proprietary NanoPortal
technology has broad potential across a wide range of therapeutic
molecules. We anticipate that the first application of our
technology will be ready to begin evaluation in humans around the
end of this year with NPM-119. Medication non-adherence for Type II
diabetes patients taking oral or injectable therapies is
approximately 50%. We believe a six-month implant can provide an
important alternative for non-adherent patients and the physicians
who treat them.”
About Vivani Medical, Inc.
Vivani Medical, Inc., which will soon trade under the Nasdaq
ticker VANI, is the combination of Nano Precision Medical, Inc. and
Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. The Company leverages
proprietary technologies to develop and commercialize drug and
device implants that treat patients with chronic diseases with high
unmet medical need.
Prior to the merger, Nano Precision Medical, Inc. was a
privately held biopharmaceutical company developing drug implants
which utilize its proprietary NanoPortal drug implant technology.
These drug implants, designed to deliver minimally fluctuating drug
profiles, will address drug non-adherence which is one of the
leading reasons for sub-optimal clinical benefit associated with
oral and injectable products that treat chronic diseases. The
company’s lead product, NPM-119, is a GLP-1 receptor agonist under
development to treat patients with Type 2 diabetes. More
information is available at www.nanoprecisionmedical.com.
Vivani is also developing implantable visual prostheses that are
intended to deliver useful artificial vision to blind individuals.
The visual prosthesis developments are a continuation of the work
which has been pursued at Second Sight Medical Products, Inc.
before the merger was consummated and the name was changed to
Vivani Medical, Inc. A recognized global leader in neuromodulation
devices for blindness, Vivani is committed to identifying and
executing the best strategic options that will enable its
innovative technologies to treat the broadest population of
sight-impaired individuals. More information is available at
secondsight.com.
Vivani headquarters are located in Emeryville, California. More
information for investors is available at www.vivani.com.
Notice of Intent to Delist Warrants (Nasdaq: EYESW)
In connection with Nasdaq’s approval of the merger transaction,
the combined company is required to meet Nasdaq’s Listing Rule
5110(a). This rule requires the post-merger company to satisfy all
of Nasdaq’s listing criteria. The Company has met the listing
requirements for the combined company’s common stock post merger.
Because the warrants (Nasdaq: EYESW) will not meet Nasdaq’s initial
listing standards as of closing of the merger, the Company would be
noncompliant with Listing Rule 5110(a) as to the warrants only. As
a result, the Company has voluntarily elected to delist the
warrants, which will allow the Company to otherwise be compliant
with the Nasdaq listing rules. The company intends to file a
Notification of Removal from Listing on Form 25 with the SEC on or
about September 8, 2022, to delist the warrants from trading on the
Nasdaq Capital Market. The removal of the class of warrants from
Nasdaq listing is effective 10 days after the filing of Form
25.
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,” and other similar expressions that in this
press release concern the Company’s post-merger strategy.
Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor
assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on
the Company’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) our ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the
merger; (2) risks related to the development and commercialization
of NPM-119 (exenatide implant); (3) legal claims or proceedings
relating to the termination of the Memorandum of Understanding with
Pixium Vision and costs relating thereto; (4) changes in applicable
laws or regulations; (5) the Company’s ability to achieve or
sustain profitability in the future; (3) the possibility that the
Company may be adversely affected by other economic, business,
and/or competitive factors; (4) the impact of COVID-19 on the
Company’s business; and (5) various other risks and uncertainties.
There may be additional risks that the Company considers
immaterial, or which are unknown. A further list and description of
risks and uncertainties can be found in the Company’s most recent
Annual Report on Form 10-K, and any subsequent quarterly filings on
Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the
“Commission”), and the Company’s final proxy statement/prospectus
filed with the Commission on June 24, 2022. Any forward-looking
statement made by us in this press release is based only on
information currently available to the Company and speaks only as
of the date on which it is made. The Company 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 added information, future developments or
otherwise, except as required by law.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220830005423/en/
Company Contact: Don Dwyer Chief Business Officer
info@vivani.com (818) 833-5000 Investor Relations Contact:
Brigid Makes Chief Financial Officer investors@vivani.com (818)
833-5000
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