Second Sight Medical Products Announces Year Three NIH Funding of Its Orion Study

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Grant proceeds support ongoing early feasibility study of Orion

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- 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, today announced that the Company received notice from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of the release of year three funding for its Early Feasibility Clinical Trial of a Visual Cortical Prosthesis (the Orion Trial), grant UH3NS103442. The NIH released $1.4 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. This NIH notice of grant award follows the reporting by the Company of promising two-year data from the Orion Trial on May 12, 2021. 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. A six-subject 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 prosthetics 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.

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 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; and (5) other risks and uncertainties indicated from time to time in Second Sight’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, including those under “Risk Factors” therein, and in Second Sight’s other filings with the SEC. Some of these risks and uncertainties may in the future be amplified by the COVID-19 outbreak 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 16, 2021, 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.

Investor Relations:
Scott Dunbar
Investor Relations:
investors@secondsight.com
(818) 833-5000

Source: Second Sight Medical Products, Inc.

Released May 13, 2021