As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 2, 2014

Registration No.  333-198073   

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C.  20549 

AMENDMENT NO.1

TO

FORM S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

 SECOND SIGHT MEDICAL PRODUCTS, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter) 

12744 San Fernando Road, Building 3

Sylmar, California 91342

(818) 833-5000

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)

Robert Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D.

President and Chief Executive Officer

Second Sight Medical Products, Inc.

12744 San Fernando Road, Building 3

Sylmar, California 91342

(818) 833-5000

(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

Copies to:

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: As soon as practicable after this registration statement becomes effective.

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933 check the following box:  ¨

If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  ¨

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  ¨

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

The registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the registrant shall file a further amendment, which specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or until this Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

THE INFORMATION IN THIS PROSPECTUS IS NOT COMPLETE AND MAY BE CHANGED. THESE SECURITIES MAY NOT BE SOLD UNTIL THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT FILED WITH THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION IS EFFECTIVE. THIS PROSPECTUS IS NOT AN OFFER TO SELL THESE SECURITIES AND WE ARE NOT SOLICITING AN OFFER TO BUY THESE SECURITIES IN ANY STATE WHERE THE OFFER OR SALE IS NOT PERMITTED.

SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED October 2, 2014

PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS 

3,500,000 Shares of Common Stock

SECOND SIGHT MEDICAL PRODUCTS

We are offering 3,500,000 shares of our common stock, no par value, coupled with a non-transferable contractual right for the registered holder of these offered shares to obtain up to one additional share of common stock for each share purchased, at no additional expense, on the second anniversary of the closing date of this offering, as more fully described under "Description of Capital Stock" in this prospectus. The common stock is being offered in a firm commitment underwriting.

This is an initial public offering of our common stock.  We expect the public offering price to be $9.00 per share.  There is currently no public market for our common stock.  We have applied for listing of our common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol "EYES". We expect that listing to occur upon consummation of this offering.  If our application to the Nasdaq Capital Market is not approved or if we otherwise determine that we will not be able to secure the listing of our common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market, we will not complete the offering.

We are an “emerging growth company” under the federal securities laws and will have the option to use reduced public company reporting requirements.  Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 16 for a discussion of information that should be considered in connection with an investment in our securities.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete.  Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

If we sell all of the common stock we are offering, we will pay the underwriter $1.26 million, or 4% of the gross proceeds of this offering and an accountable expense allowance up to a maximum of $200,000.  Please see “Underwriting.”   We have agreed also to issue to MDB Capital Group, LLC a warrant to purchase shares of our common stock in an amount up to 20% of the shares of common stock sold in the public offering, with an exercise price equal to 125% of the per-share public offering price. The shares of common stock underlying the warrant exclude the Long Term Investor Right^SM. See “Description of Capital Stock”.

(1) Excludes an accountable expense allowance of up to a maximum of $200,000 payable to MDB Capital Group, LLC, the underwriter. See “Underwriting” for a description of compensation payable to the underwriter.

The underwriter may also purchase up to an additional 525,000 shares of our common stock amounting to 15% of the number of shares offered to the public, within 45 days of the date of this prospectus, to cover over-allotments, if any, on the same terms set forth above.

The underwriter expects to deliver the shares on or about _____________________, 2014.

MDB Capital Group, LLC

The date of this prospectus is                , 2014 . 

Table of Contents

You should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus.  We have not authorized anyone to provide you with additional or different information.  The information contained in this prospectus is accurate only as of the date on the front cover of this prospectus, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or of any sale of our common stock.

No dealer, salesperson or any other person is authorized in connection with this offering to give any information or make any representations about us, the securities offered hereby or any matter discussed in this prospectus, other than those contained in this prospectus and, if given or made, the information or representations must not be relied upon as having been authorized by us.  This prospectus does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security other than the securities offered by this prospectus, or an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities by anyone in any circumstance in which the offer or solicitation is not authorized or is unlawful.

PROSPECTUS SUMMARY

This summary highlights selected information contained elsewhere in this prospectus and does not contain all of the information that you need to consider in making your investment decision.  You should carefully read this entire prospectus, as well as the information to which we refer you, before deciding whether to invest in our common stock.  You should pay special attention to the “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections and our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus to determine whether an investment in our common stock is appropriate for you.

This registration statement, including the exhibits and schedules thereto, contains additional relevant information about us and our securities.  With respect to the statements contained in this prospectus regarding the contents of any agreement or any other document, in each instance, the statement is qualified in all respects by the complete text of the agreement or document, a copy of which has been filed or incorporated by reference as an exhibit to the registration statement. Second Sight Medical Products, Inc, is referred to throughout this prospectus as Second Sight^®.

About Second Sight

Overview

We are a medical device company that develops, manufactures and markets implantable visual prosthetics to restore some functional vision to blind patients. Our current product, the Argus^® II System, treats outer retinal degenerations, such as retinitis pigmentosa, which we refer to as RP in this prospectus. RP is a hereditary disease, affecting an estimated 1.5 million people worldwide including about 100,000 people in the United States, that causes a progressive degeneration of the light-sensitive cells of the retina, leading to significant visual impairment and ultimately blindness. The Argus II System is the only retinal prosthesis approved in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, and the first approved retinal prosthesis in the world. By restoring some functional vision in patients who otherwise have total sight loss, the Argus II System can provide benefits which include,

The Argus II System provides an artificial form of vision that differs from the vision that normally sighted people have. It does not restore normal vision and it does not slow or reverse the progression of the disease. Results vary among patients. While the majority of patients receive a benefit from the Argus II, some patients report receiving little or no benefit.

As with substantially all implantable medical devices, there are risks for Argus II patients associated with the surgery necessary to implant the device and with the long-term implantation and use of the device. Most side effects, such as eye pain, inflammation and eye redness, are minor in that they resolve on their own or with medication. Since patients with Argus II implants have relatively little to no residual vision, the risk of adverse events in terms of loss of remaining vision is minimal. However, some events, such as low eye pressure or thinning of the tissue over the implant, can require surgery to treat. Adverse events are typically treatable with standard ophthalmic practices and have not prevented continued use of the system.

Our Argus II System employs electrical stimulation to bypass defunct photoreceptor cells and to stimulate remaining viable retinal cells, inducing light and visual perception in blind individuals. The Argus II System works by converting video images captured by a miniature camera housed in a patient’s glasses into a series of small electrical pulses that are transmitted wirelessly to an array of electrodes that are implanted on the surface of the retina. These pulses are intended to stimulate the retina’s remaining cells, resulting in a corresponding perception of patterns of light in the brain. Following the implant surgery patients learn to interpret these visual patterns thereby regaining some functional vision, allowing them to detect shapes of people and objects in their surroundings.

We received marketing approval in Europe (CE mark) for the Argus II System in 2011. We received FDA approval in 2013 to market the Argus II System in the United States. In September 2014 we obtained registration of the product for sale in Turkey. We applied for regulatory approval in Canada and expanded approval¹ in Saudi Arabia and anticipate receiving these approvals before the end of 2014. A substantial portion of our revenue depends on the extent to which the costs of our products are reimbursed by third party private and governmental payers, including Medicare, and other US government sponsored programs, international governmental payers and private payers. In the US we have achieved several important reimbursement milestones that include obtaining:

¹ We currently have approval to sell to one hospital in Saudi Arabia.

Within Europe, we have obtained reimbursement approval in Germany and France. We also are seeking reimbursement approval in Italy and other countries including England, Netherlands, Switzerland and Turkey.

We launched the Argus II System in Europe at the end of 2011, in Saudi Arabia in 2013, and in the US and Canada in 2014. We are pursuing what we refer to as a Centers of Excellence commercial model, focusing on high quality medical providers. We have concentrated our efforts on recruiting leading retinal surgeons and hospitals, along with raising awareness of the product and brand among potential patients and referring physicians. The Argus II System has the support of Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB)¹ and Retina International².

We are the world leader in commercializing the restoration of sight by a visual prosthesis in that we have:

Additionally, from a competitive standpoint, the Argus II System possesses attractive technical and other features that include:

We have demonstrated the ability to design products with long-term reliability. The Argus I retinal prosthesis, a proof of concept device that was a predecessor to the Argus II, was implanted in six patients in the United States. Argus I patients were implanted an average of 5.8 years, with one patient having used the device for 10 years. The Argus II System has been implanted in about 90 patients. The average implant duration for these patients is 2.9 years with several users continuing to use the system more than seven years following implantation. To date we have successfully implanted patients in the United States, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

¹ The FFB is the world’s leading non-governmental organization driving research to identify preventions, treatments and cures for people affected by the spectrum of inherited retinal degenerative diseases. The FFB has supported coding and payment applications submitted by Second Sight (in the forms of letters of support and by attending and speaking at meetings with CMS). The FFB has also submitted letters of support and reconsideration requests to help establish coverage for the Argus II.

² Retina International is a voluntary charitable umbrella association of 33 national societies each of which is created and run by people with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) and other allied retinal dystrophies, their families and friends. Retinal International promotes the search for a treatment for RP and other allied dystrophies. Retina International has supported Second Sight in educating and informing the organizations about Second Sight’s treatment.

³ The European Union, or EU, is a politico-economic union of 28 member states that are primarily located in Europe. The market approval of Argus II System covers 28 EU member states and Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland which also require products to bear the CE mark. In this prospectus we use the term Europe to refer to 28 EU member states, and to Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

Over the next 12 to 18 months we intend to introduce the Argus II System in countries other than the US and Europe with the assistance of local partners in some cases. We plan further to conduct a clinical study that is intended to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of the Argus II System for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, which is the leading cause of blindness in people over the age of 65 in developed countries. AMD affects vision for between 20 and 25 million people around the world of whom approximately two million similarly are affected in the United States. In September 2014, we received permission from the British Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency or MHRA to commence an AMD Study. We anticipate beginning this study late in 2014 and if we achieve favorable patient outcomes, we estimate that we can obtain regulatory approval for AMD in the US and Europe in 2019, and may be able to market the product to treat AMD during the same year.

Additionally, we are developing another product for cortical stimulation that we expect will be able to treat nearly all forms of blindness. We refer to this product as the Orion^TM I visual prosthesis in this prospectus. As currently planned, the Orion I implant will be based on technology that we currently utilize in our Argus II system.  We expect to use the electronics package, coil molding and attachment method, array technology and array attachment method substantially unchanged from the Argus II.  We anticipate that we may need to modify the coil shape (round rather than oval) and array shape for cortical stimulation.  We intend to further develop a new mounting method for implanting the coil and electronics package. Our objective in designing and developing the Orion I visual prosthesis is to bypass the optic nerve and directly stimulate the part of the brain responsible for vision. We estimate that about 575,900 people in the US, 1.13 million people in Europe, and 5.8 million people worldwide are legally blind due to causes that could be treated by Orion I. If the Orion I visual prosthesis is successfully developed and approved for marketing to those who have severe to profound vision loss, as to which no assurance can be given, we believe that the device's potential addressable market approaches these market numbers.

We believe that technology developed for the Argus II System also represents a platform for stimulating the nervous system that we may be able to leverage for several other clinical applications outside of vision restoration. There are features of the Argus II System, such as compact size, high electrode count and MRI compatibility, that we believe make it a compelling option to improve existing neuro-stimulation therapies and develop new ones. These possible additional applications may provide further opportunity to increase our revenue in non-core markets through strategic partnerships and/or licensing. Although we are optimistic about our abilities to develop these other clinical applications, no assurance can be given that we will be successful in reaching agreements or licenses with others.

Since 1998 we have received over $29 million in direct grant support from various US federal agencies including the National Institutes of Health, National Eye Institute and Department of Energy. We may seek additional federal and other grant support in the future. However, there is no assurance that we will receive further grants.

Within the past two years, Second Sight and/or Argus II System received the following awards

In September, 2014, we entered a Joint Research and Development Agreement or JRDA with The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory or APL.  The JRDA includes a subcontract to do applied research under a grant received by APL. Under the JRDA, we have agreed to perform research regarding integration of APL research in to a visual prosthesis system. APL will pay us $4.075 million in one lump sum to conduct our portion of the research. We expect to receive these funds before the end of 2014.  The JRDA also includes a license from APL to us, for the life any patents resulting from APL’s portion of the research. The APL portion of the research includes image processing enhancements for a visual prosthesis.  In exchange for the license, we issued 1,000 shares of our common stock to APL, have agreed to pay APL its patent prosecution costs, and to pay APL a royalty of 0.25% of net sales of licensed products. 

To date, we have not generated sufficient revenues from product sales to achieve positive earnings and operating cash flows to enable us to finance our operations internally. We have significant convertible debt and have incurred recurring operating losses and negative operating cash flows since inception, and we expect to continue to incur operating losses and negative operating cash flows for at least the next few years. For the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012 we had revenue of $1,564,933 and $1,367,224 respectively, and incurred a net loss of $22,968,925 and $16,279,127 respectively. For the six months ended June 30, 2014 we had revenue of $1,268,203 and incurred a net loss of $13,979,828. As of December 31, 2013, our accumulated deficit was $117,462,721 and as of June 30 2014 our accumulated deficit was $131,442,549.  In its report on our 2013 and 2012 consolidated financial statements, our independent registered public accounting firm, raised substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern without the proceeds of this offering which will provide operating capital and result in our convertible debt automatically converting into equity.

Our Technology

The Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System (“Argus II”) is also sometimes referred to as the bionic eye, artificial retina or the retinal implant. It is intended to provide electrical stimulation of the retina to restore some functional vision in blind individuals. It is indicated for use in patients with severe to profound RP in the US and for severe to profound outer retinal degeneration in Europe. A miniature video camera housed in the patient’s glasses captures a scene. The video is sent to a small patient-worn computer (a video processing unit, which we refer to elsewhere in the prospectus as VPU) where it is processed and transformed into instructions that are sent back to the glasses via a cable. These instructions are transmitted wirelessly to an antenna in the retinal implant – a device which is implanted in and around the eye. The signals are then sent to the electrode array, which emits small pulses of electricity to the patient’s retina – the active part of the eye. These pulses bypass the damaged photoreceptors and stimulate the retina’s remaining cells, which transmit the visual information along the optic nerve resulting in the corresponding perception of patterns of light in the brain. Patients learn to interpret these visual patterns thereby regaining some visual function.

We believe the Argus II System possesses several unique technological advancements compared to the state of the art in other neurostimulation devices. Our implant has 60 independent electrodes to deliver electrical stimulation. The size of the implanted electronics (10.3 mm (0.40”) diameter by 3.2 mm (0.13”) in height) is to our knowledge the smallest multi-channel stimulator FDA approved for any indication. In addition, our product features a patented electrode material we call Platinum Gray that enables it to deliver high charge densities. Higher charge density enables smaller electrodes. The Argus II System currently, to our knowledge, has the smallest neural stimulating electrodes ever approved by the FDA. Each electrode is 0.2 mm (0.008)” in diameter. Several other engineering challenges, including device reliability, extended lifetime, and a safe and effective bio-interface, were overcome during the development of the product and these solutions have been protected both by patents and by trade secrets. As of September 1, 2014, we have 296 issued patents and 173 pending patent applications, on a worldwide basis.

We are planning product and clinical development efforts that may include:

Our Market

The Argus II System is currently approved for RP patients with bare or no light perception in the US, and in Europe for severe to profound vision loss due to outer retinal degeneration, such as from retinitis pigmentosa, choroideremia, and other similar conditions. The number of people who are legally blind due to RP is estimated to be 25,000 in the US, 42,000 in Europe, and 375,000 total worldwide. A subset of these patients would be eligible for the Argus II System since the baseline vision for the Argus II System is worse than legally blind (20/200). Scarce epidemiological data on visual acuity below legal blindness make it difficult to determine a precise estimate of the potential patient population for this device.

We believe we can expand the market for the Argus II System beyond RP to patients with severe to profound vision loss due to age-related macular degeneration or AMD. We intend to conduct a pilot study, of about five patients, in Europe beginning in late 2014 to determine the utility of the Argus II System for use in persons suffering from AMD. If this small study yields positive results, then we will conduct a larger pivotal study in Europe and the United States comprising approximately 30 or more patients intended to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of this therapy. We intend to use these clinical trial data to support regulatory approval in the US and Europe to expand our label to specifically cover AMD, and seek reimbursement in these markets for this expanded indication. We expect these approvals will be obtained in 2019. We estimate the population of people who are legally blind due to AMD to be about 552,500 in the US, 1.08 million in Europe, and two million worldwide. If approved for marketing, the labels will determine the subset of these patients who are eligible.

We believe we can further expand our market to include nearly all profoundly blind individuals, regardless of cause, other than those who are blind due to preventable diseases or due to brain damage, by developing a visual cortical prosthesis. We intend to develop a visual cortical prosthesis, the Orion I visual prosthesis, by modifying the Argus II device. We intend to begin clinical trials of the Orion I visual prosthesis in late 2016. We estimate that there are about 575,900 people in the US, 1.13 million in Europe, and 5.8 million worldwide who are legally blind due to causes other than preventable conditions or AMD. If approved for marketing, the labels will determine the subset of these patients who are eligible. 

In addition to expanding the indications for use for our devices, over the next several years in collaboration with distribution partners, we intend to launch the Argus II System in other markets globally, including countries in the Middle East, Asia, and South America.

Commercial Strategy

The Argus II System addresses an unmet clinical need by restoring some functional vision to blind individuals. We believe that we are the worldwide leader in this applied technology.

To date our marketing activities have focused on raising awareness of Argus II System in potential patients, implanting physicians, and referring physicians. Our marketing activities include exhibiting, sponsoring symposia, and securing podium presence at professional and trade shows, securing journalist coverage in popular and trade media, attending patient meetings focused on educating patients about existing and future treatments, and sponsoring information sessions for the Argus II System.

We have employed, and expect to continue utilizing what we refer to as a “Centers-of-Excellence” sales model where we work with prominent eye hospitals, and a predominantly direct sales and support team to serve our patient population. We believe this model represents an efficient use of capital to promote awareness of our product and systematically to expand our markets. We have added new implanting centers based on criteria which include:

Second Sight has assembled an experienced team of solution oriented and technically adept scientists and engineers with in-depth medical device experience. We expect that this experienced team, responsible for our ongoing in-house product enhancements and future product development, may allow us more rapid improvements and introduction of innovative product.

We employ an in-house attorney experienced in intellectual property matters to manage our large and growing intellectual property portfolio. We also employ outside legal firms as we deem appropriate. We intend to continue our practice of

We manufacture the Argus II System at our corporate headquarters in Sylmar, California. Our manufacturing department employs 47 persons and can produce up to 10 devices per month based on current staffing. We believe our facility can support production of up to 100 devices per month. See “Business – Our Manufacturing and Quality Assurance” below. We have a FDA and ISO 13485 (European and global standard) certified manufacturing facility with an experienced manufacturing and quality assurance team.

We also employ an in-house team of clinical and regulatory affairs professionals, who design and conduct our clinical trials and prepare our worldwide regulatory submissions.  This in-house team enables us to maintain close control of our clinical trial data and allows us to rapidly respond or address requests made by regulators and apply for new approvals promptly.

One key to the success of our existing and future business activities will be achieving expanded reimbursement for our products from governmental or third party payers. We have engaged specialist consulting firms and legal firms in the US and Europe to advise and assist us in these matters. In addition, we employ market access professionals to manage these activities in both the US and Europe.

Risk Factors that affect us

See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 16 and other information included elsewhere in this prospectus for a discussion of factors you should carefully consider before deciding to invest in our common stock.

Corporate Information

Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. was incorporated in California in May 2003 as a successor to Second Sight LLC, a Delaware limited liability company formed in 1998. Our principal executive offices and manufacturing facilities are located at 12744 San Fernando Road, Building 3, Sylmar, California 91342. Our telephone number is (818) 833-5000. Our European subsidiary, Second Sight Medical Products (Switzerland) Sàrl, maintains offices at EPFL-PSE A, Route de Jean-Daniel Colladon, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.

Our website address is www.secondsight.com. The information contained on, or that can be accessed through, our website is not a part of this prospectus.

Unless otherwise indicated, the terms “Second Sight,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer to Second Sight Medical Products, Inc., a California corporation, and our subsidiaries.

“Second Sight,” “Argus”, “FLORA” and the Second Sight logo are our registered trademarks in the US, EU and Switzerland. Orion is our trademark and Long Term Investor Right is a service mark of MDB Capital Group LLC.

Emerging Growth Company

The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, or the JOBS Act, was enacted in April 2012 with the intention of encouraging capital formation in the United States and reducing the regulatory burden on newly public companies that qualify as “emerging growth companies.” We are an emerging growth company within the meaning of the JOBS Act. As an emerging growth company, we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various public reporting requirements, including the requirement that our internal control over financial reporting be audited by our independent registered public accounting firm pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, certain requirements related to the disclosure of executive compensation in this prospectus and in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and the requirement that we hold a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and any golden parachute payments. We may take advantage of these exemptions until we are no longer an emerging growth company.

We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest to occur of

Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Securities Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standard.  The JOBS Act also provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period provided by Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such election to opt out is irrevocable.  We have irrevocably elected to opt out of this extended transition period provided by Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act.  Even though we have elected to opt out of the extended transition period, we may still take advantage of all of the other provisions of the JOBS Act, which include, but are not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements and the exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.

For certain risks related to our status as an emerging growth company, see the disclosure elsewhere in this prospectus under “Risk Factors—Risks Related to this Offering, the Securities Markets and Ownership of Our Common Stock—We are an ‘emerging growth company,’ and we cannot be certain if the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our common stock less attractive to investors.”

THE OFFERING

The following summary contains basic information about our initial public offering and our common stock and is not intended to be complete.  It does not contain all of the information that may be important to you.  For a more complete understanding of our common stock and rights, please refer to the sections of this prospectus titled “Description of Capital Stock "and “Description of Capital Stock – Long Term Investor Right to Receive Additional Shares.”

The number of shares of our common stock to be outstanding after this offering is based on 34,581,442 shares of our common stock (including common stock issuable upon automatic conversion of the principal and interest upon completion of this offering) outstanding as of August 31, 2014, and excludes:

Except as otherwise indicated, this prospectus assumes:

SUMMARY SELECTED FINANCIAL INFORMATION

The following selected consolidated financial and other data should be read in conjunction with "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and our audited consolidated financial statements and related notes, which are included elsewhere in this prospectus. We have derived the following selected consolidated statement of operations data for the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2013 and the selected consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2012 and 2013 from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. We have derived the selected unaudited consolidated statement of operations data for the six months ended June 30, 2013 and 2014, and the selected unaudited consolidated balance sheet data as of June 30, 2014, from our unaudited interim consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. We have included all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments, which we consider necessary for a fair presentation of the financial information set forth in those statements. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected in the future, and our interim results are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full year or any other period.

Consolidated Statement of Operations Data:

Consolidated Balance Sheet Data:

RISK FACTORS

We are subject to various risks that may materially harm our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.  An investment in our common stock is speculative and involves a high degree of risk.  In evaluating an investment in shares of our common stock, you should carefully consider the risks described below, together with the other information included in this prospectus.

If any of the events described in the following risk factors actually occurs, or if additional risks and uncertainties that are not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial later materialize, then our business, prospects, results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.  In that event, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment in our shares.  The risks discussed below include forward-looking statements, and our actual results may differ substantially from those discussed in these forward-looking statements.

Risks Related to Our Dependence on the ARGUS II System

We depend on the success of our first commercial product, the Argus II System, which received European market clearance (CE Mark) in February 2011 and FDA approval in February 2013, in the United States for RP; and on the regulatory approval of our current product and a new device under development, the Orion I visual prosthesis (a modified version of the Argus II System), to treat other diseases causing blindness, in the US and other countries, which may never occur.

Our future success depends upon building a commercial operation in the US and expanding growth in Europe as well as entering additional markets to commercialize our Argus II System for both RP and AMD. We believe our expanded growth will depend on the further development, regulatory approval and commercialization of the Orion I product, which we anticipate can be used by nearly all profoundly blind individuals. If we fail to expand the use of the Argus II System in a timely manner for other forms of retinal degeneration in addition to RP, or to develop the Orion I product and penetrate the available markets which those applications are intended to serve, we may not be able to expand our markets or to grow our revenue, our stock values could decline and investors may lose money.

Our revenue from sales of Argus II System is dependent upon the pricing and reimbursement guidelines adopted in each country and if pricing and reimbursement levels are inadequate to achieve profitability our operations will suffer.

Our financial success is dependent on our ability to price our products in a manner acceptable to government and private payers while still maintaining our profit margins. Numerous factors that may be beyond our control may ultimately impact our pricing of Argus II System and determine whether we are able to obtain reimbursement or reimbursement at adequate levels from governmental programs and private insurance. If we are unable to obtain reimbursement or our product is not adequately reimbursed, we will experience reduced sales, our revenues likely will be adversely affected, and we may not become profitable.

Obtaining reimbursement approvals is time consuming, requires substantial management attention, and is expensive. Our business will be materially adversely affected if we do not receive approval for reimbursement of the Argus II System under government programs and from private insurers on a timely or satisfactory basis. Limitations on coverage could also be imposed at the local Medicare Administrative Contractor level or by fiscal intermediaries in the US and by regional, or national funding agencies in Europe. Our business could be materially adversely affected if the Medicare program, local Medicare Administrative Contractors or fiscal intermediaries were to make such a determination and deny, restrict or limit the reimbursement of Argus II System. Similarly in Europe these governmental and other agencies could deny, restrict or limit the reimbursement of Argus II System at the hospital, regional or national level. Our business also could be adversely affected if retinal specialists and the facilities within which they operate are not adequately reimbursed by Medicare and other funding agencies for the cost of the procedure in which they implant the Argus II System on a basis satisfactory to the administering retinal specialists and their facilities. If the local contractors that administer the Medicare program and other funding agencies are slow to reimburse retinal specialists or provider facilities for the Argus II System, the retinal specialists may delay their payments to us, which would adversely affect our working capital requirements. Also if the funding agencies delay reimbursement payments to the hospitals, any increase to their working capital requirements could reduce their willingness to treat blind patients who wish to have our devices implanted. If reimbursement for our products is unavailable, limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, our business will be materially harmed.

Our commercial and financial success depends on the Argus II System being accepted in the market, and if not achieved will result in our not being able to generate revenues to support our operations.

Even if we are able to obtain favorable reimbursement within the markets that we serve, commercial success of our products will depend, among other things, on their acceptance by retinal specialists, ophthalmologists, general practitioners, low vision therapists and mobility experts, hospital purchasing and controlling departments, patients, and other members of the medical community. The degree of market acceptance of any of our product candidates will depend on factors that include:

The activities of competitive medical device companies, or others, may limit Argus II System’s revenue.

Our commercial opportunities for Argus II System may be reduced if our competitors develop or market products that are more effective, are better tolerated, receive better reimbursement terms, are more accepted by physicians, have better distribution channels, or are less costly.

Currently, to our knowledge, no other medical devices comparable to the Argus II System have been approved by regulatory agencies, both in the US and Europe, to restore some functional vision in persons who have become blind due to RP. Other visual prosthesis companies such as Retina Implant AG and Pixium Vision, both based in Europe, are developing retinal implant technologies to partially restore some vision in blind patients. Retina Implant has obtained a CE mark for its Alpha IMS product but has not yet sold it to our knowledge, and to our knowledge neither Retina Implant nor Pixium has filed for market approval with the FDA, nor to our knowledge has either company obtained an Investigational Device Exemption to begin the required clinical trials in the US. These competitive therapies if or when developed or brought to market may result in pricing and market access pressure even if Argus II System is otherwise viewed as a preferable therapy.

Many privately and publicly funded universities and other organizations are engaged in research and development of potentially competitive products and therapies, such as stem cell and gene therapies, some of which may target RP and other indications as our product candidates. These organizations include pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, public and private universities, hospital centers, government agencies and research organizations. Our competitors include large and small medical device and biotechnology companies that may have significant access to capital resources, competitive product pipelines, substantial research and development staffs and facilities, and substantial experience in medical device development.

We may face substantial competition in the future and may not be able to keep pace with the rapid technological changes which may result from others discovering, developing or commercializing products before or more successfully than we do.

In general the development and commercialization of new medical devices is highly competitive and is characterized by extensive research and development and rapid technological change. Our customers consider many factors including product reliability, clinical outcomes, product availability, inventory consignment, price and product services provided by the manufacturer. Market share can shift as a result of technological innovation and other business factors. We believe these risk factors are partially mitigated by the Argus II System being the sole product that is currently available for commercial implantation in the US and Europe. Major shifts in industry market share have occurred in connection with product problems, physician advisories and safety alerts, reflecting the importance of product quality in the medical device industry, and any quality problems with our processes, goods and services could harm our reputation for producing high-quality products and would erode our competitive advantage, sales and market share. Our competitors may develop products or other novel technologies that are more effective, safer or less costly than any that we are developing and if those products gain market acceptance our revenue and financial results could be adversely affected.

If we fail to develop new products or enhance existing products, our leadership in the markets we serve could erode, and our business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

We have incurred operating losses since inception and may continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future.

We have had a history of operating losses and we expect that operating losses will continue into the near term. Although we have had sales of the Argus II product, these limited sales have not been sufficient to cover our operating expenses. Our ability to generate positive cash flow will also hinge on our ability to correctly price our product to our markets, expand the use of the Argus II System, develop the Orion I visual prosthesis and obtain government and private insurance reimbursement. As of June 30, 2014 we have total stockholders’ deficiency of $14,465,567, and an accumulated deficit of $131,442,549. We cannot assure you that we will be profitable even if we successfully commercialize our products. Failure to become and remain profitable may adversely affect the market price of our common stock and our ability to raise capital and continue operations.

We may be unable to continue as a going concern if we do not successfully raise additional capital or if we fail to generate sufficient revenue from operations.

Our independent registered public accounting firm has issued an unqualified opinion with an explanatory paragraph to the effect that there is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. A “going concern” opinion indicates that the financial statements have been prepared assuming we will continue as a going concern and do not include any adjustments to reflect the possible future effects on the recoverability and classification of assets, or the amounts and classification of liabilities that may result if we do not continue as a going concern. The factors giving rise to this unqualified opinion with an explanatory paragraph could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and Note 1 to Notes To Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this prospectus.

Primarily as a result of our limited revenue, history of losses to date and our lack of liquidity, there is substantial uncertainty as to our ability to continue as a going concern. If we are unable to raise additional capital or if we are unable to generate sufficient revenue from our operations, we may not stay in business. We have no committed sources of capital and there is no assurance that additional financing will be available when needed on terms that are acceptable, if at all. These circumstances may discourage some investors from purchasing our stock, lending us money, or from providing alternative forms of financing. The failure to satisfy our capital requirements would adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Unless we raise additional funds, either through the sale of equity securities or one or more collaborative arrangements, we will not have sufficient funds to continue operations. Even if we take these actions, they may be insufficient, particularly if our costs are higher than projected or unforeseen expenses arise.

Our business is subject to international economic, political and other risks that could negatively affect our results of operations or financial position.

We derive a significant portion of our revenues from Europe, and we anticipate that revenue from Europe and other countries outside the US will increase. Accordingly, our operations are subject to risks associated with doing business internationally, including

The realization of any of these or other risks associated with operating in Europe or other non-U.S. countries could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

We are subject to stringent domestic and foreign medical device regulation and any unfavorable regulatory action may materially and adversely affect our financial condition and business operations.

Our products, development activities and manufacturing processes are subject to extensive and rigorous regulation by numerous government agencies, including the FDA and comparable foreign agencies. To varying degrees, each of these agencies monitors and enforces our compliance with laws and regulations governing the development, testing, manufacturing, labeling, marketing, distribution, and the safety and effectiveness of our medical devices. The process of obtaining marketing approval or clearance from the FDA and comparable foreign bodies for new products, or for enhancements, expansion of the indications or modifications to existing products, could:

Any of these occurrences that we might experience will cause our operations to suffer, harm our competitive standing and result in further losses that adversely affect our financial condition.

We have ongoing responsibilities under FDA and international regulations, both before and after a product is commercially released. For example, we are required to comply with the FDA's Quality System Regulation (QSR), which mandates that manufacturers of medical devices adhere to certain quality assurance requirements pertaining among other things to validation of manufacturing processes, controls for purchasing product components, and documentation practices. As another example, the Medical Device Reporting regulation requires us to provide information to the FDA whenever there is evidence that reasonably suggests that a device may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury or, that a malfunction occurred which would be likely to cause or contribute to a death or serious injury upon recurrence. Compliance with applicable regulatory requirements is subject to continual review and is monitored rigorously through periodic inspections by the FDA. If the FDA were to conclude that we are not in compliance with applicable laws or regulations, or that any of our medical devices are ineffective or pose an unreasonable health risk, the FDA could ban such medical devices, detain or seize such medical devices, order a recall, repair, replacement, or refund of such devices, or require us to notify health professionals and others that the devices present unreasonable risks of substantial harm to the public health. The FDA has been increasing its scrutiny of the medical device industry and the government is expected to continue to scrutinize the industry closely with inspections and possibly enforcement actions by the FDA or other agencies. Additionally, the FDA may restrict manufacturing and impose other operating restrictions, enjoin and restrain certain violations of applicable law pertaining to medical devices and assess civil or criminal penalties against our officers, employees, or us. Any adverse regulatory action, depending on its magnitude, may restrict us from effectively manufacturing, marketing and selling our products. In addition, negative publicity and product liability claims resulting from any adverse regulatory action could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

The number of preclinical and clinical tests that will be required for regulatory approval varies depending on the disease or condition to be treated, the jurisdiction in which we are seeking approval and the regulations applicable to that particular medical device. Regulatory agencies, including those in the US, Canada, Europe and other countries where medical devices are regulated, can delay, limit or deny approval of a product for many reasons. For example,

The FDA may make requests or suggestions regarding conduct of our clinical trials, resulting in an increased risk of difficulties or delays in obtaining regulatory approval in the US. Any of these occurrences could prove materially harmful to our operations and business. 

We are also subject to stringent government regulation in European and other foreign countries, which could delay or prevent our ability to sell our products in those jurisdictions.

We intend to pursue market authorizations for the Argus II System and other product candidates in additional jurisdictions. For us to market our products in Europe and some other international jurisdictions, we and our distributors and agents must obtain required regulatory registrations or approvals. The approval procedure varies among countries and jurisdictions and can involve additional testing and the time and costs required to obtain approval may differ from that required to obtain an approval by the FDA. Approval by the FDA does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions, and approval by one foreign regulatory authority does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other foreign countries or jurisdictions or by the FDA. Violations of foreign laws governing use of medical devices may lead to actions against us by the FDA as well as by foreign authorities. We must also comply with extensive regulations regarding safety, efficacy and quality in those jurisdictions. We may not be able to obtain all the required regulatory registrations or approvals, or we may be required to incur significant costs in obtaining or maintaining any regulatory registrations or approvals we receive. Delays in obtaining any registrations or approvals required for marketing our products, failure to receive these registrations or approvals, or future loss of previously obtained registrations or approvals would limit our ability to sell our products internationally. For example, international regulatory bodies have adopted various regulations governing product standards, packaging requirements, labeling requirements, import restrictions, tariff regulations, duties and tax requirements. These regulations vary from country to country. In order to sell our products in Europe, we must maintain our ISO 13485:2003 certification and CE mark certification, which is an international symbol of quality and compliance with applicable European medical device directives. Failure to maintain the ISO 13485:2003 certification or CE mark certification or other international regulatory approvals would prevent us from selling in some countries in Europe and elsewhere. The failure to obtain these approvals could harm our business materially. 

Even if we obtain clearance or approval to sell our products, we are subject to ongoing requirements and inspections that could lead to the restriction, suspension or revocation of our clearance.

We, as well as any potential collaborative partners such as distributors, will be required to adhere to applicable FDA regulations regarding good manufacturing practice, which include testing, control, and documentation requirements. We are subject to similar regulations in foreign countries. Even if regulatory approval of a product is granted, the approval may be subject to limitations on the indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or to the conditions of approval, or contain requirements for costly post-marketing testing and surveillance to monitor the safety or efficacy of the product. Ongoing compliance with good manufacturing practice and other applicable regulatory requirements is strictly enforced in the United States through periodic inspections by state and federal agencies, including the FDA, and in international jurisdictions by comparable agencies. Failure to comply with these regulatory requirements could result in, among other things, warning letters, fines, injunctions, civil penalties, recall or seizure of products, total or partial suspension of production, failure to obtain premarket clearance or premarket approval for devices, withdrawal of approvals previously obtained, and criminal prosecution. The restriction, suspension or revocation of regulatory approvals or any other failure to comply with regulatory requirements would limit our ability to operate and could increase our costs.

The CE marking regulations are subject to a significant effort to strengthen the regulatory regime for medical devices which, if adopted, will make clearance process more time consuming and costly for us to obtain access to and continue to market within the European markets.

We are subject to an annual audit of compliance with the rules necessary to support our CE Mark.  In 2012 the European Commission proposed a new regulatory scheme which is likely to come into effect in 2015 or 2016.  It is anticipated that that the proposals which are currently being discussed by the Council of the European Union, will impose significant additional obligations on medical device companies. The Council of the European Union expects that these proposals will be adopted by the end of 2014 or early 2015. and if so the new regulations on medical devices would likely become effective by 2016. Devices with a current CE marking may have to comply with additional, more challenging regulatory obligations, the details of which are not yet clarified.  We expect changes being made to regulations will include stricter requirements for clinical evidence and pre-market assessment of safety and performance, new classifications to indicate risk levels, requirements for third party testing by government accredited groups for some types of medical devices, and tightened and streamlined quality management system assessment procedures.  Additionally we anticipate that the new regulations will require clinical evidence as well as analytical performance levels, the details of which are yet to be provided. If the additional provisions proposed by the European Parliament are adopted, this could lead to the involvement of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in regulation of some types of medical devices, in the qualification and monitoring of notified bodies (NBs), and enhancing the roles of other bodies, including a new Medical Devices Coordination Group (MDCG).  The European Parliament’s proposed revisions would impose enhanced competence requirements for NBs and “special notified bodies” (SNBs) for specific categories of devices, such as implantable devices.  This could result in stricter conformity assessment procedures. Although the extent of the new regulations is currently uncertain the medical device industry anticipates that there will be significant changes under these initiatives to the regulation of medical devices which will increase the time and costs for obtaining CE marking.

We have no large scale manufacturing experience, which could limit our growth.

Our limited manufacturing experience may not enable us to make products in the volumes that would be necessary for us to achieve a significant amount of commercial sales. Our product involves new and technologically complex materials and processes and we currently experience low yields on our manufacturing process. As we move from making small quantities of our product for clinical trials to larger quantities for commercial distribution, we must develop new manufacturing techniques and processes that allow us to scale production. We may not be able to establish and maintain reliable, efficient, full scale manufacturing at commercially reasonable costs in a timely fashion. Difficulties we encounter in manufacturing scale-up, or our failure to implement and maintain our manufacturing facilities in accordance with good manufacturing practice regulations, international quality standards or other regulatory requirements, could result in a delay or termination of production. To date, our manufacturing activities have largely been to provide units for clinical testing and limited initial sales of the Argus II System. We may face substantial difficulties in establishing and maintaining manufacturing for our products at a larger commercial scale and those difficulties may impact the quality of our products and adversely affect our ability to increase sales.

Materials necessary to manufacture Argus II may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, which may delay development, manufacturing and commercialization of our products.

We rely on numerous suppliers to provide materials, components and services necessary to produce the Argus II System and next generation product candidates. Certain suppliers are currently sole source because of our low manufacturing volumes and our need for specialty technical or other engineering expertise. Our suppliers may be unable or unwilling to deliver these materials and services to us timely as needed or on commercially reasonable terms. Should this occur, we would seek to qualify alternative suppliers or develop in-house manufacturing capability, but may be unable to do so. Substantial design or manufacturing process modifications and regulatory approval might be required to facilitate or qualify an alternate supplier. Even where we could qualify alternative suppliers the substitution of suppliers may be at a higher cost and cause time delays including delays associated with additional possible FDA review, that impede the commercial production of the Argus II System, reduce gross profit margins and impact our abilities to deliver our products as may be timely required to meet demand.

Any failure or delay in completing clinical trials or studies for new product candidates or next generation of the Argus II System and the expense of those trials could adversely affect our business.

Preclinical studies and clinical trials required to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of incremental changes and obtain indication expansion for the next generation of the Argus II System and for new product candidates are time consuming and expensive. If we are required to conduct additional clinical trials or other studies with respect to any of our product candidates beyond those that we have contemplated, if we are unable to successfully complete our clinical trials or other studies or if the results of these trials or studies are not positive or are only modestly positive, we may be delayed in obtaining marketing approval for those product candidates, we may not be able to obtain marketing approval or we may obtain approval for indications that are not as broad as intended. Our product development costs also will increase if we experience delays in testing or approvals.

The completion of clinical trials for our product candidates could be delayed because of our inability to manufacture or obtain from third-parties materials sufficient for use in preclinical studies and clinical trials; delays in patient enrollment and variability in the number and types of patients available for clinical trials; difficulty in maintaining contact with patients after treatment, resulting in incomplete data; poor effectiveness of product candidates during clinical trials; unforeseen safety issues or side effects; and governmental or regulatory delays and changes in regulatory requirements and guidelines.

If we incur significant delays in our clinical trials, our competitors may be able to bring their products to market before we do which could result in harming our ability to commercialize our products or potential products. If we experience any of these occurrences our business will be materially harmed. 

To establish our sales and marketing infrastructure, we will need to grow the size of our organization, and we may experience delays or other difficulties in managing this growth.

As our development and commercialization plans and strategies evolve, we will need to expand the size of our employee base for managerial, operational, sales, marketing, financial and other resources. Future growth would impose significant added responsibilities on members of management, including the need to identify, recruit, maintain, motivate and integrate additional employees. Our management team may have to use a substantial amount of time to managing these growth activities. Our future financial performance and our ability to commercialize the Argus II System and our other product candidates and compete effectively will depend, in part, on our ability timely and effectively to manage any future growth and related costs. We may not be able to effectively manage a rapid pace of growth and timely implement improvements to our management infrastructure and control systems.

We may acquire additional businesses or form strategic alliances in the future, and we may not realize the benefits of such acquisitions or alliances.

We may acquire additional businesses or products, form strategic alliances or create joint ventures with third-parties that we believe will complement or augment our existing business. If we acquire businesses with promising markets or technologies, we may not be able to realize the benefit of acquiring such businesses if we are unable to successfully integrate them with our existing operations and company culture. We may have difficulty in developing, manufacturing and marketing the products of a newly acquired company that enhances the performance of our combined businesses or product lines to realize value from expected synergies. We cannot assure that, following an acquisition, we will achieve the revenues or specific net income that justifies the acquisition.

If we lose key management personnel, or if we fail to recruit additional highly skilled personnel, our ability to identify, develop and commercialize new or next generation product candidates will be impaired, could result in loss of markets or market share and could make us less competitive.

We are highly dependent upon Robert J. Greenberg M.D., Ph.D., our President and Chief Executive Officer, and are also dependent on other members of our senior management team including Thomas B Miller our Chief Financial Officer. Our executives have significant ophthalmic, regulatory industry, sales and marketing, operational, and/or corporate finance experience. The loss of any management executive or any other principal member of our management team could impair our ability to identify, develop and market new products or effectively deal with regulatory and reimbursement matters.

Our ability to utilize and benefit from our net operating loss carryforwards and certain other tax attributes may be limited.

As of December 31, 2013, we had federal and state of California income tax net operating loss carryforwards, which may be applied to future taxable income, of approximately $94,882,000 and $94,491,000, respectively. To the extent that we continue to generate taxable losses, unused losses will carry forward to offset future taxable income, if any, until these unused losses expire. However, we may be unable to use these losses to offset taxable income before our unused losses expire at various dates that range from 2023 through 2033. Under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change,” generally defined as a greater than 50 percentage point change (by value) in its equity ownership over a three-year period, the corporation’s ability to use its pre-change net operating loss, or NOL, carryforwards to offset its post-change taxable income may be limited. Limitations may also apply to the utilization of other pre-change tax attributes as a result of an ownership change. We have experienced ownership changes in the past. We may experience additional ownership changes in connection with this offering and in the future as a result of shifts in our stock ownership, including shifts in our stock ownership that are outside of our control. As a result, our ability to use our pre-change NOL carryforwards to offset taxable income may be subject to limitations. In addition, there may be periods during which the use of NOL carryforwards is suspended or otherwise limited under state tax law. For these reasons, we may not be able to utilize and benefit from a material portion of our NOL carryforwards and other tax attributes.

We could be adversely affected by violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and similar worldwide anti-bribery laws.

The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and similar worldwide anti-bribery laws generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to non-U.S. officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. We intend to adopt policies for compliance with these anti-bribery laws, which often carry substantial penalties. We cannot assure you that our internal control policies and procedures always will protect us from reckless or other inappropriate acts committed by our affiliates, employees or agents. Violations of these laws, or allegations of such violations, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations and could cause the market value of our common stock to decline.

Risks Related to Intellectual Property and Other Legal Matters

If we or our licensors are unable to protect our/their intellectual property, then our financial condition, results of operations and the value of our technology and products could be adversely affected.

Patents and other proprietary rights are essential to our business and our ability to compete effectively with other companies is dependent upon the proprietary nature of our technologies. We also rely upon trade secrets, know-how, continuing technological innovations and licensing opportunities to develop, maintain and strengthen our competitive position. We seek to protect these, in part, through confidentiality agreements with certain employees, consultants and other parties. Our success will depend in part on the ability of our licensors to obtain, maintain (including making periodic filings and payments) and enforce patent protection for their intellectual property, in particular, those patents to which we have secured exclusive rights. Our licensors may not successfully prosecute or continue to prosecute the patent applications which we have licensed. Even if patents are issued in respect of these patent applications, we or our licensors may fail to maintain these patents, may determine not to pursue litigation against entities that are infringing upon these patents, or may pursue such enforcement less aggressively than we ordinarily would. Without adequate protection for the intellectual property that we own or license, other companies might be able to offer substantially identical products for sale, which could unfavorably affect our competitive business position and harm our business prospects.

Even if issued, patents may be challenged, invalidated, or circumvented, which could limit our ability to stop competitors from marketing similar products or limit the length of term of patent protection that we may have for our products.

Litigation or third-party claims of intellectual property infringement or challenges to the validity of our patents would require us to use resources to protect our technology and may prevent or delay our development, regulatory approval or commercialization of improvements in the Argus II System or new product candidates. Further, the validity of some of our patents has been challenged.

Pixium Vision (Pixium) has filed oppositions in the European Patent Office (EPO) challenging the validity of six European patents owned or exclusively licensed by Second Sight. Two of the patents are owned by Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and exclusively licensed to Second Sight. Four of the patents are owned by Second Sight. Second Sight was successful in the opposition division in the two JHU cases. However, at the appeal level one of the JHU patents was preserved and one of JHU patents was invalidated. In the third proceeding Pixium was successful in the opposition division, and we have appealed. In the fourth case we were successful in the opposition division. The last two have not reached a hearing in the opposition division. We have opposed one Pixium patent, which has not reached a hearing in the opposition division. These challenges to our patent portfolio, if successful, may affect our ability to block competitors from utilizing this particular intellectual property, but in our view have no material effect on our ability to make and sell the Argus II System or otherwise have any material effect upon us. Of the six patents contested, two have reached final resolution with no further appeal available within in the EPO. Of the four remaining patents, none apply to our current product. To our current knowledge, none apply to any competitive product. These patents represent possible improvements that we, or a competitor, may wish to use in the future. Remaining at issue are four out of nearly 300 patents we have to protect our technology. These EPO proceedings involving us and Pixium include:

If we are the target of claims by third parties asserting that our products or intellectual property infringe upon the rights of others we may be forced to incur substantial expenses or divert substantial employee resources from our business and, if successful, those claims could result in our having to pay substantial damages or prevent us from developing one or more product candidates. Further, if a patent infringement suit were brought against us or our collaborators, we or they could be forced to stop or delay research, development, manufacturing or sales of the product or product candidate that is the subject of the suit.

If we experience patent infringement claims, or if we elect to avoid potential claims others may be able to assert, we or our collaborators may choose to seek, or be required to seek, a license from the third-party and would most likely be required to pay license fees or royalties or both. These licenses may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all. Even if we or our collaborators were able to obtain a license, the rights may be nonexclusive, which would give our competitors access to the same intellectual property. Ultimately, we could be prevented from commercializing a product, or be forced to cease some aspect of our business operations if, as a result of actual or threatened patent infringement claims, we or our collaborators are unable to enter into licenses on acceptable terms. This could harm our business significantly. The cost to us of any litigation or other proceeding, regardless of its merit, even if resolved in our favor, could be substantial. Some of our competitors may be able to bear the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their having greater financial resources. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our ability to compete in the marketplace. Intellectual property litigation and other proceedings may, regardless of their merit, also absorb significant management time and employee resources.

If we fail to comply with our obligations in the agreements under which we license development or commercialization rights to products or technology from third-parties, we could lose license rights that are important to our business.

We hold exclusive licenses from Johns Hopkins University, Duke University, and the Doheny Eye Institute to intellectual property relating to the Argus II visual prosthesis. These licenses impose various commercialization, milestone payment, profit sharing, insurance and other obligations on us. If we fail to comply with any material obligations, the licensor will have the right to terminate the applicable license, which covers part of the system of the eye implant and thus will be a barrier to manufacture the Argus II System and impair our ability to sell the Argus II. The existing or future patents to which we have rights based on our agreements with Johns Hopkins University, Duke University and the Doheny Eye Institute may be too narrow to prevent third-parties from developing or designing around these patents. Additionally, we may lose our rights to the patents and patent applications we license in the event of a breach or termination of the license agreement. Each license expires with the expiration of the last of the licensed patents. In the case of JHU, the license will expire March 13, 2018. While the JHU agreement includes a patent which is a significant obstacle to our competitors, it is one of many other patents which in our view present material obstacles to our competitors. The DEI license includes ongoing research, making the expiration date indeterminate, but in any event the expiration date is no earlier than August 8, 2033. The total aggregate royalty on both agreements does not exceed 3.25% of Argus II System net sales. All of the patents in the DEI agreement are co-owned with the Doheny Eye Institute. We license the Doheny Eye Institute's interest in the patents to maintain our exclusive use on that intellectual property. Should the license terminate we retain the right to utilize the intellectual property, but may not be able to prevent others from doing so, in which case we may lose a competitive advantage.

If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our proprietary information and know-how, the value of our technology and products could be adversely affected.

In addition to patented technology, we rely upon, among other things, unpatented proprietary technology, processes, trade secrets and know-how. Any involuntary disclosure to or misappropriation by third-parties of our confidential or proprietary information could enable competitors to duplicate or surpass our technological achievements, potentially eroding our competitive position in our market. We seek to protect confidential or proprietary information in part by confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants and third-parties. While we require all of our employees, consultants, advisors and any third-parties who have access to our proprietary know-how, information and technology to enter into confidentiality agreements, we cannot be certain that this know-how, information and technology will not be disclosed or that competitors will not otherwise gain access to our trade secrets or independently develop substantially equivalent information and techniques. These agreements may be terminated or breached, and we may not have adequate remedies for any such termination or breach. Furthermore, these agreements may not provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets and know-how in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure. To the extent that any of our staff were previously employed by other pharmaceutical, medical technology or biotechnology companies, those employers may allege violations of trade secrets and other similar claims in relation to their medical device development activities for us.

If we are unable to protect the intellectual property used in our products, others may be able to copy our innovations which may impair our ability to compete effectively in our markets.

The strength of our patents involves complex legal and scientific questions and can be uncertain. As of September 1, 2014 we have 296 issued patents and 173 pending patent applications on a worldwide basis. Our patent applications may be challenged or fail to result in issued patents and our existing or future patents may be too narrow to prevent third-parties from developing or designing around our intellectual property and in that event we may lose competitive advantage and our business may suffer.

Further, the patent applications that we license or have filed may fail to result in issued patents. The claims may need to be amended. Even after amendment, a patent may not issue and in that event we may not obtain the exclusive use of the intellectual property that we seek and may lose competitive advantage which could result in harm to our business.

Third-party claims of intellectual property infringement may prevent or delay our commercialization efforts for Argus II and our development and commercialization activities for other product candidates.

Although we are not currently aware of any litigation or other proceedings or third-party claims of intellectual property infringement related to the Argus II System, the medical device industry is characterized by many litigation cases regarding patents and other intellectual property rights. Other parties may in the future allege that our activities infringe their patents or that we are employing their proprietary technology without authorization. We may not have identified all the patents, patent applications or published literature that affect our business either by blocking our ability to commercialize our product, by preventing the patentability of one or more aspects of our products or those of our licensors or by covering the same or similar technologies that may affect our ability to market our product.

In addition, even in the absence of litigation, we may need to obtain licenses from third-parties to advance our research or allow commercialization of our product candidates, and we have done so from time to time. We may fail to obtain future licenses at a reasonable cost or on reasonable terms, if at all. In that event, we may be unable to further develop and commercialize one or more of our product candidates, which could harm our business significantly.

We may become involved in future lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents or the patents of our licensors, which could be expensive, time consuming and unsuccessful.

Competitors may infringe our patents or the patents of our licensors. To counter infringement or unauthorized use, we may file infringement claims, which can be expensive and time consuming. In addition, in an infringement proceeding, a court may decide that a patent of ours or of our licensors is not valid or is unenforceable, or may refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that our patents do not cover the technology in question. An adverse result in any litigation or defense proceedings could put one or more of our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and could put our patent applications at risk of not issuing.

The US Patent and Trademark Office may initiate interference proceedings to determine the priority of inventions described in or otherwise affecting our patents and patent applications or those of our collaborators or licensors. An unfavorable outcome could require us to cease using the technology or to attempt to license rights to it from the prevailing party. Our business could be harmed if a prevailing party does not offer us a license on terms that are acceptable to us. Litigation or interference proceedings may fail and, even if successful, may result in substantial costs and distraction of our management and other employees. We may not be able to prevent, alone or with our licensors, misappropriation of our proprietary rights, particularly in countries where the laws may not protect those rights as fully as in the US.

 Product liability lawsuits could divert our resources, result in substantial liabilities and reduce the commercial potential of our products.

We face a risk of product liability claims arising from the prosthesis being inserted into the eye, and it is possible that we may be held liable for eye injuries of patients who receive our product. These lawsuits may divert our management from pursuing our business strategy and may be costly to defend. In addition, if we are held liable in any of these lawsuits, we may incur substantial liabilities and may be forced to limit or forego further commercialization of one or more of our products. We maintain product liability insurance that covers our clinical trials and commercial sales, our aggregate coverage limit under these insurance policies for an amount of $5,000,000, and while we believe this amount of insurance currently is sufficient to cover our product liability exposure, these limits may not prove adequate to fully cover potential liabilities. In addition, we may not be able to obtain or maintain sufficient insurance coverage at an acceptable cost or otherwise to protect against potential product liability claims, which could prevent or inhibit the commercial production and sale of our products. If the use of our products harm or are alleged to harm people, we may be subject to costly and damaging product liability claims that exceed our policy limits and cause us significant losses that could seriously harm our financial condition or reputation.

CE Marking does not absolve us from strict conformity with all applicable European Union legislation and member state regulation where the product is offered and if we do not adhere to these directive and regulations we may incur fines and other penalties that will prevent or delay market penetration of our products.

The CE (European Conformity) marking is a symbol that manufacturers affix to products to indicate that a product conforms to all relevant EU rules and regulations and that the manufacturer has performed all necessary evaluation procedures. Although the CE mark allows manufacturers to place products on the market and permits free movement of goods, it is not a mark of approval by the EU. The manufacturer and its authorized representative in EU are responsible for all aspects of the product assessment, testing, documentation, declaration of conformity and CE marking, even where a formal processing agent, the notified body, is required, as in the case of non-European based manufacturers. In all cases the manufacturer and representative assume the full responsibility and liability even when using the services of a consultant or test laboratory. Liability is not transferrable to third parties, including the notified body which is required for processing the certification. Generally, there is strict liability applied to medical devices subject to the CE marking by directive 85/374/EEC, and testing and reporting does not change or reduce this liability.

Legislative or regulatory reform of the health care system in the US and foreign jurisdictions may adversely impact our business, operations or financial results.

Our industry is highly regulated and changes in law may adversely impact our business, operations or financial results. In March 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or PPACA, and a related reconciliation bill were signed into law. This legislation changes the current system of healthcare insurance and benefits intended to broaden coverage and control costs. The law also contains provisions that will affect companies in the medical device industry and other healthcare related industries by imposing additional costs and changes to business practices.

Moreover, in some foreign countries, including countries in Europe and Canada, the pricing of approved medical devices is subject to governmental control. In these countries, pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take 12 months or longer after the receipt of regulatory approval and product launch. To obtain reimbursement or pricing approval in some countries, we may be required to conduct a clinical trial that compares the cost-effectiveness of our product candidate to other available therapies. Our business could be materially harmed if reimbursement of our products is unavailable or limited in scope or amount or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels.

We cannot predict what healthcare reform initiatives may be adopted in the future. Further federal and state legislative and regulatory developments are likely, and we expect ongoing initiatives in the U.S and Europe. These reforms could have an adverse effect on our ability to obtain timely regulatory approval for new products and on anticipated revenues from the Argus II System and other product candidates, both of which may affect our overall financial condition.

We may incur significant increased costs as a result of operating as a public company, and our management will be required to devote substantial time to compliance requirements.

As a public company, we will incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as well as rules subsequently implemented by the SEC and NASDAQ, have imposed various requirements on public companies, including requiring establishment and maintenance of effective disclosure and financial controls and changes in corporate governance practices. Our management and other personnel will be required to devote a substantial amount of time to these new compliance requirements. Moreover, these rules and regulations will substantially increase our legal and financial compliance costs and will make some activities more time consuming and costly. These rules and regulations will make it more difficult and more expensive for us to maintain our existing director and officer liability insurance or to obtain similar coverage from an alternative provider.

We are an "emerging growth company," and we cannot be certain if the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our common stock less attractive to investors.

For so long as we remain an "emerging growth company" as defined in the JOBS Act, we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various requirements that are applicable to public companies that are not "emerging growth companies," including not being required to comply with the independent auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. We may take advantage of these exemptions for so long as we are an "emerging growth company," which could be as long as five years following the completion of this offering. Investors may find our common stock less attractive because we rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock, and our stock price may be more volatile or may decline.

In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an "emerging growth company" can take advantage of an extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. However, we chose to "opt out" of this extended transition period, and as a result, we intend to comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates that adoption of those standards may be required for non-emerging growth companies. Our decision to opt out of the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards is irrevocable.

We will be required to evaluate our internal control over financial reporting under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and any adverse results from such evaluation could result in a loss of investor confidence in our financial reports and have an adverse effect on our stock price.

Pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, we will be required to furnish a report by our management on our internal control over financial reporting the year following our first annual report required to be filed with the SEC. The report will contain, among other matters, an assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of the end of our fiscal year, including a statement as to whether or not our internal control over financial reporting is effective. This assessment must include disclosure of any material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting identified by management. If we are unable to assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, we could lose investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, which could have an adverse effect on our stock price.  

Risks Relating to Our Financial Results and Need for Financing

Fluctuations in our quarterly operating results and cash flows could adversely affect the price of our common stock.

The revenues we generate and our operating results will be affected by numerous factors such as:

If our quarterly operating results fall below the expectations of investors or securities analysts, the price of our common stock could decline substantially. Any quarterly fluctuations in our operating results and cash flows may cause the price of our stock to fluctuate substantially. We believe that, in the near term, quarterly comparisons of our financial results are not necessarily meaningful and should not be relied upon as an indication of our future performance.

We will need additional capital beyond this offering to support our growth. Additional capital, may be difficult to obtain restricting our operations and resulting in additional dilution to our stockholders.

Our business will require additional capital for implementation of our long term business plan. Upon completion of this offering, we believe our cash, cash equivalents and other investments will be sufficient to fund our operations over approximately the next 18 to 24 months. However, the actual amount of funds that we will need for our business development will be determined by many factors, some of which are beyond our control, and we may need funds sooner than currently anticipated. These factors include:

As we require additional funds, we may seek to fund our operations through the sale of equity securities, additional debt financing and strategic collaboration agreements. We cannot be sure that additional financing from any of these sources will be available when needed or that, if available, the additional financing will be obtained on terms favorable to us or our stockholders. If we raise additional funds by selling shares of our capital stock, the ownership interest of our current stockholders will be diluted. If we are unable to obtain additional funds on a timely basis or on terms favorable to us, we may be required to cease or reduce further commercialization of the Argus II System, to cease or reduce certain research and development projects, to sell some or all of our technology or assets or business units or to merge all or a portion of our business with another entity.

Risks Related to This Offering, the Securities Market, and Ownership of Our Common Stock

The price of our common stock may be volatile and the value of your investment could decline.

Medical technology stocks have historically experienced high levels of volatility. The trading price of our common stock following this offering may fluctuate substantially. Following the completion of this offering, the market price of our common stock may be higher or lower than the price you pay in the offering, depending on many factors, some of which are beyond our control and may not be related to our operating performance. These fluctuations could cause you to lose substantially all or part of your investment in our common stock. Factors that could cause fluctuations in the trading price of our common stock include:

In addition, if the market for medical technology stocks or the stock market, in general, experiences a loss of investor confidence, the trading price of our common stock could decline for reasons unrelated to our business, results of operations or financial condition. The trading price of our common stock might also decline in reaction to events that affect other companies in our industry even if these events do not directly affect us. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been brought against that company. If our stock price is volatile, we may become the target of securities litigation. Securities litigation could result in substantial costs and divert our management’s attention and resources from our business. This could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Sales of substantial amounts of our common stock in the public markets, including sales after the “lock-up” period, or the perception that sales might occur, could reduce the price of our common stock and may dilute your voting power and ownership interest in us.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market after this offering, or the perception that these sales could occur, could adversely affect the market price of our common stock and may make it more difficult for you to sell your common stock at a time and price that you deem appropriate. Upon completion of this offering, we will have 34,581,442 shares of common stock outstanding. All of the shares of common stock sold in this offering will be freely tradable without restrictions or further registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, except for any shares held by our “affiliates” as defined in Rule 144 under the Securities Act.

Subject to certain exceptions described under the caption “Underwriting,” our directors, officers and our stockholders beneficially owning 10% or more of our common stock and certain of our consultants have agreed not to offer, sell or agree to sell, directly or indirectly, any shares of common stock without the permission of the underwriter for a period of 12 months from the date of this prospectus. Certain of our executives, other employees and consultants have agreed to similar lock-up agreements for a period of six months from the date of this prospectus. When these lockup periods expire, the locked-up security holders will be able to sell shares in the public market. In addition, the underwriter may, in its sole discretion, release all or some portion of the shares subject to lock-up agreements prior to the expiration of the applicable lock-up period. See “Shares Eligible for Future Sale” for more information. Sales of a substantial number of such shares upon expiration, or the perception that such sales may occur, or early release of the lock-up, could cause our share price to fall or make it more difficult for you to sell your common stock at a time and price that you deem appropriate.

Holders of up to approximately 22,172,093 shares of our common stock, excluding 700,000 shares of common stock underlying the underwriter’s warrant (increasing to 805,000 shares of common stock if the overallotment option is exercised in full), will have rights, subject to some conditions, to require us to file a registration statement covering the sale of their shares or to include their shares in registration statements that we may file for ourselves or other stockholders. We also intend to register the offer and sale of all shares of common stock that we may issue under our equity compensation plans.

Certain of our stockholders have the ability to control the outcome of matters submitted for stockholder approval and may have interests that differ from those of our other stockholders.

As of August 31, 2014 our executive officers, key employees, directors and their affiliates will beneficially own in the aggregate approximately 66.3% of the outstanding shares of our common stock after this offering. As a result, these stockholders, if acting together, may be able to exercise significant influence over all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors and the approval of significant corporate transactions. They may also have interests that differ from yours and may vote in a manner that is adverse to your interests. This concentration of voting power may have the effect of deterring, delaying or impeding actions that could be beneficial to you, including actions that may be supported by our board of directors, and deprive our shareholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their common stock as part of sale of our company and might ultimately affect the market price of our common stock.

Our securities have no prior market and our stock price may decline after the offering.

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for shares of our common stock. Although we have applied to list our common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market, an active public trading market for our common stock may not develop or, if it develops, may not be maintained after this offering. For example, The Nasdaq Stock Market imposes certain securities trading requirements, including requirements related to a minimum bid price, minimum number of stockholders, minimum number of trading market makers, and minimum market value of publicly traded shares. Our company and the underwriter will negotiate to determine the initial public offering price. The initial public offering price may be higher than the trading price of our common stock following this offering. As a result, you could incur losses.

We have broad discretion in the use of proceeds and may allocate the net proceeds from this offering in ways that differ from the estimates discussed in the section titled “Use of Proceeds” with which you may not agree, and if we do not use those proceeds effectively your investment could be harmed.

We intend to use the proceeds of this offering to expand our sales and marketing efforts, enhance our current product, gain new marketing approvals, and continue research into next generation technology, as well as for working capital and general corporate purposes. The allocation of net proceeds of the offering set forth in “Use of Proceeds” in this prospectus below represents our estimates based upon our current plans and assumptions regarding industry and general economic conditions, and our future revenues and expenditures.    Our management will have broad discretion over the specific use of the net proceeds that we receive in this offering and may find it necessary or advisable to use portions of the proceeds from this offering for other purposes.  Circumstances that may give rise to a change in the use of proceeds and the alternate purposes for which the proceeds may be used are discussed in “Use of Proceeds”.  You may not have an opportunity to evaluate the economic, financial or other information on which we base our decisions on how to use our proceeds and will need to rely upon the judgment of our management with respect to the use of proceeds. As a result, you and other stockholders may not agree with our decisions. If we do not use the net proceeds that we receive in this offering effectively, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be harmed. 

Holders of common stock who purchase shares in this offering, but who do not register and continuously hold shares in their name for two years will lose the Long Term Investor Right and opportunity to receive additional shares from us if those Long Term Investor Rights are triggered.

We are granting each purchaser of shares in this offering the Long Term Investor Right to receive for no additional investment or payment up to one additional share for each share purchased in this offering if the requirements discussed in “Description of Capital Stock – Long Term Investor Right to Receive Additional Shares” have been met including:

If the holder of the shares fails timely to register of record and to hold the shares continuously for the two years after the closing date of this offering, or if the price per share of our common stock trades at 200% of the offering price or greater for any five consecutive trading days during the two year period after the closing date of this offering, the Long Term Investor Right will terminate and the holder will lose the opportunity to benefit from receipt of shares if this Long Term Investor Right is triggered

Registering and keeping the shares in holder’s name can delay your ability to dispose of the shares and could cause partial or full loss of your investment in the event of a rapid decline in our share price.

Our shares might be susceptible to financial market volatility and other financial and business related risks that can cause the value of our shares to decline drastically within short period of time. If you register and keep your shares in your name there may be a delay your ability to timely dispose of your shares which can lead to partial or full loss of your investment.

Even if the Long Term Investor Right is triggered we will become obligated to deliver additional shares according to a formula limited to no more than one share for each share acquired in this offering which may still lead to partial or substantial loss of your investment.

Even if you have fully qualified your Long Term Investor Right and it is triggered for the delivery of up to one share on the two years anniversary of the closing date of this offering, you cannot be assured that you will recover your investment or avoid incurring a loss when the additional shares under the Long Term Investor Right are delivered to you.

Because the initial public offering price of our common stock will be substantially higher than the pro forma net tangible book value per share of our outstanding common stock following this offering, new investors will experience immediate and substantial dilution.

The initial public offering price of our common stock will be higher than the pro forma net tangible book value per share of our common stock immediately following this offering based on the total value of our tangible assets less our total liabilities. Therefore, if you purchase shares of our common stock in this offering, you will experience immediate dilution of $7.88 per share, the difference between the price per share you pay (based on the assumed initial public offering price set forth on the cover page of this prospectus) for our common stock and the pro forma net tangible book value per share of our common stock as of June 30, 2014, after giving effect to the issuance of shares of our common stock in this offering. See “Dilution.”

We do not intend to pay dividends for the foreseeable future and, consequently, your ability to achieve a return on your investment will depend on appreciation in the price of our common stock.

We have never declared or paid any dividends on our common stock. We intend to retain any earnings to finance the operation and expansion of our business, and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the future. As a result, you may only receive a return on your investment in our common stock if the market price of our common stock increases.

Future sales and issuances of our equity securities or rights to purchase our equity securities, including pursuant to our equity incentive plans, would result in dilution of the percentage ownership of our stockholders and could cause our stock price to fall.

To the extent we raise additional capital by issuing equity securities; our stockholders may experience substantial dilution. We may sell common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities in one or more transactions at prices and in a manner we determine from time to time. If we sell common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities in more than one transaction, investors may be diluted by subsequent sales. Such sales may also result in material dilution to our existing stockholders, and new investors could gain rights superior to existing stockholders.

If a public market for our common stock develops, it may be volatile.  This volatility may affect the ability of our investors to sell their shares as well as the price at which they sell their shares. 

If a market for our common stock develops, the market price for the shares may be significantly affected by factors such as variations in quarterly and yearly operating results, general trends in the medical device industry, and changes in state or federal regulations affecting us and our industry.  Furthermore, in recent years the stock market has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that are unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of the affected companies.  Such broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the market price of our common stock, if a market for it develops.

Substantial future sales of shares of our common stock in the public market could cause our stock price to fall. 

If our common stockholders (including those persons who may become common stockholders upon exercise of our options or warrants) sell substantial amounts of our common stock, or the public market perceives that stockholders might sell substantial amounts of our common stock, the market price of our common stock could decline significantly. Such sales also might make it more difficult for us to sell equity or equity-related securities in the future at a time and price that our management deems appropriate.

We have the right to issue shares of preferred stock.  If we were to issue preferred stock, it is likely to have rights, preferences and privileges that may adversely affect the common stock.

We are authorized to issue 10,000,000 shares of “blank check” preferred stock, with such rights, preferences and privileges as may be determined from time-to-time by our board of directors.  Our board of directors is empowered, without stockholder approval, to issue preferred stock in one or more series, and to fix for any series the dividend rights, dissolution or liquidation preferences, redemption prices, conversion rights, voting rights, and other rights, preferences and privileges for the preferred stock.  No shares of preferred stock are presently issued and outstanding and we have no immediate plans to issue shares of preferred stock.  The issuance of shares of preferred stock, depending on the rights, preferences and privileges attributable to the preferred stock, could adversely reduce the voting rights and powers of the common stock and the portion of our assets allocated for distribution to common stockholders in a liquidation event, and could also result in dilution in the book value per share of the common stock we are offering.  The preferred stock could also be utilized, under certain circumstances, as a method for raising additional capital or discouraging, delaying or preventing a change in control of our company, to the detriment of the investors in the common stock offered hereby.  We cannot assure you that we will not, under certain circumstances, issue shares of our preferred stock.

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND OTHER INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS PROSPECTUS

This prospectus contains forward-looking statements.  Forward-looking statements give our current expectations or forecasts of future events.  You can identify these statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts.  You can find many (but not all) of these statements by looking for words such as “approximates,” “believes,” “hopes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “projects,” “intends,” “plans,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “may” or other similar expressions in this prospectus.  These statements may be found under the sections entitled “Risk Factors”, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Business” included in this prospectus, as well as in this prospectus generally.  In particular, these include statements relating to future actions, prospective products, applications, customers, technologies, future performance or results of anticipated products, expenses, and financial results.  These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our historical experience and our present expectations or projections.  Factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:

Forward-looking statements are based upon management’s beliefs and assumptions and are made as of the date of this prospectus. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements included in this prospectus or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those contained in such statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by federal securities laws.  Actual future results may vary materially as a result of various factors, including, without limitation, the risks outlined under the section entitled “Risk Factors” and matters described in this prospectus generally.  In light of these risks and uncertainties, we cannot assure you that the forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus will in fact occur. 

You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee that the future results, levels of activity, performance or events and circumstances described in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur. Moreover, neither we nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason after the date of this prospectus to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations, except as required by law.

You should read this prospectus and the documents that we reference in this prospectus and have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part with the understanding that our actual future results, levels of activity, performance and events and circumstances may be materially different from what we expect.

MARKET AND INDUSTRY DATA

Unless otherwise indicated, information contained in this prospectus concerning our industry and the markets in which we operate, including our general expectations and market position, market opportunity and market size, is based on information from various sources, on assumptions based on such data and other similar sources, and on our knowledge of the markets for our solution. The market and industry information included in this prospectus involves a number of assumptions and limitations, and you are cautioned not to give undue weight to such information. In addition, projections, assumptions and estimates of our future performance and the future performance of the industry in which we operate are necessarily subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described in “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus. These and other factors could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the estimates made by the independent parties and by us.

BUSINESS

Our Company

We were founded in 1998 with the mission to develop, manufacture, and market implantable prosthetic devices that can restore sight to the blind. In 2002, we began a clinical trial of our proof-of-concept device, the Argus I retinal prosthesis, at the University of Southern California. Six human subjects were implanted with the Argus I retinal prosthesis in a study that was designed to demonstrate the feasibility and safety of long-term electrical stimulation of the retina and its ability to restore some functional vision. By 2006, we developed a second generation device, the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System that, among other attributes, is smaller, has more stimulating electrodes, and is easier to install surgically than the Argus I retinal prosthesis. In that year, we conducted a small pilot study in Mexico, and we utilized data from this pilot study to obtain FDA approval to begin an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) clinical trial at six hospitals in the US during 2007. In 2008 we expanded the trial to include sites in three European countries. We completed enrollment for this study in August 2009. Based on the long-term results of this study, which demonstrated the benefits of Argus II System, we obtained CE Mark approval in EU in February 2011, and FDA marketing approval, under a Humanitarian Device Exemption, in February 2013. To our knowledge the Argus II System currently is the only retinal prosthesis to be commercialized anywhere in the world and currently is the only such product to obtain FDA marketing approval in the US.

Currently, after more than 15 years of research and development, more than $120 million of investment and over $29 million of direct grants received in support of our technology development, we employ over 100 people in the development (engineering and clinical), manufacture, and commercialization of the Argus II System and future products.

Our Markets

Second Sight is the global leader in vision restoration to the blind. We believe that our competitive advantage and ability to maintain market share in the future will be bolstered by the following:

During clinical studies the Argus II System demonstrated clear and significant improvement in visual function both in the clinic and in patient’s daily lives. Based on these data, the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System has been approved for marketing in Europe, the US, Turkey, and at one medical center in Saudi Arabia. We have submitted other applications for regulatory approval or product registration in Canada and Saudi Arabia.

The Argus II System is intended to restore some functional vision to patients who are blind and have lost most or all of their vision due to retinitis pigmentosa (which is the approved US indication for use) or due to outer retinal degeneration (which is the broader CE mark indication for use). While there are several diseases and syndromes that comprise outer retinal degeneration, the two most prominent of these are RP and age-related macular degeneration, or AMD. We believe that future product development of the Orion I visual prosthesis will expand the market for our products to include nearly all forms of blindness.

Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP)

RP is a group of inherited disorders that affect the retina. The retina is a layer of nerve cells at the back of the eye. RP is a disease that gradually robs relatively young people of their vision over time. Onset of RP is often noted in the teen years or early twenties, typically as night blindness. This is followed by a period of peripheral vision loss, until the patient is left with a tunnel of vision and then no remaining sight. Although there are various genetic causes (over 100) and thus variability in the disease progression, many people with advanced RP have lost all functional vision by their 40s or 50s. The Argus II System works by bypassing rods and cones which are defunct in these patients and sending electrical signals directly to the retina’s remaining healthy cells.

Although there are reported trials for other treatments underway, to our knowledge the Argus II System remains the only approved therapeutic option for end-stage RP in the US, and to our knowledge it is the only treatment option currently commercialized anywhere in the world.

Worldwide, an estimated 1.5 million people suffer from RP³, which includes about 100,000 in the US⁴. Pan-European data is not readily available, but we believe it is reasonable to estimate that the average prevalence throughout Europe is similar to the average prevalence within the US, and so the ratio of populations could be used to estimate the number of Europeans affected as 167,000 in the 28 EU countries^5,6. Approximately 25% of people with RP in the US have vision that is 20/200 or worse (legally blind)⁷. Since the bare light perception or worse vision criterion for the US indication is worse than 20/200, we believe that the subset of patients that can be treated by the Argus II System is less than 25,000 in the US. In Europe, the indicated vision loss is severe to profound which, while better than bare light perception, remains somewhat worse than 20/200. We estimate that the subset of RP patients that can be treated in Europe to be somewhat smaller than 42,000. Worldwide, we estimate that 375,000 people are legally blind due to RP, and that a portion of these would be eligible for the Argus II System.

Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD)

AMD is a relatively common eye condition and the leading cause of vision loss among people age 65 and older⁸. The macula is a small spot near the center of the retina and its damage results in loss of central vision. AMD can start as a blurred area near the center of vision and over time it can grow larger until loss of central vision occurs. Central vision is extremely important for everyday tasks such as reading, writing, and face recognition.

There are three stages of AMD defined in part by the size of drusen (yellow deposits) under the retina. Early and intermediate stage AMD has few symptoms or vision loss. These earlier stages of the disease are usually left untreated or dealt with using diet supplementation. People with advanced AMD have vision loss from damage to the macula. There are two types of late stage AMD:

³ Weleber, R.G. and Gregory-Evans, K. (2001) ‘Retinitis Pigmentosa and allied disorders.’ In Ryan, S.J. (ed.), Retina. Mosby, St. Louis, pp, 362-470.

⁴ Foundation Fighting Blindness estimates that about 100,000 Americans are affected by RP or similar diseases.

⁵ Eurostat. Retrieved 1 January 2013.

⁶ Haim M. Epidemiology of retinitis pigmentosa in Denmark. Acta Ophthalmol Scand Suppl 2002; 1-34.

⁷ Grover et al., ‘Visual Acuity Impairment in Patients with Retinitis Pigmentosa at Age 45 Years or Older’, Ophthalmology. 1999 Sep; 106(9):1780-5.

⁸ The Eye Diseases Prevalence Research Group, 2004a; CDC, 2009.

·    Dry AMD or geographic atrophy: There is a breakdown of light sensitive cells in the macula that send visual information to the brain, and the supporting tissue beneath the macula. This damage causes vision loss.

·    Wet AMD or neovascular AMD: Blood vessels grow underneath the retina, these vessels might leak blood which may lead to swelling and damage of the macula. This damage may be severe and fast.

Treatments for AMD:

Worldwide, between 20 and 25 million people suffer from vision loss due to AMD⁹, and of these about 2 million have vision that is considered legally blind, or worse¹⁰ . In the US, just over two million people experience vision loss due to AMD according to a 2010 study by the National Eye Institute. Of the 1.3 million legally blind Americans¹¹, we estimate that 42.5% (552,500) are due to AMD.¹² Applying this percent of legally blind due to AMD (42.5%) to the total number of legally blind people in Europe (2.55 million)¹³, we estimate the population of legally blind individuals from AMD to be about 1.08 million individuals in Europe. We believe the Argus II System may be able to help a subset of these legally blind AMD patients who have severe to profound vision loss.

To date, we have not yet implanted any AMD patients with the Argus II device. We are planning to conduct a five subject feasibility study of the use of the Argus II System in patients with dry AMD. This feasibility study will be conducted in the United Kingdom and approval to conduct the study has been obtained from the UK Competent Authority, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency or MHRA. We expect to enroll the first patient in this study before the end of 2014 and to have all patients in this study enrolled before the end of March 2015. After follow-up data have been collected from these five subjects, we intend to conduct a larger pivotal study, of up to 30 subjects, in the US and Europe to collect safety and efficacy data to support market approval for this expanded indication for use for the Argus II System.

We intend to seek FDA approval in the US for use of the Argus II System for AMD. We also intend to explicitly add AMD to our CE label for the use of the Argus II System in patients with AMD in Europe. Our approach will be to implant the electrode array in the central vision area where patients have vision loss and leave any peripheral vision largely unchanged.

Other diseases resulting in blindness that may be treated by Orion I visual prosthesis

Many diseases outside of RP and AMD can also cause blindness. Many of the largest causes of visual impairment (i.e. refractive error and cataracts) are avoidable or curable, and their prolonged or untreated impact on vision is largely observed in developing nations. Some other causes of blindness, such as brain trauma, may also not be suitable for treatment by a cortical stimulator. However, the remaining causes of severe vision loss which include glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, eye trauma, retinopathy of prematurity and many others can result in severe visual impairment that may prove to be treatable by an Orion I visual prosthesis.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO)¹⁴, 285 million people suffer from vision loss worldwide. Of these, 39 million people are considered legally blind. The WHO further estimates that 80% of legal blindness is avoidable, leaving 7.8 million legally blind individuals, including those blind due to AMD and RP, or 5.8 million excluding AMD and RP. In the US, 1.3 million people are legally blind¹¹, of which we estimate 44.3%, or 575,900, are legally blind due to causes other than preventable/treatable conditions, RP or AMD¹².

⁹ Choptar, A., Chakravarthy, U., and Verma, D. ‘Age Related Macular Degeneration’. BJM 2003;326:485.

¹⁰ Global Data on Visual Impairments 2010, World Health Organization.

¹¹ National Eye Institute ( http://www.nei.nih.gov/eyedata/blind.asp)

¹² Congdon N, O'Colmain B, Klaver CC, et al. Causes and prevalence of visual impairment among adults in the United States. Arch Ophthalmol. Apr 2004;122(4):477-485. This percent was derived from the rates of different causes of blindness by different races and racial demographic data from 2010 US Census data.

¹³ Global Data on Visual Impairments 2010, World Health Organization.

¹⁴ WHO Fact Sheet number 282, Updated October 2013.

The potentially addressable market for the Orion I visual prosthesis is a subset of the legally blind population cited here, or less than 5.8 million worldwide, 575,900 in the US, and 1.13 million in Europe.

We intend to use a portion of the proceeds from this offering to support the research and development of the Orion visual prosthesis. Following this offering, we plan to complete the pre-clinical development of the Orion device and currently anticipate conducting our first-in-human study by the end of 2016.

Our Technology

We developed the Argus II System primarily in-house following its clinical conception in the early 1990s by a handful of leading retinal doctors, vision scientists, and engineers, and the subsequent formation of the company in 1998. During this development period we created long term safety, reliability and clinical benefit as we encountered, solved and frequently patented solutions to, a number of significant clinical and engineering challenges. These include:

The Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System consists of an implant, a small portable computer and a pair of glasses with a miniature video camera.

Implant

Our implant is an epiretinal (that is, the retinal surface is the site of stimulation) prosthesis that includes a receiver coil (antenna), electronics, and an electrode array. It is implanted in and around the eye. The array has 60 platinum gray electrodes arranged in a 6x10 grid. Each electrode is 200 µm (0.008”) in diameter. The array covers about 20° of visual field (diagonally). The flexible polymer thin-film electrode array, which follows the curvature of the retina, is attached to the retina over the macula with a retinal tack. The extra-ocular portion of the Argus II Implant is secured to the eye by means of a scleral band and sutures.

Figure 1: Surgical implant as implanted schematic   (surgical implantation is typically performed in 2 to 4 hours)	Figure 2: Electrode array. Current version contains 60 platinum gray electrodes

Figure 3: Surgical implant.

Externals

The external equipment consists of a pair of glasses and a video processing unit or VPU. The glasses include a miniature video camera and a transmitter coil. The Argus II Clinician Programming Kit (capital equipment sold to implanting centers – not pictured) is used to program the Argus II System stimulation parameters and video processing strategies for each patient. The software provides modules for electrode control, permitting the clinicians to program the amplitude, pulse-with, and frequency of the stimulation waveform of each electrode.

Figure 4: External Components of the Argus II System

How it works

In a healthy eye, the photoreceptors (rods and cones) on the retina convert light into tiny electrochemical impulses that are sent through the optic nerve and to the brain, where they are decoded into images. If the photoreceptors no longer function correctly (as in RP and AMD), the first step in this process is disrupted and the visual system cannot transform light into images, causing blindness. The Argus II System is designed to bypass damaged photoreceptors altogether and provides real-time visual information to blind patients. The miniature video camera captures a scene and the video is sent to the small VPU where it is processed and transformed into instructions that are sent back to the glasses. These instructions are transmitted wirelessly to the receiver coil in the implant. The signals are then sent to the electrode array, which emits small pulses of electricity. These pulses bypass the damaged photoreceptors and stimulate the retina’s remaining cells, which transmit the visual information along the optic nerve to the brain. This process is intended to create the perception of patterns of light which patients can learn to interpret as real-time visual patterns.

Figure 5: The patient perceives patterns of light created by electrical stimulation.

Long-Term Reliability

The Argus II System has been extensively tested at the component, sub-assembly, and system levels for long term reliability. The hermetic electronics case has been demonstrated to prevent moisture accumulation inside the device for many years. The Argus II implant is specified to last a minimum of five years, however, in vitro tests and actual clinical data suggest the device should last much longer. Production implants have reached more than ten years of lifetime use in accelerated in vitro testing and more than seven years use in real time in patients under active stimulation and normal use conditions.

Our Research and Development

Our research and development staff is focused on improving the level of vision that the Argus II System can provide to blind patients and adapting the technology to help a broader audience of blind individuals. A portion of the proceeds from this offering will go toward supporting the research and development efforts described below.

Increasing Resolution

We believe that increasing the resolution of the system should enhance the user experience; which would increase the value and benefits of the technology to the patient. We believe that we will be able to increase the system resolution by:

We expect to spend approximately $4.0 million of the proceeds from this proposed offering over the next twenty-four months on increasing resolution of and other performance enhancing improvements to the Argus II system. 

Cortical Stimulator – Orion I

Developing a cortical stimulator is central to our strategy of maintaining our world leadership in restoring sight to those who are blind. There are different diseases that damage the optic nerve or impair the total functioning of the retina. We believe that a cortical stimulator will permit us to bypass the eye and the optic nerve, thereby allowing treatment for a wider variety of disease-related blindness.

Research described in 1968 reported that it was possible for a blind subject to experience light though phosphenes (appearance of light) when the visual cortical region (surface) of the brain was electronically stimulated – just as the Argus II System does in the eye.¹⁶ Functional vision corresponding to visual acuities up to 20/1200 was reported in the early 2000s, and two subjects were reported to have a prototype of a functional prosthesis implanted for more than 20 years without infections or other severe medical reactions.¹⁷ Though these human experiments demonstrated proof of principle, no reliable implantable neurostimulator with a large number of electrodes was available before we developed and introduced the Argus II System.

By implementing relatively minor modifications to the Argus II technology, we believe that the Orion I visual prosthesis can be implanted directly on the surface of the brain in the visual cortex and may be able successfully to restore some functional vision in almost all cases of disease related blindness. Our small electronics case will be implanted under the scalp and the electronic array placed in the visual cortex region of the brain. A transmitter coil similar to the one in current production will send power and signals to the implanted device. We plan to place our electrode array in an indentation in the back of the brain where a location along the surface of the brain maps to a location in our visual world.¹⁸

¹⁵ Sahel JA, Mohand-Said S, Stanga PE, Caspi A, Greenberg RJ. Acuboost™: Enhancing the maximum acuity of the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System. IOVS 2013 May; 1389. ARVO E-Abstract.

¹⁶ Brindley, G.S. and W.S. Lewin, The sensations produced by electrical stimulation of the visual cortex. J Physiology 1968. 196(2): p. 479-93.

¹⁷ Dobelle WH. Artificial vision for the blind by connecting a television camera to the visual cortex. ASAIO J 2000;46:3-9.

¹⁸ Benson, N.C., et al., The retinotopic organization of striate cortex is well predicted by surface topology. Curr Biol, 2012. 22(21): p. 2081-5.

We expect to spend approximately $5.0 million of the proceeds from this offering on research and development and pre-clinical testing for the Orion I project.

We anticipate that many of the challenges that we encountered and solved in the process of developing the Argus II System are largely the same challenges in developing a product intended for enabling some functional vision through directly stimulating the brain. For example, a robust implant with a large number of electrodes is required for a cortical or retinal visual prosthesis. We believe the knowledge and technology gained in the development of the Argus II System will contribute to accelerating the development of a cortical stimulator directed at treating blindness.

We can also leverage public information learned from other electrical stimulation implants that are FDA-approved for use in the brain such as Medtronic’s Activa deep brain stimulator for Parkinson’s, Essential Tremor and Dystonia and more recently Neuropace’s RNS brain stimulator for epilepsy. Furthermore, we believe that our specific experience obtaining regulatory approval for these types of devices in the United States and other regions will prove to be helpful in our effort to expand and get new products, such as Orion I visual prosthesis, approved throughout the world.

A: Rendering of the array design seen from top. Bottom has similar outline of electrodes. B: Placement of array in the calcarine sulcus. Array is in blue, the electronics capsule in dark gray and the receiver coil in light gray on the outer surface of the skull. C: Covered visual field with planned array in gray.

Clinical Trials

Second Sight completed a pre-market clinical trial of the Argus II System and data from this trial supported both the FDA (US) and CE Mark (EU) approval of device. Second Sight is currently conducting post-market studies of the Argus II System to continue to collect data regarding the long-term safety and benefit of the Argus II System in patients with severe to profound RP/outer retinal degeneration. We are planning two future clinical trials – one to support expanding the indications for use of the Argus II System for Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) in fourth quarter 2014, and the other to conduct a feasibility study of the Orion I visual cortical prosthesis, planned to start in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Pre-market Clinical Trial of the Argus II System for Retinitis Pigmentosa/Outer Retinal Degeneration

The Argus II System, indicated for patients with severe to profound outer retinal degeneration (limited to RP in the United States), was studied in a clinical trial of 30 subjects in the U.S and EU. The study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov under study ID NCT00407602. The study began in 2007 and as of May 2014, there were over 160 subject-years in the clinical trial. As part of post-market surveillance, this study is continuing and we intend to follow subjects for a total of ten years each.

Data collected in this trial demonstrated that the Argus II system has a reasonable safety profile for an ophthalmic device that requires vitreoretinal surgery to implant. There were no unexpected adverse events. The most common, serious adverse events were conjunctival erosion/dehiscence, hypotony (low eye pressure), endophthalmitis (infection in the eye), retinal tear or detachment, and re-tacking. It was also demonstrated that the device can be safely removed: one implant, including the retinal tack, was safely explanted to resolve an adverse event, and three retinal tacks were safely removed during elective revision surgeries to reposition arrays. All adverse events were treatable with standard practices utilized by ophthalmologists. In general, these events did not adversely affect performance with the Argus II system.¹⁹ Furthermore, since approval, we have observed a decrease in the rate of adverse events, most likely in our view due to increased surgical experience with the technology.²⁰

The Argus II System provides visual information that can range, depending on the patient, from light detection to form detection. A sub-study of Argus II System clinical trial patients demonstrated that 72% of patients could identify closed set letters, and a subgroup of six patients was able to consistently read letters of reduced size, the smallest measuring 0.9 cm (1.7°) at 30 cm and four patients correctly identify unrehearsed two-, three- and four-letter words.²¹ Patients are able to use this visual information to perform functional tasks (such as, locating windows and doors, following lines in a cross walk), to allow them to feel more connected with others (for example, seeing when a person approaches them or when someone walks away), and to simply enjoy visual perception again (such as, seeing the changing light levels on a TV, tracking groups of players as they move around the field at an athletic event and being able to locate the moon). For people with bare or no light perception, even limited restoration of vision can make a significant difference in their lives. ²²

In the clinical trial, the Argus II System provided all 30 subjects with benefit as measured by high-contrast visual function tests. The degree of benefit varied from subject to subject. The Argus II System was also able to provide subjects with clinical benefit as measured by objectively-scored functional vision tests. Subjects performed better with the Argus II system ON vs. OFF on orientation and mobility tests (finding a door and following a line) and on functional vision tasks (sorting white, black and grey socks; following an outdoor sidewalk; and determining the direction of a person walking by).²³

An assessment of Argus II System subjects’ functional vision in and around their home by independent, certified low-vision rehabilitation specialists was also performed. The assessment was called the Functional Low-vision Observer Rated Assessment, or FLORA^®. In no cases, did the low vision specialists report that the Argus II System had a negative impact on subjects. In 77% of cases, low vision specialists determined that the subject was receiving (or had received at one time) functional vision and/or well-being benefit from the Argus II System.²⁴ The results from this clinical trial demonstrated that the Argus II System provided benefits for these blind subjects in terms of visual function (how the eye works), functional vision (performance in vision related activities), and well-being. The study also demonstrated that the Argus II System does not pose an unacceptable risk to blind patients with severe to profound RP with bare or no light perception in both eyes. In 2012, after an in depth review of the clinical trial data, a 22 person (19 voting) FDA-convened panel of experts voted unanimously that the benefits of the Argus II System outweighed the risks.²⁵

¹⁹ Sponsor Executive Summary, FDA Ophthalmic Devices Advisory Panel, September 28, 2012. (http://www.fda.gov/AdvisoryCommittees/Calendar/ucm312582.htm)

²⁰ Humayun MS, da Cruz L, Dagnelie G, Stanga PE, Ho AC, Greenberg RJ, Birch DG, Duncan JL, Sahel JA. An update on the Argus II epiretinal implant. IOVS 2014 May; 5968. ARVO E-Abstract.

²¹ da Cruz L, Coley BF, Dorn J, et al. The Argus II epiretinal prosthesis system allows letter and word reading and long-term function in patients with profound vision loss. Br J Ophthalmology 2013;97:632-6.

²² Sponsor Executive Summary, FDA Ophthalmic Devices Advisory Panel, September 28, 2012.

²³ Sponsor Executive Summary, FDA Ophthalmic Devices Advisory Panel, September 28, 2012.

²⁴ Sponsor Executive Summary, FDA Ophthalmic Devices Advisory Panel, September 28, 2012.

²⁵ Sponsor Executive Summary, FDA Ophthalmic Devices Advisory Panel, September 28, 2012.

Post-Market Clinical Trials

Following CE Mark and FDA approval for the Argus II System, Second Sight is conducting two post-market studies of the device (one in EU and one in the US) to collect additional long-term data on the use of the Argus II System in patients with severe to profound outer retinal degeneration (or RP in the United States). Post-market studies are typically conditions of market approval for medical devices.

In the United States, the study is designed to enroll 53 subjects and will follow each subject for five years. Adverse events, visual function, and functional vision data are being collected for all study participants. Enrollment began in February 2014 and two subjects have been enrolled as of June 30, 2014. The study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov under study ID NCT01860092.

In Europe, Second Sight is conducting a post-market study that is designed to enroll 45 subjects and will follow each subject for three years. Adverse events, visual function, and functional vision data are being collected for all study participants. Enrollment began in December 2011 and 29 subjects have been enrolled as of June 30, 2014. The study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov under study ID NCT01490827.

In France, Second Sight was selected to receive the first "Forfait Innovation" (Innovation Bundle Payment) from the Ministry of Health, which is a special funding for breakthrough procedures to be introduced into clinical practice. As part of this program Second Sight will be conducting a post market study in France which will enroll 18 subjects and follow them for two years.

Future Clinical Trials

AMD

We intend to conduct a pilot study of the Argus II System for use in patients with age-related macular degeneration, or AMD. We expect that Argus II System will be used in its current RP configuration, without any significant modifications. We plan to enroll five subjects in the pilot study who have central vision loss due to dry AMD; the subjects will be followed for three years. The study will be conducted at a single center in the UK. The study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov under study ID NCT02227498. We have obtained approval from the UK competent authority to conduct this study and we anticipate that we will enroll the first subject in the study in late 2014.

Assuming the early results from this pilot study are positive, we intend to apply for approval to conduct a larger study of AMD (both wet and dry) in the United States and EU in late 2015. This larger study, which we anticipate will begin in early 2016, will be used to support efforts to obtain regulatory approval to expand the label for the Argus II System to include AMD in its indications for use. The study would also be used to support efforts to obtain reimbursement in the United States and EU for this expanded indication for use.

Cortical Prosthesis

We intends to use a portion of the proceeds of this offering in development of a visual cortical prosthesis which will entail modifying the Argus II System. Following completion of the development effort, including verification and validation of the design, we intend to conduct a feasibility clinical trial to assess the safety and benefit of the device in blind individuals. We expect that this feasibility study will be conducted outside the United States and should begin in 2016. 

Our Commercialization Plan

We launched the Argus II System in Italy and Germany in late 2011. We have, since early in 2012, also launched the Argus II System in France, the UK, The Netherlands, Spain and Saudi Arabia. In 2013, the Argus II System received FDA approval, and the product was launched in the US in January of 2014, after receiving a required FCC Grant of Equipment Authorization late in 2013. Since that time an investigator-sponsored study in Toronto, Canada has resulted in two unit sales to that center (Health Canada marketing approval is being sought, but an exemption for the study has been granted). In this early stage of commercialization, we focused on a controlled launch to ensure adequate service to the centers and to integrate new knowledge gained so as to make necessary adjustments to our products and services in the following larger commercial launch. We currently are poised for a broader launch phase, where the treatment will be made available to more patients. We expect to use a portion of the proceeds of this offering over the next 18 months to expand the commercial roll out of the Argus II System.

Our successful commercialization of this technology and therapy is dependent on implementing our sales and marketing strategy, and obtaining reimbursement of the device by payers.

Sales Strategy

During our commercial launch, we are employing a Centers of Excellence sales strategy and deploying the Argus II System at prominent and reputable eye hospitals. We believe this strategy represents an efficient use of our capital after giving consideration to the following factors:

When selecting new sites, we focus on high quality health providers utilizing the following considerations:

In the United States and Canada, we currently have 10 centers that are actively implanting and/or recruiting patients to schedule their Argus II retinal prosthesis surgeries. Additionally, we have 14 other centers that have been selected as potential implanting centers and that are somewhere in the process of getting ready to implant their first patients. We expect that of these 14 additional centers, two will be ready to implant in 2014. We intend to continue seeking and recruiting more centers to open additional other active centers in 2015. We anticipate opening other new centers in subsequent years. We believe that we will be able to serve the domestic RP market by having about 70-80 implanting centers across the US.

In Europe and the Middle East, we currently have 10 centers that actively are implanting and/or recruiting patients to schedule their Argus II retinal prosthesis surgeries (six in Germany, three in France and one in Saudi Arabia). Additionally, we have 15 other centers that are either preparing to implant patients or are in the qualification process. Of these 15, we expect that about five additional centers will become active in 2014. We intend to continue recruiting additional centers in 2014 to yield further active centers in 2015. We anticipate that annual new center recruitment, in subsequent years will prove to be an important driver of our implant and revenue growth in foreign markets. We believe that we will be able to serve the European markets for RP by having about 100-120 centers across Europe.

To date, we have employed direct sales to service our initial markets during our controlled launch phase. We believe we can more efficiently support centers that are located at distances from our US and European headquarters by securing distributors in several key markets in order to expand our reach of client marketing and support. To date, we have appointed a distributor in Spain and a distributor in Turkey. We expect that our distributors will commit to providing support services that include marketing, market access, reimbursement, sales and service and also commit to annual minimum quantities and volume targets depending on their territories.

To date, we have not faced traditional sales challenges in any of our markets, largely due to the currently unmet clinical need and the lack of any other approved device or competitive treatment for RP caused blindness. Due to pending reimbursement approvals in the United States, many doctors and facilities have expressed interest in providing the Argus II System for their patients but have been unable to do so. We have had unsolicited direct contact from over 1,700 potential patients as a result of media coverage and news of awards that we have received. We have not expended additional significant efforts in recruiting or converting physicians, or with recruiting potential patients. Our patient pipeline has over 50 US patients deemed currently eligible by implanting physicians and awaiting reimbursement authorization to be implanted. No assurance can be provided that all these reimbursement authorizations will be received or when these patients might be implanted. Please see ‘Reimbursement’ below.

Due to the high cost of the system, government reimbursement (coding, coverage, and payment) is paramount to being able to provide this device to our patients. Please see ‘Reimbursement’ below. Our primary challenges will be to maintain a growing patient pipeline while expanding reimbursement coverage.

Marketing Strategy

To date, and for the foreseeable future, our marketing efforts have been primarily focused on promoting both our brand (for both the product and the company) and on raising awareness amongst and educating certain target groups which include the following:

To achieve these objectives we have employed a mix of marketing plans and approaches which includes media relations, trade and professional show attendance, exhibition, and podium presence, sponsoring medical symposia, conducting regional education sessions, partnering with patient advocacy groups focused on blindness and retinal degeneration, and a limited amount of advertising. We employ two in-house marketing professionals currently and a number of specialized consultants.

In the US and abroad, we receive press coverage and we regularly field requests for interviews, filming, and other reporting activities both in consumer and trade media. In the US, the Argus II System has been featured on all four major networks, including ABC World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer, Good Morning America, and The Today Show. Second Sight and Argus II have also been prominently featured in print media including, TIME Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, and many other media outlets. In Europe, the Times of London, the BBC, and the Economist have published articles on us and on the Argus II System.

Articles and other press coverage on the Argus II System have appeared in many prominent ophthalmic and healthcare trade media, including Retinal Physician, OSN, Ophthalmology Times, Retina Today, Retina Times, Advanced Ocular Care, Review of Ophthalmology, Medical Device Daily and Medical Devices Today,

As a result of our marketing efforts along with what we believe to be the compelling and novel nature of our technology as well as the clinical and practical benefits that the Argus II System retinal prostheses has delivered to patients, Second Sight has received various awards within the past two years including:

Reimbursement

Reimbursement, which is third party coverage and payment for health care services rendered to patients by government and private insurance providers, varies significantly in form and function across countries.

United States

In the US, hospitals or ambulatory surgery centers, known as ASCs, are the primary purchasers of the Argus II system. Hospitals, ASCs and physicians bill third-party payers, including Medicare, Medicare Advantage and private payers for costs associated with providing the services and the Argus II System. Regardless of age, Medicare provides coverage to the blind simply on the basis of their disability, and so the majority of patients for Argus II System are insured by Medicare or Medicare Advantage plans.

In order to have adequate reimbursement for devices and services, we are required to obtain coding, coverage, and payment. Additionally, the required codes and payment vary based on the site of service such as in-patient hospital, out-patient hospital, ASC, or physician’s office. Most Argus II System procedures are performed on an out-patient basis, while a small number may be performed in an in-patient setting. The company has successfully obtained required codes and payment (for both the procedure and device) from the national office of Medicare in both settings of care.

Reimbursement in the U.S. consists of three basic components: “coding, coverage and payment.”

Coding

Providers use systems of codes to communicate with the payer the patient conditions and diagnoses, services provided, procedures performed, and devices used to treat the patient. These codes include American Medical Associarion Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes, Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) codes, and International Classification of Diseases-9th Revision (ICD-9) codes.

Second Sight has successfully obtained the required coding from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and CPT, including:

Payment

CMS has established specific Medicare payment rates for the implantation procedure in the hospital inpatient setting, hospital outpatient setting and ambulatory surgery center setting. In addition, Second Sight has been successful in obtaining additional transitional pass-through payment for the Argus II retinal prosthesis device (and external components) which is reimbursed to the hospital outpatient department or ambulatory surgery center. While the majority of these procedures are likely to be performed in a hospital outpatient setting, Second Sight has also obtained new technology add-on payment which provides additional reimbursement if the procedure is performed on an inpatient basis. We expect that specific physician payment rates will be established when CPT 0100T is formally valued by the American Medical Association. Until that time, reimbursement to physicians is based on charges submitted to the payer.

Coverage

Coverage is the process, criteria, and policy used by payers (insurers) to determine whether to pay for a medical procedure or product. Payers make decisions on coverage for a procedure or service based on a number of factors, including medical necessity, effectiveness, and outcomes. We anticipate that the majority of patients receiving the Argus II retinal prosthesis will be covered by Medicare due to age or the nature of their disability. Medicare provides coverage to over 47 million beneficiaries for items and services that are “reasonable and necessary for the diagnosis or treatment of an illness or to improve the functioning of a malformed body member”1. These beneficiaries include people age 65 or older, people under age 65 with certain disabilities and people of all ages with end-stage renal disease.

¹ Social Security Act §1862 (a)

Currently one regional Medicare Administrative Contractor, or MAC, in the Mid-Atlantic region provides coverage for the Argus II system. We are actively working with other MACs and Medicare Advantage Plans to obtain favorable coverage. Several commercial payers and Medicare Advantage Plans cover the Argus II either through formal policy or on a case-by-case basis, including Health Net, Independence Blue Cross, AmeriHealth, Priority Health Medicare Advantage, BCBSS of Arkansas, AV Med, Medica, among others. Second Sight is actively engaging the dissenting plans to obtain favorable coverage for the Argus II System through either a formal coverage policy or on a case-by-case basis. Although we expect an increasing number of payers to agree to cover the Argus II System, there can be no assurance that all other MACs, Medicare Advantage Plans or private payers will cover and reimburse our product and the procedures to implant them in whole or in part in the future or that payment rates will be adequate.

Europe

After obtaining the regulatory approval (CE mark) in Europe, innovative medical devices go through a fragmented public reimbursement system across Europe. Many European countries use a Diagnosis Related Group, DRG, or similar type reimbursement coding system for the lump sum payment of in-patient medical procedures. Medical devices are generally included in the lump sum DRG payment. To apply for the creation of a new reimbursement code a new medical device first needs to be in widespread use as part of a hospital medical procedure. Typically it may require two or more years from application to obtain a new DRG code. A common way for these medical devices to be made available in the public healthcare setting, is through hospital research/ innovation budgets/other routes. However, these budgets are small in size, limited to a few hospitals, and quite difficult to access, thereby limiting patient access to new treatments. To address this problem, many countries in Europe have created temporary reimbursement programs for innovative medical products to bridge the time to collect convincing clinical and economic evidence to get a new DRG code. While these programs offer a reasonable opportunity for new medical products to get faster reimbursement, they have stringent requirements of clinical and economic evidence that may vary from country to country, leading to slow adoption rates of reimbursement approvals. Such short-term reimbursement programs, such as “NUB” in Germany, “Forfait Innovation” in France, Local/Regional funding in Italy and “Coverage through Evaluation” in England, can be generally grouped as “coverage with evidence” programs.

Second Sight achieved reimbursement for the Argus II System in Germany in 2011 with a process dedicated to innovative procedures referred to as NUB (Neue Untersuchung und Behandlungsmethoden). This reimbursement under NUB is valid for one year in a specific number of hospitals. Under the NUB program, each hospital negotiates the payment for the procedure with the insurance companies for "additional costs associated with the innovative treatment", and in 2011 two hospitals managed to get a sustainable funding to start the first procedures. Between 2011 and 2014 the funding was renewed four times and the number of hospitals obtaining funding increased from two to seven. Over the next few years we expect our Argus II therapy to be covered under the standard payment system which would mean the device would be reimbursed at all centers and the annual negotiation would no longer be necessary.

In France, we were selected to receive the first "Forfait Innovation" (Innovation Bundle Payment) from the Ministry of Health, which is a special funding for breakthrough procedures to be introduced into clinical practice. France commissioned this program for the first time in 2014, and to our knowledge the Argus II System is one of only two products that were selected for this funding after rigorous healthcare technology assessment by "haute authorité de santé" (French Health Technology Assessment  authority). In the longer term, we expect Argus II therapy to be covered under the standard payment system (GHM-LPP  system). 

In Italy the Argus II System has been available in the Tuscany region since 2011 under a hospital/regional funding program. We expect that the Argus II System will be available in several other regions as well under similar funding programs and patients across the country will have a possibility to be treated in these centers with prior government approvals required in some of these regions. Within the next several years, we expect to have the Argus II System be accessible across Italy with funding from national government or regional governments.

The Argus II System is going through a review process under National Specialized Services program in England and other funding programs in a few other markets across EU and the Middle East where we expect the Argus II System to become eligible for reimbursement at the national or regional level for eligible patients during next one to three years. We expect the number of markets granting reimbursement to grow from two to four in the next 12 months.

A multi-market economic evaluation (Anil Vaidya, Elio Borgonovi, Rod S Taylor, José-Alain Sahel, Stanislao Rizzo, Paulo Eduardo Stanga, Amit Kukreja, Peter Walter; BMC Ophthalmology 2014; 14: 49. Published online 2014 April 14. doi: 10.1186/1471-2415-14-49) has been conducted on the Argus II System that affirms the Argus II System to be a cost-effective intervention compared to the usual care of RP patients. The lifetime analysis ICER (Incremental Cost Effectiveness Ratio) for the Argus II System falls below the published societal willingness to pay in EU. According to this assessment, the Argus II System treatment has a cost that is still fairly low for a technology addressing a rare population such as retinitis pigmentosa.

Warranty

We generally provide a standard limited warranty for the Argus II System covering replacement over the following periods after implant

Based on our experience to date, the Argus II System has proven to be a reliable device generally performing as intended. We have accrued warranty expense of $257,377 as of June 30, 2014, which we believe to be adequate.

Our Competition

The US life sciences industry is highly competitive and well-positioned for future growth. The treatment of blindness varies based on the cause; generally there are six categories of treatments in development for the treatment of blindness from retinal disease:

Projects in these six areas are still undergoing either animal or early clinical trials; some, like gene therapy, stem cell therapy and optogenetics remain highly speculative for most conditions. Additionally, we believe that it is currently unlikely that gene therapy and stem cell therapy will prove effective in end stage RP patients.

In the area of retinal prosthetics, there are a number of potentially competing efforts underway. We believe that most, if not all of these efforts, are not as advanced as the Argus II System in terms of commercialization, especially in the United States.

Commercial efforts by others include:

Academic entities are also working on vision restoring implants. To our knowledge these include Bionic Vision Australia (early prototype device developed and to our knowledge implanted in three human subjects), Boston Retinal Implant project (preclinical phase) and Stanford University (preclinical). Of these projects, we believe most have not yet demonstrated a working implant, only one has begun long-term clinical work in humans, and to our knowledge none has received FDA approval to begin clinical trials in the US.

No other device to our knowledge has been successful in long-term human trials, currently making the Argus II System the sole implant being marketed for treating RP in the US, EU, and Saudi Arabia. We anticipate that our identified competitors are unlikely to obtain significant commercial traction in EU (even should they obtain CE Marks) until they have developed in depth clinical data showing the reliability, effectiveness, and safety of their devices. Based on current FDA guidance for retinal prostheses, we estimate any other competitor is at a minimum five years away from obtaining FDA approval in the US.

Government Regulations

The Argus II System is regulated within the category of medical devices. Medical device products are subject to rigorous FDA and other governmental agency regulations in the United States and as well as in foreign countries. Noncompliance with applicable requirements can result in import detentions, fines, civil penalties, injunctions, suspensions or losses of regulatory approvals or clearances, recall or seizure of products, operating restrictions, denial of export applications, governmental prohibitions on entering into supply contracts, and criminal prosecution. Failure to obtain regulatory approvals or the restriction, suspension or revocation of regulatory approvals or clearances, as well as any other failure to comply with regulatory requirements, would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The FDA regulates, among other things, the clinical testing, design, manufacture, labeling, packaging, marketing, distribution, post-market surveillance, and record-keeping for these products to ensure that medical products distributed in the United States are safe and effective for their intended uses.

²⁶ http://www.lerevenu.com/bourse/biotechs-et-medtechs/l-actualite-du-secteur/201405285385f194c6854/pixium-vision-interview-du-pdg-bernard-gilly

In the United States, the Argus II System is classified as a Class III device, which is reserved for life-sustaining, life-supporting and implantable devices. The most common path to market approval for Class III devices in the US is the Pre-Market Approval (PMA) process. To obtain PMA approval, the manufacturer must demonstrate that a device is safe and effective for its intended use. Class III devices intended for rare patient populations may also be approved under an alternative regulatory pathway, called the Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE). To utilize the HDE approval process, a device must be designated a Humanitarian Use Device (HUD). To qualify as a humanitarian use device, the device must be used to treat or diagnose a disease or condition that manifests itself in fewer than 4,000 individuals per year in the United States, and there must be no alternative treatments available in the United States. To obtain HDE approval, the manufacturer is required to demonstrate that a device is safe and provides a probable benefit for its intended use.

Significant changes to existing products and new products, such as the cortical stimulation to be utilized by Orion I visual prosthesis, must be approved by the FDA prior to distribution. Modifications or enhancements that could significantly affect the safety or effectiveness of the device or that constitute a major change to the intended use of the device will require new PMA or HDE application and approval. Other changes may require a supplement or other change notification that must be reviewed and approved by the FDA. Modified devices for which a new PMA or HDE application, supplement or notification is required cannot be distributed until the application is approved by the FDA. An adverse determination or a request for additional information could delay the market introduction of new products, such as Orion I visual prosthesis, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We may not be able to obtain PMA or HDE approval in a timely manner, if at all, for Orion I visual prosthesis or any future devices or modifications to Orion I visual prosthesis or such devices for which we may submit a PMA or HDE application.

PMA and HDE applications must contain valid scientific evidence to support the safety and effectiveness (or probable benefit for an HDE) of the device, which includes the results of clinical trials, all relevant bench tests, and laboratory and animal studies. The application must also contain a complete description of the device and its components, as well as a detailed description of the methods, facilities and controls used for its manufacture, including, where appropriate, the method of sterilization and its assurance. In addition, the application must include proposed labeling, advertising literature and any required training methods.

If human clinical trials of a device are required in connection with an application and the device presents a significant risk, the sponsor of the trial is required to file an application for an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) before beginning human clinical trials. Usually, the manufacturer or distributor of the device is the sponsor of the trial. The IDE application must be supported by data, typically including the results of animal and laboratory testing, and a description of how the device will be manufactured. If the application is reviewed and approved by the FDA and one or more appropriate Institutional Review Boards (IRBs), human clinical trials may begin at a specified number of investigational sites with a specified number of patients. If the device presents a non-significant risk to the patient, a sponsor may begin clinical trials after obtaining approval for the study by one or more appropriate institutional review boards, but FDA approval for the commencement of the study is not required. Sponsors of clinical trials are permitted to sell those devices distributed in the course of the study if the compensation received does not exceed the costs of manufacture, research, development and handling. A supplement for an Investigational Device Exemption must be submitted to and approved by the FDA before a sponsor or an investigator may make a significant change to the investigational plan that may affect the plan’s scientific soundness or the rights, safety or welfare of human subjects.

Upon receipt of a PMA or HDE application, the FDA makes a threshold determination as to whether the application is sufficiently complete to permit a substantive review. If the FDA makes this determination, it will accept the application for filing. Once the submission is accepted for filing, the FDA begins an in-depth review of the application. An FDA review of a PMA application generally takes one to two years from the date the application is accepted for filing; review of an HDE application can be shorter than a PMA. However, this review period is often significantly extended by requests for more information or clarification of information already provided in the submission. During the review period, the submission may be sent to an FDA-selected scientific advisory panel composed of physicians and scientists with expertise in the particular field. The FDA scientific advisory panel issues a recommendation to the FDA that may include conditions for approval. The FDA is not bound by the recommendations of the advisory panel. Toward the end of the PMA or HDE application review process, the FDA will conduct an inspection of the manufacturer’s facilities to ensure that the facilities are in compliance with applicable good manufacturing practice. If the FDA evaluations of both the PMA/HDE application and the manufacturing facilities are favorable, the FDA will issue a letter. This letter usually contains a number of conditions, which must be met in order to secure final approval of the application. When those conditions have been fulfilled to the satisfaction of the FDA, the agency will issue an approval letter authorizing commercial marketing of the device for specified indications and intended uses.

The PMA/HDE application review process can be expensive, uncertain and lengthy. A number of devices for which PMA/HDE approval has been sought have never been approved for marketing. The FDA may also determine that additional clinical trials are necessary, in which case the approval may be significantly delayed while trials are conducted and data is submitted in an amendment to the PMA/HDE application. Modifications to the design, labeling or manufacturing process of a device that has received PMA/HDE approval may require the FDA to approve supplements or new applications. Supplements to a PMA/HDE application often require the submission of additional information of the same type required for an initial premarket approval, to support the proposed change from the product covered by the original application. The FDA generally does not call for an advisory panel review for PMA/HDE supplements, though applicants may request one. If any PMAs/HDEs are required for our products, we may not be able to meet the FDA’s requirements or we may not receive any necessary approvals. Failure to comply with regulatory requirements or to receive any necessary approvals would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Regulatory approvals, if granted, may include significant labeling limitations and limitations on the indicated uses for which the product may be marketed. Conditions of approval for a PMA/HDE application also often include the requirement to conduct a post-market study or studies. In addition, to obtain regulatory approvals and clearances, the FDA and some foreign regulatory authorities impose numerous other requirements with which medical device manufacturers must comply. FDA enforcement policy strictly prohibits the marketing of approved medical devices for unapproved uses. Any products we manufacture or distribute under FDA clearances or approvals are subject to pervasive and continuing regulation by the FDA. The FDA also requires us to provide it with information on death and serious injuries alleged to have been associated with the use of our products, as well as any malfunctions that would likely cause or contribute to death or serious injury.

The FDA requires us to register as a medical device manufacturer and list our products. We are also subject to inspections by the FDA to confirm compliance with good manufacturing practice. These regulations require that we manufacture our products and maintain documents in a prescribed manner with respect to manufacturing, testing, quality assurance and quality control activities.

We are also subject to a variety of other controls that affect our business. Labeling and promotional activities are subject to scrutiny by the FDA and, in some instances, by the Federal Trade Commission. The FDA actively enforces regulations prohibiting marketing of products for unapproved users. We are also subject, as are our products, to a variety of state and local laws and regulations in those states and localities where our products are or will be marketed. Any applicable state or local regulations may hinder our ability to market our products in those regions. Manufacturers are also subject to numerous federal, state and local laws relating to matters such as safe working conditions, manufacturing practices, environmental protection, fire hazard control and disposal of hazardous or potentially hazardous substances. We may be required to incur significant costs to comply with these laws and regulations now or in the future. These laws or regulations may have a material adverse effect on our ability to do business.

International sales of our products are subject to the regulatory requirements of each country in which we market our products. The regulatory review process varies from country to country. In EU, the European Union has promulgated rules that require medical products to affix the CE mark, an international symbol of adherence to quality assurance standards and compliance with applicable European medical directives. Once the CE mark has been duly applied to a device, the manufacturer may commercially distribute the product in all countries that are members of the European Union, and in several other countries that recognize the CE Mark, such as Switzerland and Turkey. Similar to the US, once the device has received the CE mark, companies are required to report certain serious adverse events, are required to conduct post-market surveillance, and in some countries are required to register or list the products.

To obtain the CE Mark for the Argus II System, we were required to demonstrate compliance with several European directives and standards, including the Active Implantable Medical Device Directive (AIMDD), and ISO 13485:2003 (“Medical devices, Quality management systems, and Requirements for regulatory purposes”). Second Sight contracts with a European Notified Body, an organization that reviews design documentation for our device and audits us annually to ensure compliance to the AIMDD directive and the ISO 13485 standard. In addition, significant changes to our device design, and new devices or new indications for existing products, would need to be reviewed and approved by the Notified Body, prior to allowing us to apply the CE mark to the new product. Losing the right to affix the CE mark to our Argus II device or any future products could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In EU, replacement of the existing Medical Device Directive and Active Implantable Medical Device Directive with new regulations have been proposed and are under review by governing bodies in EU. Two of the proposed changes that could have a significant impact on the review of Second Sight’s products by European Union regulators include: (1) requiring review of applications for certain high risk devices by an outside committee, which is in addition to review by the Notified Body; and (2) increasing the requirements for clinical data that are used to support an application. If the proposed changes are adopted into law, this could increase the cost and time required to obtain approval for our products in EU.

We will be responsible for obtaining and maintaining regulatory approvals for our products. The inability or failure to comply with the varying regulations or the imposition of new regulations would materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our Intellectual Property

Our success depends, partially, on our ability to protect our core technology and intellectual property. We rely on a combination of patents, patent applications, trademarks, trade secrets, including know-how, license agreements, confidentiality procedures, non-disclosure agreements with third parties, employee disclosure and invention assignment agreements, and other contractual rights, to protect our proprietary rights.

As of September 1, 2014, we have:

·    95 pending US patent applications and provisional patent applications

·     213 US granted patents

·    78 pending foreign patent applications

·    83 foreign granted patents

Our issued patents expire between March 2018 and October 2033. We cannot assure that any of our patent applications will result in the issuance of a patent or whether the examination process will require us to narrow our claims. In addition, any patents may be contested, circumvented, found unenforceable or invalid, and we may not be able to prevent third parties from infringing them. As we intend to expand our international operations, our patent portfolio, copyright, trademark and trade secret protection may not be available or may be limited in foreign countries.

Our international patents include:

We have focused on obtaining patents primarily in the US and EU, as we have identified these jurisdictions to be our primary markets. We believe that the significant development and regulatory costs and expense of commercializing a product such as the Argus II System will be a material impediment to any competitor who attempts to market a visual prosthesis if excluded from these markets by not having access to our intellectual property.

We actively seek to identify and protect our intellectual property. We have a dual strategy of filing for and obtaining patents to block potential competitors, and filing patents where we believe our technology would be useful in other products. Our patent portfolio covers many aspects of our implant device and its supporting equipment. We have also patented alternative intellectual property paths that do not cover our device, but could present a possible alternative implant solution to a competitor. However, there can be no assurance that our pending patent applications or any future patent applications will be approved or will not be challenged successfully by third parties, that any issued patents will protect our technology or will not be challenged by third parties, or that the patents of others will not have an adverse effect on our ability to conduct our operations. No assurance can be given that others will not independently develop a similar or competing technology or design around any patents that have been or may be issued to us.

Our Licenses and Agreements

We have exclusive world-wide royalty-bearing licenses on intellectual property related to the Argus II System from Johns Hopkins University and Duke University which we entered into in October 2000, and the Doheny Eye Institute (DEI) which we entered into in April 2002. Total royalties we pay under these licenses will not exceed 3.25 % of our net revenue.

Johns Hopkins University and Duke University

Our license from Johns Hopkins covers two patents and one patent application. The two patents include a patent covering a system of wireless communication between the external part and implanted part of an implanted medical device, and a patent covering a stimulation pattern to preferentially stimulate deeper retinal cells. The patent application covers a system for fitting a visual prosthesis using visually evoked potentials. While the Johns Hopkins patents licensed to us may present a significant impediment to any competitors selling in the US or European markets, they expire in 2018. If the patent application does not issue as a patent, the license agreement will expire in 2018 with the expiration of the last patent covered by the license. If a patent issues on the patent application, the agreement will terminate with the expiration of any patent issuing on that application, which likely will be in 2030. The license provides a maximum royalty of 3% of net sales. The royalty rate is reduced by other royalties paid on the same product, and is also reduced by our meeting certain volume targets. The license can be terminated by Second Sight for any reason. It may be terminated by Johns Hopkins University for breach not corrected within 60 days of written notice.

Doheny Eye Institute

The DEI license agreement includes 67 patents and applications which are all co-owned by Second Sight and DEI. The patents cover a wide range of technologies, most of which relate to the Argus II System. As a co-owner of the patents and patent applications, we have the non-exclusive right to use the technology with or without the license agreement. The license agreement pertains to DEI’s share in the patents and patent applications which gives Second Sight an exclusive license. The agreement continues until the last of the patents expire and involves ongoing joint research. We expect that the agreement continues at least until the end of 2031 which is current expiration date of the last patent application filed under the agreement. The agreement provides for a 0.5% royalty of net sales. The license may be terminated by breach not corrected within 30 days of written notice, or on insolvency of the licensee.

Grants

We and our partners have been successful at securing a number of grants from the US federal government. These grants support our research and development, are non-dilutive to our equity and do not need to be repaid. The government, however, retains ‘March-In’ rights in connection with these grants - a non-exclusive right to practice inventions developed from grant funding. Grants received by us to-date include:

In September 2014, we entered a Joint Research and Development Agreement or JRDA with The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory or APL.  The JRDA awarded us a subcontract to do applied research under a grant received by APL. Under the JRDA, we have agreed to perform applied research regarding integration of APL research in to a visual prosthesis system. APL will pay us $4.075 million in one lump sum to conduct our portion of the research. We expect to receive these funds before the end of 2014.  The JRDA also includes a field limited exclusive license from APL to us, for the life any patents resulting from APL’s portion of the research. The APL portion of the research includes image processing enhancements for a visual prosthesis.  In exchange for the license, we issued 1,000 shares of our common stock to APL, have agreed to pay APL its patent prosecution costs, and to pay APL a royalty of 0.25% of net sales of licensed products. 

We also intend to apply for future grants to help offset research and development costs.

Our Manufacturing and Quality Assurance

We have a single manufacturing facility, located at our principal office in Sylmar, California. The manufacturing areas at this location are housed in a single building, and include approximately 10,000 square feet of controlled environment rooms (CERs) suitable for implant manufacturing. At present less than half of this space is being used for Argus II implant production. At the same site are spaces for assembling the external (non-implantable) components of our system and for the labeling, receiving and shipping, and stockroom functions. Finished goods are held at this location and at our contracted distributor in Europe.

We rely on many suppliers to provide materials and services necessary to produce and test our products. Many of these materials or services are currently provided by sole source suppliers. In a number of instances we maintain sole source suppliers because our current purchasing volumes do not warrant developing more than one supplier. We expect to secure additional providers as our production volumes increase. If we experience a loss of a sole supplier before confirming an alternative, we risk possible disruptions in our operations. We attempt to mitigate the sole source risk, by among other things, increasing parts inventory as a partial hedge against interruptions in parts supply and by actively seeking to develop alternative suppler sources before experiencing an such disruptions.

Our manufacturing department currently employs 47 persons and the quality assurance department has an additional nine members. We operate a day shift and smaller swing shift, and at this staffing level we can manufacture up to 10 devices per month. To support anticipated added demand from the commercial launch of the Argus II System, we believe that the space available at the current facility when fully utilized and operating at two full shifts will prove sufficient to build and assemble approximately 100 devices per month.

Employees

As of June 30, 2014 we had 123 employees, including approximately 58 in operations; 11 in selling, marketing and distribution; 38 in clinical, regulatory and research and development; and 16 in administration. Of these persons, we employed 103 in the United States and 18 in Europe. We believe that the continued success of our business will depend, in part, on our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel, and we are committed to developing our people and providing them with opportunities to contribute to our growth and success. None of these employees is covered by a collective bargaining agreement, and we believe our relationship with our employees is good to excellent.

Properties

Our principal office and facilities are located at 12744 San Fernando Road, Building 3, Sylmar, California 91342, and consists of approximately 45,351 rentable square feet at a base rent of $30,883 per month. Our lease expires in February 2022 and grants us an option to extend the lease term for an additional 60 months period. We have rented these premises from Mann Biomedical Park LLC, an entity affiliated with our Chairman of the Board, Alfred E. Mann. We believe that the terms of this lease are at least as favorable as those that may have been obtained from a non-affiliated third party. We believe that these premises are adequate for our foreseeable needs.

Our European offices are located on the Innovation Park at EPFL, Rue Jean Daniel Colladon, CH 1015 Lausanne. The lease consists of 180 square meters at a base rent of 7,079 CHF per month, or currently about $7,982 per month. Our lease is currently monthly with a six month notice required for termination, with the Foundation for the Innovation Park at EPFL.

Legal Proceedings

We are not a party to any pending legal proceedings other than those involving Pixium Vision described in “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Intellectual Property and Other Legal Matters.

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the section of this prospectus titled “Summary Selected Financial Information” and our financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this prospectus.  In addition to historical information, this discussion and analysis here and throughout this prospectus contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions.  Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including, but not limited, to those set forth under “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus.

Overview

We were founded in 1998 with a mission to develop, manufacture, and market prosthetic devices that restore vision to the blind. Our principal offices are located in Sylmar, California, approximately 25 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. We also have an office in Lausanne, Switzerland, that manages our commercial and clinical operations in Europe and the Middle East.

Our first commercial product, the Argus II System, is a retinal prosthesis that can provide some functional vision to individuals blinded by retinitis pigmentosa (RP). The Argus II System is an implantable neurostimulation device that uses electrical stimulation of the retina (based on a wireless video camera feed) to replace the function of the defunct photo-receptors in RP patients.

Our major corporate, clinical and regulatory milestones include:

We began selling the Argus II System in Europe at the end of 2011, in Saudi Arabia in 2013, and in the United States and Canada in 2014. We have limited regulatory approval in Canada and Saudi Arabia, and we are currently applying for full approval. To date, all of our sales have been made by our direct sales force, but we plan to add partners and distributors to enhance our coverage of existing and future markets. In 2014, we entered into our first distribution agreement, that covers the country of Spain, and we are at various stages of negotiations with a number of other distributors for countries in Europe and the Middle East.

We have achieved certain insurance reimbursement milestones in the United States (Medicare Transitional Pass Through Payment, New Technology Add-on Payment, and coverage by a number of insurers/payers), but reimbursement hurdles remain as not every payer is covering this technology. In Europe, we have achieved government reimbursement in Germany and have received a positive reimbursement decision in France, and additional reimbursement is being sought in a number of other countries. Obtaining reimbursement from governmental or private insurance companies is critical to our future commercial success. Due to the cost of the Argus II System, our sales will be limited without the availability of third party reimbursement.

Going Concern

From inception, our operations have been funded primarily through the sales of our common stock and convertible debt, research and clinical grants, and product revenue generated by the sale of our Argus II System. During the two years ended December 31, 2013, we funded our business primarily through the issuance of convertible debt with the face value of $19,519,162 and $10,000,000 in 2013 and 2012, respectively, and the issuance of common stock aggregating $2,400,685 and $7,880,080 in 2013 and 2012, respectively. See Notes 8 and 10 of the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012 for a discussion of our convertible debt and common stock issuances during 2013 and 2012.

Our financial statements have been presented on the basis that our business is a going concern, which contemplates the realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business.  We are subject to the risks and uncertainties associated with a business with one product line and limited commercial product revenues, including limitations on our operating capital resources and uncertain demand for our products. We have significant convertible debt and have incurred recurring operating losses and negative operating cash flows since inception, and we expect to continue to incur operating losses and negative operating cash flows for at least the next few years. As a result, our independent registered public accounting firm, in its report on the Company’s 2013 and 2012 consolidated financial statements, has raised substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern without this offering which will raise operating capital and convert the debt to equity. 

Plan of Operation

We intend to use the proceeds of this offering to fund our current business operations, expand our sales and marketing efforts, enhance our current product, gain new marketing approvals, and continue research into next generation technology.

We currently market and sell our products in the United States, Europe and Saudi Arabia. Over the next two years, we intend to use approximately $2.0 to $4.0 million of the proceeds from this offering to expand our sales and marketing organizations in these existing markets to increase sales coverage, market penetration and revenue in these markets. Over the next 12 to 18 months, we intend to introduce the Argus II System in additional countries through our direct sales force or by working with partners and distributors.

Over the next two years, we intend to use approximately $4.0 million of the proceeds of this offering on development and clinical efforts to enhance the external hardware and software of our Argus II System, which could improve the resolution and other performance characteristics of the system. Increasing the resolution of the system may enhance the user experience and increase our potential market size. Image resolution may be achieved by enhanced image processing, including contrast enhancement and electronic zooming. In addition, we believe that, through software enhancements, we may be able to create a number of virtual electrodes between the physical electrodes on the current retinal implant. This could potentially enhance the resolution of existing devices by ten-fold or more.

Currently, our Argus II System is approved for persons suffering from RP. We believe we can expand the market for the Argus II System beyond RP to patients with severe to profound vision loss due to age-related macular degeneration or AMD. We intend to use approximately $2.0 million of the proceeds of this offering to conduct a pilot study, of about five patients, in Europe beginning in late 2014 to determine the safety and benefit of the Argus II System for use in persons suffering from AMD.  If results from this study are promising, we anticipate beginning a larger scale efficacy trial in early 2016 that could lead to marketing approval for the Argus II system for AMD patients in 2019.  We estimate that the cost to complete this additional trial would be approximately $4.5 million.  If the Argus II System is successfully developed and approved for sale to treat AMD, as to which there can be no assurances, we believe that the potential addressable market opportunity for that device will significantly exceed our existing RP markets for the Argus II System.

We also plan to also use approximately $5.0 million of the proceeds from this offering to conduct preclinical development of a product for cortical stimulation that we refer to as the Orion I visual cortical prosthesis, which we expect will be able to provide some vision restoration to individuals with almost all unpreventable forms of blindness. Our objective in designing and developing the Orion I visual cortical prosthesis is to bypass the retina and optic nerve and to directly stimulate the visual cortex region of the brain.  Human clinical testing is likely to take the form of a feasibility study followed by a premarket approval pivotal trial.  The details of these trials will be determined collaboratively with the FDA at that time.  We cannot accurately estimate the timing or exact cost of these trials at this time.  If the Orion I visual cortical prosthesis is successfully developed and approved for sale, as to which there can be no assurances, we believe that the potential addressable market opportunity for that device will greatly exceed our existing RP markets for the Argus II System.

The amounts that we actually spend for any specific purpose may vary significantly and will depend on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, the pace of progress of our commercialization and development efforts, actual needs with respect to research and development, clinical testing, regulatory approval, market conditions, insurance reimbursement, and changes in or revisions to our product, sales and marketing strategies.  Investors will be relying on the judgment of our management regarding the application of the proceeds from the sale of our common stock. 

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-09 (ASU 2014-09), Revenue from Contracts with Customers. ASU 2014-09 will eliminate transaction- and industry-specific revenue recognition guidance under current U.S. GAAP and replace it with a principle based approach for determining revenue recognition. ASU 2014-09 will require that companies recognize revenue based on the value of transferred goods or services as they occur in the contract. The ASU also will require additional disclosure about the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows arising from customer contracts, including significant judgments and changes in judgments and assets recognized from costs incurred to obtain or fulfill a contract. ASU 2014-09 is effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2016, and early adoption is not permitted. Entities can transition to the standard either retrospectively or as a cumulative-effect adjustment as of the date of adoption. Management is currently assessing the impact the adoption of ASU 2014-09 and has not determined the effect of the standard on our ongoing financial reporting.

In April 2014, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-08 (ASU 2014-08), Presentation of Financial Statements (Topic 205) and Property, Plant and Equipment (Topic 360). ASU 2014-08 amends the requirements for reporting discontinued operations and requires additional disclosures about discontinued operations. Under the new guidance, only disposals representing a strategic shift in operations or that have a major effect on the company's operations and financial results should be presented as discontinued operations. This new accounting guidance is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2014. The company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting ASU 2014-08 on the company's results of operations or financial condition.

In February 2013, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the “FASB”) issued ASU No. 2013-04, Liabilities (Topic 405): Obligations Resulting from Joint and Several Liability Arrangements for Which the Total Amount of the Obligation Is Fixed at the Reporting Date.  This guidance provides direction for the recognition, measurement, and disclosure of obligations resulting from joint and several liability arrangements for which the total amount of the obligation within the scope of this guidance is fixed at the reporting date, except for obligations addressed within existing guidance in US GAAP. The guidance requires an entity to measure those obligations as the sum of the amount the reporting entity agreed to pay on the basis of its arrangement among its co-obligors and any additional amount the reporting entity expects to pay on behalf of its co-obligors. This guidance will become effective for the company for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2013. The company adoption of this guidance had no material impact on the company’s consolidated financial statements.

In March 2013, the FASB issued ASU No. 2013-05, Foreign Currency Matters (Topic 830). This guidance resolves the diversity in practice relating to financial reporting involving a parent entity’s accounting for the cumulative translation adjustment of foreign currency into net income when a parent either sells a part or all of its investment in a foreign entity or no longer holds a controlling financial interest in a subsidiary or group of assets that is a nonprofit activity or a business (other than a sale of in substance real estate or conveyance of oil and gas mineral rights) within a foreign entity. In addition, this guidance resolves the diversity in practice for the treatment of business combinations achieved in stages (sometimes also referred to as step acquisitions) involving a foreign entity. This guidance will become effective for the company for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2013. The company adoption of this guidance had no material impact on the company’s consolidated financial statements.

In July 2013, the FASB issued ASU 2013-11, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Presentation of an Unrecognized Tax Benefit When a Net Operating Loss Carryforward, a Similar Tax Loss, or a Tax Loss, or a Tax Credit Carryforward Exists (a consensus the FASB Emerging Issues Task Force). This guidance provides direction on financial statement presentation of unrecognized tax benefit when a net operating loss carryforward, a similar tax loss, or a tax credit carryforward exists. The FASB’s objective in issuing this guidance was to eliminate diversity in practice resulting from a lack of guidance on this topic in current US GAAP. This guidance applies to all entities with unrecognized tax benefits that also have tax loss or tax credit carryforwards in the same tax jurisdiction as of the reporting date. This guidance will become effective for the company for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2013. The company adoption of this guidance had no material impact on the company’s consolidated financial statements.

Other recent accounting pronouncements issued by the FASB, including its Emerging Issues Task Force, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and the Securities and Exchange Commission did not, or are not believed by management to, have a material impact on the company's present or future consolidated financial statements.

Critical Accounting Policies

The following discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations is based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Certain accounting policies and estimates are particularly important to the understanding of our financial position and results of operations and require the application of significant judgment by our management or can be materially affected by changes from period to period in economic factors or conditions that are outside of our control. As a result, they are subject to an inherent degree of uncertainty. In applying these policies, our management uses their judgment to determine the appropriate assumptions to be used in the determination of certain estimates. Those estimates are based on our historical operations, our future business plans and projected financial results, the terms of existing contracts, our observance of trends in the industry, information provided by our customers and information available from other outside sources, as appropriate.  See Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2013 for a more complete description of our significant accounting policies.

Revenue Recognition. Our revenue is derived primarily from the sale of our Argus II System, which is implanted during a surgery, and intended to provide some functional vision to patients blinded by retinitis pigmentosa (RP).  We sell to university hospitals, teaching hospitals, large medical centers, and ambulatory surgical centers. We recognize revenue when four basic criteria are met: (1) persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists; (2) surgical implantation has occurred; (3) the price is fixed or determinable; and (4) collectability is reasonably assured. We generally use customer purchase orders or purchase agreements to determine the existence of an arrangement. Sales transactions are based on prices that are determinable at the time we accept the customer’s purchase order. In order to determine whether collection is reasonably assured, we assess a number of factors, including creditworthiness of the customer and medical insurance coverage.  If we determine that collection is not reasonably assured, we will defer the recognition of revenue until collection becomes reasonably assured, which is generally upon receipt of payment. We may periodically grant special terms, such as extended payment terms. We defer revenues when these special terms are granted until a final price is fixed and collection becomes reasonably assured. Due to the nature of our revenue recognition policy of recording revenue only after surgical implantation, we have had no returns related to Argus II System recorded as revenue.

Stock-Based Compensation. Pursuant to Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) ASC 718 Share-Based Payment (“ASC 718”), the Company records stock-based compensation expense for all stock-based awards.

Under ASC 718, the Company estimates the fair value of stock options granted using the Black-Scholes option pricing model. The fair value for awards that are expected to vest is then amortized on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period of the award, which is generally the option vesting term.

The fair value of each stock option award is estimated on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option valuation model. The assumptions used in the Black-Scholes valuation model are as follows:

Grant Price — the grant price of the issuances, with certain exceptions, is determined based on the estimated fair value of the shares at the date of grant.

Risk-free interest rate — the risk free interest rate for periods within the contractual life of the option is based on the U.S. treasury yield in effect at the time of grant.

Expected lives — as permitted by SAB 107, due to the Company's insufficient history of option activity, the management utilizes the simplified approach to estimate the options expected term, which represents the period of time that options granted are expected to be outstanding.

Expected volatility — is determined based on average historical volatilities of comparable companies in the similar industry.

Expected dividend yield — is based on current yield at the grant date or the average dividend yield over the historical period. The Company has never declared or paid dividends and has no plans to do so in the foreseeable future.

Patent Costs. The Company has nearly 300 domestic and foreign patents. Due to the uncertainty associated with the successful development of one or more commercially viable products based on Company’s research efforts and any related patent applications, all patent costs, including patent-related legal, filing fees and other costs, including internally generated costs, are expensed as incurred. Patent costs were $311,453 and $350,242 for the six months ended June 30, 2014 and 2013, respectively, and $669,011 and $689,633 for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively, and are included in general and administrative expenses in the consolidated statements of operations.

Convertible Promissory Notes and Warrants . The warrants and embedded beneficial conversion feature of convertible promissory notes are classified as equity under FASB ASC Topic 815-40 “Derivatives and Hedging — Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity”. The Company allocates the proceeds of the convertible promissory notes between convertible promissory notes and the financial instruments related to warrants associated with convertible promissory notes based on their relative fair values at the commitment date. The fair value of the financial instruments related to warrants associated with convertible promissory notes is determined utilizing the Black-Scholes option pricing model and the respective allocated proceeds to the warrants is recorded in additional paid-in capital. The Company utilized the Black-Scholes option valuation model using the same valuation assumptions as described herein for Stock Based Compensation. The embedded beneficial conversion feature associated with convertible promissory notes is recognized and measured by allocating a portion of the proceeds equal to the intrinsic value of that feature to additional paid-in capital in accordance with ASC Topic 470-20 “Debt — Debt with Conversion and Other Options.” The portion of debt discount resulting from the allocation of proceeds to the financial instruments related to warrants associated with convertible promissory notes is being amortized over the life of the convertible promissory notes. For the portion of debt discount resulting from the allocation of proceeds to the beneficial conversion feature, it is amortized over the term of the notes from the respective dates of issuance.

Results of Operations

Product Revenue. Our product revenue is derived primarily from the sale of our Argus II System. We began selling our products in Europe in 2011, Saudi Arabia in 2012, and the United States and Canada in 2014. Our objective is to increase our product revenue over the next several years as we pursue commercialization of our product, as our product becomes more well-known and accepted in the market, and as insurance coverage becomes more widespread.

Cost of sales. Cost of sales includes the salaries, benefits, material, overhead, warranty, charges for excess and obsolete inventory, and other costs required to make our Argus II System at our Sylmar, California facility.  Currently, our cost of sales is greater than our revenues, which results in a gross loss. Our product involves new and technologically complex materials and processes. As we move from making small quantities of our product for clinical trials to larger quantities for commercial distribution, we are developing new manufacturing techniques and processes that we expect to allow us to scale production. We are currently experiencing low yields on our manufacturing process, but we expect that over the next few years we will be able to refine our processes and improve our manufacturing yields. Accordingly, as we scale our production over the next few years, we expect that our cost per unit will decrease and we will generate a gross profit.

Operating Expenses. We generally recognize our operating expenses as we incur them in four general operational categories: research and development, clinical and regulatory, sales and marketing, and general and administrative. Our operating expenses also include a non-cash component related to the amortization of deferred stock-based compensation allocated to research and development, clinical and regulatory, sales and marketing and general and administrative personnel. From time to time we receive grants from institutions or agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health, to help fund the some of the cost of our development efforts. We record these grants as offsets to the costs as they are incurred to complete the related work.

Interest expense on convertible promissory notes. Interest expense is a non-cash expense associated with the Company’s convertible promissory notes. Simple interest is accrued at 7.5% per annum based on the face value of the convertible promissory notes outstanding during the year. The accrued interest is added to the amount of outstanding debt, but does not earn additional interest. The terms of the convertible promissory notes provide for conversion of principal and accrued interest into equity on an IPO, among other events, at $5.00 per share. Accordingly, there will be no interest expense related to the convertible promissory notes after our planned IPO.

Amortization of discount on convertible promissory notes. As discussed more fully above, our convertible promissory notes issued during 2012 and 2013 were issued with detachable warrants and an embedded beneficial conversion feature, which were recorded as an issuance discount with an offsetting credit to additional paid-in capital. This issuance discount is amortized as a non-cash charge over the term of the convertible promissory note. The terms of the convertible promissory notes provide for conversion into equity on an IPO, among other events, at $5.00 per share. At December 31, 2013, the unamortized issuance cost related to our convertible promissory notes was $12,032,146. In the event the convertible promissory notes are converted into equity before their maturity dates, this unamortized discount will be written off as a charge to the current period’s net income. Accordingly, in fiscal periods after the planned IPO, there will be no amortization of the issuance discount related to the convertible promissory notes.

Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2013 and 2012

Overview. During 2012 the company completed clinical trials that led to the February 2013 FDA marketing approval for the Argus II System. In early 2013, the company shifted resources from product development and clinical testing to increase investment in production capabilities and commercialization efforts. This shift in spending was accomplished by decreasing staffing levels in the research and development and clinical and regulatory areas during the first quarter of 2013 while increasing staffing levels in operations and sales and marketing throughout the year. For the 2013 year, total employee count increased from 108 at January 1 to 112 at December 31, but the mix of employees shifted towards production and commercialization.

Revenue. Our product sales increased from $1,367,224 in 2012 to $1,564,933 in 2013, an increase of $197,709, or 14%. This increase in product revenue was due to implanting 22 Argus II systems in 2013, as compared to 15 implants in the prior year, offset by a lower average selling price in 2013.  Our average selling prices in 2013 declined from 2012, mainly due to reduced pricing in Europe. In some instances, we discounted our prices to introduce our product into new hospital centers, and in other situations, due to the lack of insurance reimbursement or other funding, we gave price discounts to maintain momentum at certain implant centers.  We believe that as the market for our product becomes more established, and as insurance reimbursements for this new technology become more standard, pricing in Europe will stabilize. In 2012, our revenues came from Europe; in 2013, revenue came from Europe and the Middle East. Product sales did not commence in the United States and Canada until 2014. We expect smaller price variations, followed by price stabilization, as we enter new markets.

Cost of sales. Cost of sales increased from $4,396,746 in 2012 to $5,629,320 in 2013, an increase of $1,232,574, or 28%.  The increase in cost of sales is primarily due to increasing our production capacity, including the addition of direct and indirect personnel to the operations staff, while still experiencing low yields and incurring higher charges related to our allowance for excess and obsolete inventory.   

During the year ended December 31, 2013, we increased our allowance for excess and obsolete inventory by $1,042,621, or 188%, to $1,595,792.   During 2013, we also increased our manufacturing activity substantially over 2012, which resulted in a $1,336,083, or 104%, increase in work in process inventory at year-end as compared to a year earlier.  The large increase in the allowance during 2013 is due to increased production activity and costs during the year without a similar increase in production of goods that conformed to our manufacturing standards.  As we increased the amount of work in process inventory and manufacturing activity during the year, we experienced a high level of limited use or unusable subassemblies, as a result of which our ending work in process inventory contained a significant amount of goods that will be discarded.  We also implemented design changes during the year, the effect of which was to make obsolete certain older designs, which for the most part consisted of sub-assemblies included in work in process inventory.  

This increased allowance will have minimal impact on future operations.  As these items are discarded in future periods, they will be charged against the reserve and we expect that there will be nominal impact on the Company’s operations. 

We will continue to invest in improving our manufacturing processes.  We expect manufacturing yields to improve and production costs to decrease over the next several years, although significant fluctuations may occur on a quarter to quarter basis. 

Research and development expense. Research and development expense increased from $3,045,157 in 2012 to $3,248,466 in 2013, an increase of $203,309, or 7%. This increase in expense is primarily due to $426,690 of lower grant revenue offsets in 2013 compared to 2012, and to a higher level of stock-based compensation in 2013. Offsetting these increases, compensation costs were lower in 2013 due to a lower level of staffing. We expect research and development costs to increase in the future as we pursue further enhancements of our existing product and develop technology for our potential future cortical implant product.

Clinical and regulatory expense. Clinical and regulatory expense decreased from $3,726,556 in 2012 to $3,215,290 in 2013, a decrease of $511,266, or 14%. This decrease from 2012 to 2013 is primarily attributable to a lower level of staffing during 2013 compared to 2012, and a lower level of clinical trial activity after the company received FDA marketing approval for the Argus II System. We expect clinical and regulatory costs will increase in the future as we conduct clinical trials to assess possible enhancements to our existing product, and assess safety and the efficacy of our current product for treating blindness due to age related macular degeneration, or AMD.

Selling and marketing expense. Selling and marketing expense increased from $2,194,590 in 2012 to $3,301,452 in 2013, an increase of $1,106,862, or 50%. This increase in costs is attributable to an increase in selling and marketing personnel, resulting in higher compensation costs, as well as higher marketing and market research related costs. While we expect these costs to increase in the future as we increase our selling and marketing resources to accelerate the commercialization of our product, we expect selling and marketing expense to decrease over time when expressed as a percentage of revenue.

General and administrative expense. General and administrative expense increased from $4,025,558 in 2012 to $4,167,934 in 2013, an increase of $142,376, or 4%. After we become a public company, we expect these costs to increase as we incur the additional costs of being a public company, including higher legal, accounting, insurance, exchange listing, and other costs.

Interest expense on the convertible promissory notes. Interest expense on the convertible promissory notes increased from $138,934 in 2012 to $1,588,687 in 2013, an increase of $1,449,753, or 1,043%. This increase is due to the higher average level of debt outstanding during 2013 compared to 2012.

Amortization of issuance discount on convertible promissory notes. Amortization of issuance discount on convertible promissory notes increased from $128,097 in 2012 to $3,424,931 in 2013, an increase of $3,296,834, or 2,574%. This increase is due to the higher average level of debt outstanding during 2013 compared to 2012, and to higher value attributed to the beneficial conversion feature associated with promissory notes issued in 2013. As of December 31, 2013, the unamortized issuance discount on the convertible promissory notes was $12,032,146.

Net loss. Net loss was $16,279,127 for the year ended December 31, 2012, as compared to $22,968,925 for the year ended December 31, 2013.

Comparison of the Six Months Ended June 30, 2014 and 2013

Revenue. Our revenue increased from $765,625 in the first six months of 2013 to $1,268,203 in the first six months of 2014, an increase of $502,578, or 66%. This increase in product revenue was primarily due to establishing a higher selling price for the Argus II system with the introduction of the product in the United States, Canada and Spain. In the first six months of 2014 we completed nine implants compared to eight implants in the first six months of the prior year. In 2013, all implants were in Europe and the Middle East, whereas in the first six months of 2014, there were five implants in the United States, three in Europe and one in Canada.

Cost of sales.   Cost of sales decreased from $2,786,909 in the first six months of 2013 to $1,720,487 in the first six months of 2014, a decrease of $1,066,422, or 38%.  This decrease is primarily due to increasing our production yields in the first six months of 2014 relative to the first six months of 2013, resulting in more finished goods being placed into inventory and a lower level of scrapped product.  We will continue to invest in improving our manufacturing processes, and we expect manufacturing yields to improve and cost of sales to decrease relative to our revenues over the next few years, although we expect significant fluctuations on a quarter to quarter basis.

Research and development expense. Research and development expense increased from $1,732,932 in the first six months of 2013 to $2,259,675 in the first six months of 2014, an increase of $526,743, or 30%. This increase is primarily due to higher payroll and consulting related costs as we continue to pursue further enhancements of our existing product. We expect research and development costs to increase in the future as we pursue further enhancements of our existing product and develop technology for our potential future cortical implant product.

Clinical and regulatory expense. Clinical and regulatory expense decreased from $1,622,620 in the first six months of 2013 to $1,307,135 in the first six months of 2014, a decrease of $315,485, or 19%. This decrease is primarily attributable to lower levels of staffing in 2014 compared to 2013. We expect clinical and regulatory costs to increase in the future as we conduct clinical trials to assess possible enhancements to our existing product, and assess the safety and efficacy of our current product for treating blindness due to age related macular degeneration.

Selling and marketing expense. Selling and marketing expense increased from $1,512,813 in the first six months of 2013 to $3,083,089 in same period in 2014, an increase of $1,570,276, or 104%. This increase in costs is attributable to an increase in personnel, as well as higher marketing related costs, as we increased our efforts to commercialize the Argus II System as, beginning in 2014, we began selling the product in the United States, Canada and Spain. While we expect these costs to increase in the future as we increase our selling and marketing resources to accelerate the commercialization of our product, we expect selling and marketing expense to decrease over time when expressed as a percentage of product revenue.

General and administrative expense. General and administrative expense increased from $2,161,935 in the first six months of 2013 to $2,917,178 in the same period of 2014, an increase of $755,243, or 35%. This increase is primarily attributable to $446,702 of higher stock-based compensation charges in 2014, as well as higher spending on rent and salaries in the current year. The stock-based compensation charge in 2014 includes $406,348 related to option grants to our chief executive officer. After we become a public company, we expect our general and administrative costs to increase as we incur the additional costs of being a public company, including higher legal, accounting, insurance, exchange listing, and other costs.

Interest expense on the convertible promissory notes. Interest expense on the convertible promissory notes increased from $620,103 in the first six months of 2013 to $1,097,870 same period of 2014, an increase of $477,767, or 77%. This increase is due to the higher average level of debt outstanding during the first six months of 2014 compared to same period of 2013.

Amortization of issuance discount on convertible promissory notes. Amortization of issuance discount on convertible promissory notes increased from $1,146,675 in the first six months of 2013 to $2,880,032 in same period of 2014, an increase of $1,733,357, or 151%. This increase is due to the higher average level of debt outstanding during the first six months of 2014 compared to same period of 2013, and to higher value attributed to the beneficial conversion feature associated with promissory notes issued in 2013. As of June 30, 2014, the unamortized issuance discount on the convertible promissory notes was $9,152,114.

Net loss. Net loss was $10,813,915 for the six months ended June 30, 2013, as compared to $13,979,828 for the six months ended June 30, 2014.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Our company’s consolidated financial statements have been presented on the basis that it is a going concern, which contemplates the realization of assets and satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. We have experienced recurring operating losses and negative operating cash flows since inception, and have financed our working capital requirements through the recurring sale of our equity securities.  As a result, our independent registered public accounting firm, in its report on our 2013 and 2012 consolidated financial statements, has raised substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern (see “Going Concern” above”).

We are planning an initial public offering of approximately 3,500,000 shares of our common stock (a “Share”), generating gross proceeds of approximately $31,500,000, and intend to use the proceeds from such offering to invest in our business to expand sales and marketing efforts, enhance current product, gain regulatory approvals for additional indications, and continue research and development into next generation technology. Each Share sold in this offering will be coupled with a non-transferable contractual right which could allow the holder to obtain at no additional cost up to one additional share on the second anniversary of the closing date of the offering (the “Long Term Investor Right^SM”). For a holder of a Share to benefit from the Long Term Investor Right, the holder must: (1) hold the Share obtained in the offering after the closing date of the offering, (2) register the Share in its name, and not in “street name,” no later than 90 days after the closing date of the offering, and (3) continuously hold the Share in certificate or book entry form during the two years after the closing date of the offering. If the holder of the Share fails to timely make the registration and to hold the Share continuously for the two years after the closing date of the offering, the Long Term Investor Right will terminate. If the common stock trades on its principal exchange at 200% of the Offering Price or greater on five consecutive trading days during the two years after the closing date the Long Term Investor Right will terminate. The Long Term Investor Right will convert into common stock if our shares do not trade on their principal exchange at 200% of the Offering Price or greater on five consecutive trading days during the two years after the closing date.

At December 31, 2013, we had cash and money market funds totaling $8,674,179, as compared to $4,454,792 at December 31, 2012, an increase of $4,219,387, or 95%. Working capital was $9,104,436 at December 31, 2013, as compared to $4,275,975 at December 31, 2012, an increase of $4,828,461 or 113%. We use our cash, money market funds and working capital to fund our operating activities.

During 2013, we used $17,426,862 of cash in operating activities, consisting of a net loss of $22,968,925, reduced by non-cash charges of $6,099,284 for depreciation and amortization of property and equipment, stock-based compensation, amortization of discount on convertible notes payable, and non-cash interest accrued on convertible notes payable, and increased by a net change in operating assets and liabilities of $557,221. This compares to 2012, when we used $15,321,214 of cash in operating activities, consisting of a net loss of $16,279,127, reduced by non-cash charges of $1,499,605 for depreciation and amortization of property and equipment, stock-based compensation, amortization of discount on convertible notes payable, and non-cash interest accrued on convertible notes payable, and increased by a net change in operating assets and liabilities of $541,692.

Investing activities in 2013 and 2012 used $4,547,580 and $2,847,259 of cash, respectively. Of these totals, $4,301,576 related to investments in money market funds in 2013, compared to $2,651,176 in 2012. We also used $246,004 to purchase property and equipment in 2013, compared to $196,083 in 2012.

Financing activities provided $21,974,617 of cash in 2013, including $19,519,162 from the issuance of convertible promissory notes primarily to existing investors and $2,400,685 from the issuance of common stock to new investors at $7.00 per share. In 2012, financing activities provided $17,984,016 of cash, including $10,000,000 from the issuance of convertible promissory notes and $7,880,080 from the issuance of common stock primarily to existing investors at $5.00 per share. In 2013, we repaid convertible promissory notes totaling $53,666. Cash provided by stock option exercises was $108,436 in 2013 and $103,936 in 2012.

At June 30, 2014, we had cash and money market funds of $6,026,234, as compared to $8,674,179 at December 31, 2013, a decrease of $2,647,945, or 31%, during the first six months of 2014. Working capital was $7,684,478 at June 30, 2014, as compared to $9,104,436 at December 31, 2013, a decrease of $1,419,958, or 16%.

During the first six months of 2014, we used $10,278,480 of cash in operating activities, consisting primarily of a net loss of $13,979,828, offset by non-cash charges of $4,946,169 for depreciation and amortization of property and equipment, stock-based compensation, amortization of discount on convertible notes payable, and non-cash interest accrued on convertible notes payable, and increased by a net change in operating assets and liabilities of $1,244,821. This compares to the first six months of 2013, when we used $8,665,255 in operating activities, consisting primarily of a net loss of $10,813,915, offset by non-cash charges of $2,378,540 for depreciation and amortization of property and equipment, stock-based compensation, amortization of discount on convertible notes payable, and non-cash interest accrued on convertible notes payable, and increased by a net change in operating assets and liabilities of $229,880.

Investing activities in the first six months of 2014 provided $5,251,076, reflecting $5,532,109 in proceeds from money market investments, offset by $281,033 for the purchase of equipment. In the first six months of 2013, investing activities used $6,066,020 of cash, reflecting $5,952,478 investment in money market funds and $113,542 used for the purchase of equipment.

Financing activities provided $7,987,808 of cash in first six months of 2014, from the issuance of $7,578,977 of common stock at $7.00 per share to new investors and $408,831 from stock option exercises. In the first six months of 2013, financing activities provided $14,751,176 of cash from the issuance of $14,769,162 of convertible promissory notes to existing investors and $35,680 from the exercise of stock options, offset by convertible note repayments totaling $53,666.

To date, we have not generated sufficient revenue from product sales to finance our operations. Funding for the business has come primarily through the issuance of equity and convertible debt, and grants from private institutions and government agencies. Over the next few years, we intend to invest in (1) sales and marketing in order to increase the distribution and demand for our products, (2) research and development to enhance our existing products and develop next generation products, and (3) clinical and regulatory efforts to expand indications for our existing product and to assess the feasibility of future products. Additionally, after the completion of the proposed public offering, we expect that our general and administrative expenses will increase as we incur the substantial incremental costs associated with being a public company. While our objective is to generate sufficient revenue from the sales of our products to reach breakeven on a cash flow basis in the next several years, there can be no assurance that we will be successful in doing so. If we are unsuccessful in generating a sufficient level of product revenue to fund all or part of our business, the proceeds from this proposed public offering may not be sufficient to finance the company beyond the next eighteen to twenty-four months and we will need to raise additional capital (of which there can be no assurances).

Principal Commitments

Effective August 2012, we entered into a lease agreement (the “Sylmar Lease”) with a company owned by the major stockholder of the company for office space for a term of five years that expires on February 28, 2017. The Sylmar Lease included rental of additional space commencing January 1, 2013 and a five year option to renew. The lease requires us to pay real estate taxes, insurance and common area maintenance each year, and is subject to periodic cost of living adjustments. In April 2014, the Sylmar Lease was renegotiated with the term ending on February 28, 2022, and a five year option to renew. The new lease also requires us to pay real estate taxes, insurance and common area maintenance each year and includes automatic increases in base rent in base rent each year.

Our Swiss subsidiary rents office space in Switzerland on a month-to-month basis for CHF 7,079 (approximately $7,982 at June 30, 2014) per month.

Total rent expense was approximately $470,000 and $394,000 for the six months ended June 30, 2014 and 2013, respectively and was $766,000 and $458,000 for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively. Future minimum rental payments required under the operating leases are as follows for the years ended December 31. The amount presented for 2014 represents amounts due at June 30, 2014 for the remainder of the 2014 year ending December 31, 2014.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We do not have any off balance sheet arrangements.

Trends, Events and Uncertainties

Research and development of new technologies are, by their nature, unpredictable.  Although we will undertake development efforts with commercially reasonable diligence, there can be no assurance that the net proceeds from this offering will be sufficient to enable us to develop our technology to the extent needed to create future sales to sustain operations as contemplated herein.  If the net proceeds from this offering are insufficient for this purpose, we will consider other options to continue our path to commercialization, including, but not limited to, additional financing through follow-on stock offerings, debt financing, co-development agreements, curtailment of operations, suspension of operations, sale or licensing of developed intellectual or other property, or other alternatives.

We cannot assure you that our technology will be adopted or that we will ever achieve sustainable revenues sufficient to support our operations. Even if we are able to generate revenues, there can be no assurances that the company will be able to achieve profitability or positive operating cash flows. There can be no assurances that the company will be able to secure additional financing on acceptable terms or at all. If cash resources are insufficient to satisfy the company’s ongoing cash requirements, the company would be required to scale back or discontinue its technology and product development programs, or obtain funds, if available (although there can be no certainty), through strategic alliances that may require the company to relinquish rights to certain of its products, or to curtail or discontinue its operations entirely.

Other than as discussed above and elsewhere in this prospectus, we are not currently aware of any trends, events or uncertainties that are likely to have a material effect on our financial condition in the near term, although it is possible that new trends or events may develop in the future that could have a material effect on our financial condition.

MANAGEMENT

Executive Officers and Directors

The following table sets forth the names and ages of all of our directors and executive officers as of September 30, 2014.  Our officers are appointed by, and serve at the pleasure of, the board of directors.

There are no family relationships between any of our executive officers or directors.

Robert J. Greenberg has been the President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. since its inception.  Prior to the formation of Second Sight, Dr. Greenberg worked co-managing the Alfred E. Mann Foundation. From 1997 to 1998, he served as lead reviewer for IDEs and 510(k)s at the Office of Device Evaluation at the US Food and Drug Administration in the Neurological Devices Division. In 1998, he received his medical degree from The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. From 1991 to 1997, Dr. Greenberg conducted pre-clinical trials demonstrating the feasibility of retinal electrical stimulation in patients with retinitis pigmentosa. This work was done at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and led to the granting of his Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins Department of Biomedical Engineering. His undergraduate degree was in Electrical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering from Duke University. Dr. Greenberg’s unique and extensive scientific, technical and business expertise makes him well qualified to serve on our board of directors.

Alfred E. Mann is one of our founders and has been one of our directors since inception. He has been a director of MannKind Corporation since April 1999, its Chairman of the Board since December 2001 and its Chief Executive Officer since October 2003. He founded and formerly served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MiniMed, Inc., a publicly traded company focused on diabetes therapy and micro infusion drug delivery that was acquired by Medtronic, Inc. in August 2001. Mr. Mann also founded and, from 1972 through 1992, served as Chief Executive Officer of Pacesetter Systems, Inc. and its successor, Siemens Pacesetter, Inc., a manufacturer of cardiac pacemakers, now the Cardiac Rhythm Management Division of St. Jude Medical Corporation. Mr. Mann founded and since 1993, has served as Chairman and until January 2008, as Co-Chief Executive Officer of Advanced Bionics Corporation, a medical device manufacturer focused on neurostimulation to restore hearing to the deaf and to treat chronic pain and other neural deficits that was acquired by Boston Scientific Corporation in June 2004. In January 2008, the former stockholders of Advanced Bionics Corporation repurchased certain segments from Boston Scientific Corporation and formed Advanced Bionics LLC for cochlear implants and Infusion Systems LLC for infusion pumps. Mr. Mann was non-executive Chairman of both entities. Advanced Bionics LLC was acquired by Sonova Holdings on December 30, 2009. Infusion Systems LLC was acquired by the Alfred E. Mann Foundation in February 2010. Mr. Mann has also founded and is non-executive Chairman of Bioness Inc., which is developing rehabilitation neurostimulation systems; Quallion LLC, which produces batteries for medical products and for the military and aerospace industries; and Stellar Microelectronics Inc., a supplier of electronic assemblies to the medical, military and aerospace industries. Mr. Mann also founded and is the managing member of PerQFlo, LLC, which is developing drug delivery systems. Mr. Mann is the managing member of the Alfred E. Mann Foundation and is also non-executive Chairman of Alfred Mann Institutes at the University of Southern California, and AMI Technion, and the Alfred Mann Foundation for Biomedical Engineering. Mr. Mann holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Physics from the University of California at Los Angeles, honorary doctorates from Johns Hopkins University, the University of Southern California, Western University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Mr. Mann’s business experience, including his extensive experience as a founder, board member and executive officer of medical device companies, combined with his business acumen and judgment provide our board with valuable scientific and operational expertise and leadership skills.

Thomas B. Miller has been our Chief Financial Officer since May 2014.  From 2000 to 2014 he was Chief Financial Officer of Ixia, a public company engaged in the design and manufacture of network test and monitoring products for the telecommunications industry. From 1997 to 1999 he was the Director of Finance and Controller of CoCensys, a public biotechnology company engaged in the discovery and development of new drugs to treat neurological and psychiatric disorders. Mr. Miller received a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Arts, Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Anne-Marie Ripley has been our Vice President of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs since July 2005.  From 2002 to 2005 she worked for the Alfred E. Mann Foundation, a non-profit organization that was conducting research and development for innovative bionic devices for people suffering from disabilities due to stroke and spinal cord injury with a final position as Vice President of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs.  From 1999 to 2002, she was the Vice President of Data & Site Management and later Vice President of Operations at MD DataDirect, a start-up, web-based market research firm specializing in real-time cardiology device usage information.  From 1992 to 1999 she worked in clinical and regulatory affairs (with a final position at the Director level) at Eclipse Surgical Technologies (now Cardiogenesis), a maker of interventional cardiology, cardiac surgery and orthopedic devices.  Ms. Ripley received her Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy from Stanford University.

Gregoire Cosendai was our Director of European Operations from 2008 to 2010 and has since 2010 been our Vice President of European Operations. Between 2005 and 2008 he acted as a consultant for Second Sight. From 2001 to 2008 he was director of business development for the Alfred E. Mann Foundation. From 1995 to 2001 he was clinical engineer at the ENT clinic at the Geneva Hospital. Mr. Cosendai received a PhD from EPFL Lausanne on developing new speech coding strategies for cochlear implants and a Master of Electrical Engineering (Ing. dipl. EPFL elec.) from EPFL Lausanne.

Brian Mech has been our Vice President of Business Development since 2008 and has been with the company since 1999. From 1999 to 2008 Mr. Mech held roles as a Materials Science Engineer and Director of Business Development at Second Sight. From 1997 to 1999, Mr. Mech was an Engineering Research Associate at the University of Michigan. Mr. Mech began his career at Second Sight working on advanced implantable package design, and has assumed responsibilities in the areas of implant design, pre-clinical testing, clinical support, reimbursement, sales and marketing, and business development. Mr. Mech received his Ph.D. in Materials Science from the University of Toronto and an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Edward Randolph has been our Vice President of Manufacturing since 2007. From 2003 to 2007, Mr. Randolph was Director of Manufacturing Engineering at Boston Scientific Corp., a worldwide manufacturer of medical devices and products. From 2001 to 2003, Mr. Randolph was a Director of Manufacturing Engineering at Cygnus, Inc., manufacturer of non-invasive transdermal drug delivery systems. Mr. Randolph received his Master of Science in Engineering from Stanford University and his Bachelor of Science in Architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

William J. Link has been a member of our Board of Directors since 2003. Mr. Link is a co-founder and managing director of Versant Ventures, a venture capital firm specializing in early-stage investing in healthcare companies, since its inception in 1999. Prior to co-founding Versant Ventures, Mr. Link was a general partner at Brentwood Venture Capital from 1998 to present. Mr. Link also founded and served as chairman and CEO of Chiron Vision, a subsidiary of Chiron Corporation specializing in ophthalmic surgical products, from 1986 to 1997 which was sold to Bausch and Lomb in 1997. Prior to Chiron Vision, Mr. Link founded in 1978 and served as President of American Medical Optics (AMO), a division of American Hospital Supply Corporation, which was sold to Allergan in 1986. Mr. Link also served on the Board of AMO’s successor company, Advanced Medical Optics (AMO) which was acquired by Abbott in 2009, from 2002 to 2009. Mr. Link was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at the Indiana University School of Medicine from 1973 to 1976. Mr. Link received his BSc, MSc and Ph.D. from Purdue University. Our board has concluded that Mr. Link’s senior executive history with a focus on medical products as well as his extensive financial and other experience with technology companies in general, including his experience of serving on other boards of directors make him a qualified and valued member of our board. 

Aaron Mendelsohn is a founder and has been a director of Second Sight since inception. Mr. Mendelsohn served on the board of Advanced Bionics since shortly after its founding in 1993 until its sale in 2004. Mr. Mendelsohn was also a founder and director of MRG from its inception in 1998 until its sale in 2001 to Medtronic, Inc.  Mr. Mendelsohn serves on the board of directors for the Alfred E. Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California since its inception in 1998 and is a member of its Executive Committee. Mr. Mendelsohn is a founder and since 2007 a director of Nanoprecision Holding Company, Inc., a world leader in manipulating materials at nanometer scale. He is also a founder and director of Nanoprecision Medical, Inc, a drug delivery company working in nanotechnology, since its inception in 2011. Mr. Mendelsohn is a founder and serves as Chairman of the Maestro Foundation since it was organized in 1983. The Maestro Foundation is a leading non-profit musical philanthropic organization which hosts a premier chamber music series and lends professional-level instruments and bows to young, career-bound classical musicians. Mr. Mendelsohn received his B.A. from UCLA and J.D. from Loyola University School of Law Los Angeles. Our board believes that Mr. Mendelsohn’s business experience, including his experience as a founder, board member and executive officer of medical device companies, combined with his financial experience, business acumen and judgment provide our Board with valuable managerial and operational expertise and leadership skills making him well qualified to continue serving as one of our directors.

Gregg Williams has been a member of our Board of Directors since June 2009. Mr. Williams has been the Chief Executive Officer at Williams International Corporation since April 2005. Mr. Williams serves as the Chairman and President of Williams International Corporation and served as its Chief Operating Officer. He is a Member of Strategic Advisory Council of Bye Aerospace, Inc. Mr. Williams received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Utah in 1982. Our board believes that Mr. Williams’ executive and managerial experience together with his leadership skills make him well qualified to continue serving as one of our directors.

Code of Business Conduct and Ethics

Our board of directors has adopted a code of business conduct and ethics that will apply to all of our employees, officers and directors, including our Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and other executive and senior financial officers. The full text of our code of business conduct and ethics will be available on the investor relations page on our website. We intend to post any amendment to our code of business conduct and ethics, and any waivers of such code for directors and executive officers, on our website or in filings under the Exchange Act.

Board of Directors

Director Independence

In connection with this offering, we intend to list our common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market. Under the rules of The Nasdaq Stock Market, independent directors must comprise a majority of a listed company’s board of directors within a specified period of time after the completion of an initial public offering. In addition, the rules of The Nasdaq Stock Market require that, subject to specified exceptions, each member of a listed company’s audit, compensation and nominating and corporate governance committees be independent. Under the rules of The Nasdaq Stock Market, a director will only qualify as an “independent director” if, in the opinion of that company’s board of directors, that person does not have a relationship that would interfere with the exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director.

Audit committee members must also satisfy the independence criteria set forth in Rule 10A-3 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. In order to be considered independent for purposes of Rule 10A-3, a member of an audit committee of a listed company may not, other than in his or her capacity as a member of the audit committee, the board of directors, or any other board committee: (1) accept, directly or indirectly, any consulting, advisory, or other compensatory fee from the listed company or any of its subsidiaries; or (2) be an affiliated person of the listed company or any of its subsidiaries.

Our board of directors has undertaken a review of the independence of each director and considered whether each director has a material relationship with us that could compromise or impair such director’s ability to exercise independent judgment in carrying out his or her responsibilities. As a result of this review, our board of directors has determined that each of Alfred E. Mann, William J. Link, and Gregg Williams are “independent directors” as defined under the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, and the listing requirements and rules of The Nasdaq Stock Market.

Committees of the Board of Directors

Our board of directors has established an audit committee, a compensation committee and a nominating and governance committee, each of which will have the composition and responsibilities described below. Our board of directors will appoint a chair of each committee upon its establishment.  Members will serve on these committees until their resignation or as otherwise determined by our board of directors.

Audit Committee

Alfred E. Mann, William J. Link, and Gregg Williams, each of whom is non-employee member of our board of directors, have been designated to serve on our audit committee. Our board of directors has determined that each of Alfred E. Mann, William J. Link, and Gregg Williams satisfies the requirements for independence and financial literacy under the rules and regulations of The Nasdaq Stock Market and the SEC. Our board of directors has also determined that Alfred E. Mann qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert,” as defined in the SEC rules, and satisfies the financial sophistication requirements of The Nasdaq Stock Market. The audit committee will be responsible for, among other things:

·appointing, overseeing, and if need be, terminating any independent auditor;

·assessing the qualification, performance and independence of our independent auditor;

·reviewing the audit plan and pre-approving all audit and non-audit services to be performed by our independent auditor;

·reviewing our financial statements and related disclosures;

·reviewing the adequacy and effectiveness of our accounting and financial reporting processes, systems of internal control and disclosure controls and procedures;

·reviewing our overall risk management framework;

·overseeing procedures for the treatment of complaints on accounting, internal accounting controls, or audit matters;

·reviewing and discussing with management and the independent auditor the results of our annual audit, reviews of our quarterly financial statements and our publicly filed reports;

·reviewing and approving related person transactions; and

·preparing the audit committee report that the SEC requires in our annual proxy statement.

Our audit committee operates under a written charter, adopted by our board of directors, which satisfies the applicable rules and regulations of the SEC and the applicable listing standards of The Nasdaq Stock Market.

Compensation Committee

Alfred E. Mann, William J. Link, and Gregg Williams, each of whom is a non-employee member of our board of directors, will comprise our compensation committee. Our board of directors has determined that each of Alfred E. Mann, William J. Link, and Gregg Williams meets the requirements for independence under the rules of The  Nasdaq Stock Market and the SEC and is an “outside director” within the meaning of Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code. The compensation committee will be responsible for, among other things:

·reviewing the elements and amount of total compensation for all officers;

·formulating and recommending any proposed changes in the compensation of our Chief Executive Officer for approval by the board;

·reviewing and approving any changes in the compensation for officers, other than our Chief Executive Officer;

·administering our equity compensation plans;

·reviewing annually our overall compensation philosophy and objectives, including compensation program objectives, target pay positioning and equity compensation; and

·preparing the compensation committee report that the SEC will require in our annual proxy statement.

Our compensation committee operates under a written charter, adopted by our board of directors, which satisfies the applicable rules and regulations of the SEC and the applicable listing standards of The Nasdaq Stock Market.

Nominating and Governance Committee

Alfred E. Mann, William J. Link, and Gregg Williams, each of whom is a non-employee member of our board of directors, will comprise our nominating and governance committee. Our board of directors has determined that each of Alfred E. Mann, William J. Link, and Gregg Williams meets the requirements for independence under the rules of The Nasdaq Stock Market for service on this committee. The nominating and governance committee will be responsible for, among other things:

·evaluating and making recommendations regarding the composition, organization and governance of our board of directors and its committees,

·identifying, recruiting and nominating director candidates to the board if and when necessary;

·evaluating and making recommendations regarding the creation of additional committees or the change in mandate or dissolution of committees,

·reviewing and making recommendations with regard to our corporate governance guidelines and compliance with laws and regulations, and

·reviewing and approving conflicts of interest of our directors and corporate officers, other than related person transactions reviewed by the audit committee.

Our nominating and governance committee operates under a written charter adopted by our board of directors, which satisfies the applicable listing standards of The Nasdaq Stock Market.

Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation

None of the prospective members of our compensation committee is or has been an officer or employee of our company. None of our executive officers currently serves, or in the past year has served, as a member of the compensation committee or director (or other board committee performing equivalent functions or, in the absence of any such committee, the entire board of directors) of any entity that has one or more executive officers who will serve on our compensation committee or our board of directors.

Non-Employee Director Compensation

Members of our board of directors did not receive compensation for their service as directors for the year ended December 31, 2013. Commencing on completion of this offering, each of our non-employee directors will be paid an annual retainer of $50,000 for service on the Board of Directors. The Chairman of our Board will receive an annual retainer of $75,000. Each of our non-employee directors who serves as a committee chair will receive, in addition to the annual retainer, an additional retainer of $6,000 per year for his or her service as committee chair and non-chair committee members receive an additional retainer of $4,000 per year; provided, however, the Audit Committee chair’s additional retainer is $16,000 per year and each non-chair Audit Committee member’s additional retainer is $8,000 per year. All fees will be paid in shares of our stock on June 1 of each year and the stock price per share value shall be determined by an average closing price of our stock for the preceding twenty trading days of our common stock on its principal exchange. In July 2014, our board voted to award our chairman, Alfred E. Mann, a bonus of 25,000 shares of common stock in recognition of his many years of service to our Company.

EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION

Summary Compensation Table

The following table provides information regarding the compensation of our named executive officers during 2013. As an emerging growth company, we have elected to comply with the executive compensation disclosure rules applicable to “smaller reporting companies,” as such term is defined in the rules promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, which require compensation disclosure for our principal executive officer and the two most highly compensated executive officers other than our principal executive officer. Throughout this prospectus, these three officers are referred to as our “named executive officers.”

Executive Officer Employment Letter

We have no employment agreements with any of our executive officers.

Thomas B. Miller

We issued an executive employment letter dated May 21, 2014 to Thomas B. Miller, our Chief Financial Officer. The letter has no specific term and provides for at-will employment. The letter provides that Mr. Miller's current annual base salary is $225,000. We also have agreed to grant Mr. Miller a stock option to purchase 175,000 shares of our common stock, at $7.00 per share, vesting in four equal annual installments commencing July 14, 2015, in accordance with our stock option plan. The letter supersedes all existing agreements and understandings Mr. Miller may have concerning his employment relationship with us.

Pension Benefits and Nonqualified Deferred Compensation

We do not provide a defined benefit pension plan for our employees, and none of our named executive officers participated in a nonqualified deferred compensation plan in 2013.

Non-Equity Incentive Plan Compensation

We do not provide a non-equity compensation plan for our employees.

Employee Benefit and Stock Plan

In 2003, the board of directors adopted a 2003 Equity Incentive Plan. On July 15, 2011, the board of directors adopted a 2011 Equity Incentive Plan to substantially replace the 2003 Plan and also approved a complete restatement of the 2003 Plan. Our stockholders approved the Restatement of the 2003 Plan and the adoption of the 2011 Plan on July 21, 2011. The 2003 and 2011 Plans are substantially identical and shall hereinafter be collectively referred to as our “Plan”. Our Plan permits the grant of non-statutory incentive stock options to our employees and any parent and subsidiary corporations’ employees. Our Plan also permits option grants to certain independent contractors who provide services to us.

The maximum number of shares that we are authorized to grant under our 2011 plan is 4,000,000 which is offset and reduced by options granted and exercised under the 2003 plan.

Shares Available

Plan administration. The Plan is administered by the compensation committee which consists of Alfred E. Mann, William J. Link and Gregg Williams appointed by our board of directors. The compensation committee has the authority to determine the terms and conditions of awards, and to interpret and administer the Plan.

Stock options. Stock options may be granted under our Plan. The term of an incentive stock option may not exceed 10 years. The committee determines the exercise price of an option. Payment of the exercise price may be made in cash, shares or other property acceptable to the committee, as well as other types of consideration permitted by applicable law. After the termination of service of an employee, director or consultant, he or she may exercise his or her option for the period of time stated in his or her option agreement. Generally, if termination is due to death or disability, the option will remain exercisable for 12 months. In all other cases, the option will generally remain exercisable for thirty days following the termination of service (subject to extension upon approval of the Committee). However, in no event may an option be exercised later than the expiration of its term. Subject to the provisions of our Plan, the committee determines the other terms of options.

Non-transferability of awards. Unless the committee provides otherwise, our Plan generally does not allow for the transfer of awards and only the recipient of an award may exercise an award during his or her lifetime.

Certain adjustments. In the event of certain changes in our capitalization, to prevent diminution or enlargement of the benefits or potential benefits available under our Plan, the committee will adjust the number and class of shares that may be delivered under our Plan and/or the number, class and price of shares covered by each outstanding award and the numerical share limits set forth in our Plan. In the event of our proposed liquidation or dissolution, the committee will notify participants as soon as practicable and all awards will terminate immediately prior to the consummation of such proposed transaction.

Merger or change in control. Our Plan provides that in the event of a merger or change in control, as defined under the Plan, each outstanding award will be treated as provided for in the individual award agreement.

Amendment, termination. Our board of directors will have the authority to amend, suspend or terminate the Plan provided such action does not require stockholder approval and will not impair the existing rights of any participant. Our Plan will automatically terminate in 2021, unless we terminate it sooner.

401(k) Plan

The Company has a 401(k) Savings Retirement Plan that covers substantially all full-time employees who meet the plan's eligibility requirements and provides for an employee elective contribution. The Plan provides for employer matching contributions or profit sharing contributions to eligible employees.  Employer contributions are discretionary and determined annually by the Board of Directors.  Contributions to the plan totaled approximately $65,000 and $56,000 for the six months ended June 30, 2014 and 2013, respectively, and $110,000 and $129,000 for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively.

We are required to contribute to a government-sponsored pension plan for the employees of our Switzerland-based subsidiary. The employer’s portion of the amounts contributed to the subsidiary’s pension plan on behalf of the employees was approximately $52,000 and $41,000 for the six months ended June 30, 2014 and 2013, respectively, and $94,000 and $78,000 for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively.

Indemnification of Officers and Directors

Our restated articles of incorporation contain provisions that limit the liability of officers and directors for monetary damages to the fullest extent permitted under California law. Consequently, our directors will not be personally liable to us or our shareholders for monetary damages for any breach of fiduciary duties as directors, except liability that might arise from:

In addition, our restated articles of incorporation authorize us to provide indemnification to directors, officers, employees or other agents through bylaw provisions, agreements with agent, vote of shareholders or disinterested directors or otherwise to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Our amended and restated bylaws provide that we will indemnify directors and officers and we may indemnify other employees or agents.

Our amended and restated bylaws further provide that we may advance expenses incurred by or on behalf of a director or officer in defending any proceeding for which indemnification is required or permitted before the final disposition of the proceeding, subject to limited exceptions.

We have entered into indemnification agreements with our directors, officers and key employees, and we maintain director’s and officer’s liability insurance under which directors and officers are insured against loss (as defined in the policy) as a result of certain claims that could be brought against them. Our indemnification agreements may be broader than the specific indemnification provisions contained in the Califorina Code. These agreements require us to advance expenses incurred by our directors, officers and key employees in defending or investigating any action, suit or proceeding in which they may become involved. We believe that our bylaws provisions and these agreements are necessary to attract and retain qualified individuals to serve as directors, officers and key employees.

The limitation of liability and indemnification provisions in our amended and restated articles of incorporation and bylaws may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against directors for breach of their fiduciary duties. They may also reduce the likelihood of derivative litigation against directors and officers, even though an action, if successful, might benefit us and our stockholders. A stockholder’s investment may be harmed to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against directors and officers pursuant to these indemnification provisions. Insofar as we may provide indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act to our directors, officers and controlling persons pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, we have been advised that, in the opinion of the SEC, such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act, and is, therefore, unenforceable. There is no pending litigation or proceeding naming any of our directors or officers as to which indemnification is being sought, nor are we aware of any pending or threatened litigation that may result in claims for indemnification by any director or officer.

USE OF PROCEEDS

We estimate the gross proceeds from the sale of 3,500,000 shares of common stock in this offering, prior to deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and the estimated offering expenses payable by us, will be approximately $31,500,000, (approximately $36,225,000, if the over-allotment option granted to the underwriter is exercised in full).

We estimate that we will receive net proceeds of approximately $29,516,868 after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions, our underwriter’s accountable expense allowance, of not more than $200,000 and other estimated expenses of the offering payable by the company of approximately $523,132, which includes legal, accounting, printing costs and various fees associated with the registration and listing of our shares. If the underwriter exercises its right to purchase an additional 525,000 shares of common stock to cover over-allotments, we will receive approximately $34,052,868, after deducting $1,449,000 for underwriting discounts and commissions.

We expect to utilize these funds over the next 18 to 24 months as follows:

We intend to obtain these additional funds through a combination of one of more of the following:

·          Cash flows from operations.

·          Sales of our securities

·          Joint ventures

·          Research grants

·          Issuances of debt

No assurances can be given that our development activities or clinical trials will result in a marketable product or that we will be successful in raising adequate funds to support our future development and marketing activities.  To the extent we are able raise funds, it may be on terms that will result in unfavorable dilution to our shareholders.

We intend to use the balance of net proceeds for working capital and general corporate purposes. Our management will have broad discretion in the application of the net proceeds, from this offering and investors will be relying on the judgment of our management regarding the application of the proceeds from this offering. We may find it necessary or advisable to use portions of the proceeds from this offering for other purposes. Circumstances that may give rise to a change in the use of proceeds and the alternate purposes for which the proceeds may be used include:

From time to time, we may evaluate these and other factors and we anticipate continuing to make such evaluations to determine if the existing allocation of resources, including the proceeds of this offering, is being optimized.

The other principal purposes of this offering are to:

·increase our visibility in the markets we serve;

·strengthen our balance sheet;

·create a public market for our common stock;

·facilitate our future access to the public capital markets;

·provide liquidity for existing stockholders; and

·improve the effectiveness of our equity compensation plans in attracting and retaining key employees.

Pending uses as described above, we intend to invest the net proceeds from this offering in short-term, investment-grade interest-bearing securities such as money market accounts, certificates of deposit, commercial paper and guaranteed obligations of the US government as well as bank demand deposits..

DIVIDEND POLICY

We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our common stock. We currently intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings for use in the operation of our business and do not anticipate paying any dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future, if at all. Any future determination to declare dividends will be made at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on our financial condition, operating results, capital requirements, general business conditions and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant.

CAPITALIZATION TABLE

The following table sets forth the capitalization of Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. and Subsidiary as of June 30, 2014 as described below:

- on an actual basis;

- on an adjusted basis, giving effect to the following:

- on an as further adjusted basis, giving effect to the following:

You should read this capitalization table together with the consolidated financial statements and related notes and the section entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” appearing elsewhere in this prospectus.

The above capitalization table excludes the following:

DILUTION

If you invest in our common stock, your interest will be diluted to the extent of the difference between the amount per share paid by purchasers of shares of common stock in this offering and the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share of common stock immediately after the completion of this offering.

As of June 30, 2014, our pro forma net tangible book value, after giving effect to the mandatory conversion of convertible promissory notes in the principal amount of $29,519,162, plus accrued interest in the amount of $2,821,966, into 6,468,226 shares of the Company's common stock upon the consummation of this offering, was $8,723,447, or approximately $0.28 per share of common stock. Our pro forma net tangible book value per share represents the amount of our total tangible assets reduced by the amount of our total liabilities and divided by the total number of shares of our common stock outstanding as of June 30, 2014, assuming the mandatory conversion described.

After giving effect to our sale in this offering of 3,500,000 shares of our common stock, at an assumed initial public offering price of $ 9.00 per share, after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, our pro forma net tangible book value, as adjusted, as of June 30, 2014 would be $38,240,315, or approximately $1.12 per share of our common stock. This represents an immediate increase in pro forma net tangible book value, as adjusted, of $0.84 per share to our existing stockholders and an immediate dilution of $7.88 per share to investors purchasing shares in this offering.

The following table illustrates this dilution as of June 30, 2014:

The following table summarizes, on a pro forma, as adjusted basis, as of June 30, 2014, after giving effect to (i) the mandatory conversion of convertible promissory notes in the principal amount of $29,519,162, plus accrued interest in the amount of $2,821,966, into 6,468,226 shares of the Company's common stock upon the consummation of this offering and (ii) the sale of 3,500,000 shares of the Company's common stock at an initial public offering price of $9.00 per share, and new investors with respect to the number of shares of common stock purchased from us, the total consideration paid to us and the average price per share paid, before deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses:

The number of shares of our common stock to be outstanding after this offering excludes the following:

The following table summarizes, on a pro forma basis, as of June 30, 2014, the total consideration paid to us and the average price per share paid, before deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses assuming (i) the mandatory conversion of convertible promissory notes in the principal amount of $29,519,162, plus accrued interest in the amount of $2,821,966, into 6,468,226 shares of our common stock upon the consummation of this offering, (ii) the sale of 3,500,000 shares of our common stock at an initial public offering price of $9.00 per share, and new investors with respect to the number of shares of common stock purchased from us, (iii) the exercise of the 15% over-allotment option, (iv) the exercise of the Underwriter's Warrant, (v) the exercise of all outstanding common stock options, (vi) the exercise of all outstanding common stock warrants, and (vi) trigger of the Long Term Investor Right to Receive Additional Shares:

If the underwriter exercises its over-allotment option in full, the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share of our common stock would be $1.23 per share, and the dilution per share to new investors purchasing shares in this offering would be $7.77 per share.

The following table summarizes, on a pro forma as adjusted basis as of June 30, 2014, after giving effect to (i) the automatic conversion of $29,519,162 principal amount of indebtedness, together with accrued interest thereon of $2,821,966, into shares of common stock and (ii) completion of this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of $9.00  per share, the difference between existing stockholders and new investors with respect to the number of shares of common stock purchased from us, the total consideration paid to us and the average price per share paid, before deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses:

To the extent that our outstanding warrants are exercised, investors will experience further dilution.

Except as otherwise indicated, the above discussion and tables assume no exercise of the underwriter’s over-allotment option. If the underwriter exercises its over-allotment option in full, our existing stockholders would own   88.4 % and our new investors would own 11.6 % of the total number of shares of our common stock outstanding upon the completion of this offering.

The number of shares of our common stock to be outstanding after this offering is based on 34,581,442 shares of our common stock (including common stock issuable upon automatic conversion of convertible notes) outstanding as of August 31, 2014, and excludes:

· 2,521,748 shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise of outstanding options

· 1,180,766 shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise of warrants;

· 955,977 shares of our common stock, net of exercises, reserved for future grants pursuant to our Plan; and

· up to 3,500,000 shares of our common stock that may be issued under the terms of the Long Term Investor Right (and also excluding shares that may be issued under terms of Long Term Investor Right on exercise of the underwriter’s over-allotment option); and

· the shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise of the Underwriter’s Warrant.

CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

The following describes transactions since January 1, 2011 to which we have been a party and, in which:

·the amounts involved exceeded or will exceed $120,000; and

·any of our directors, executive officers, or beneficial holders of more than 5% of any class of our capital stock, or their immediate family members, had or will have a direct or indirect material interest.

Other than as described below, there has not been, nor is there any currently proposed, transaction or series of related transactions to which we have been or will be a party other than compensation arrangements, which are described under “Executive Compensation" above.

Office Lease

We lease our office and laboratory space in Sylmar, California under an operating lease with Mann Biomedical Park, LLC an entity affiliated with Alfred Mann, Chairman of the Board and one of our co-founders. We entered into the lease of our Sylmar facility effective February 2012, for a term of five years that was to expire on February 28, 2017. This lease included rental of additional space commencing January 1, 2013 and we obtained a five year option to renew. The lease required us to pay real estate taxes, insurance and common area maintenance each year, and was subject to periodic cost of living adjustments. In April 2014, we entered into a new lease with the term ending on February 28, 2022. The new lease provides us with a five year option to renew, requires us to pay real estate taxes, insurance and common area maintenance each year and includes automatic increases each year. See "Business-Properties" above and Note 15 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements." In the opinion of management the terms of this lease are no less favorable than those that might be obtained from an unaffiliated third party.

Officer Loans

In May 2011, we entered into a loan agreement with our president whereby we provided him with $319,000 to finance the exercise of stock options to purchase 100,000 shares. The loan bore interest at 2.26% per annum and had a maturity date of May 31, 2016. On December 11, 2013, we entered into a second loan agreement with our president to allow him the funds to exercise stock options covering the purchase of 200,000 shares of common stock for $100,000. This loan bore interest at 1.64% per annum and had a maturity date of December 31, 2018. As of June 30, 2014 the balance outstanding under these two loans, including accrued interest, was $420,425. In July 2014, our board of directors approved forgiving these loans and related accrued interest of $420,425.

Our board and MDB Capital have agreed that our president and CEO may have a limited release from his 12 month lock-up agreement with us, permitting him to sell up to 100,000 shares of common stock, commencing February 15, 2015 and ending April 15, 2015 to cover or pay tax obligations arising out of the forgiveness of these two loans and out of certain of his option exercises. See “Shares Eligible for Future Sales – Lock up Agreements”.

Convertible Notes and Warrants

During 2012 and 2013, we borrowed money primarily from existing stockholders in three separate private placement rounds through the issuance of convertible promissory notes totaling $29,519,162. Entities affiliated with three members of our board of directors, Alfred E. Mann, Gregg Williams and Aaron Mendelsohn, acquired in those rounds a total of $23,378,808 in face value of our convertible notes payable on the same terms and conditions as other investors in those financings.  In June 2014, an entity associated with Aaron Mendelsohn assigned $200,000 in face value of these convertible notes payable to unrelated parties. This assignment included all accrued interest and the related 8,000 warrants. These notes are unsecured, bear simple interest of 7.5% per year accrued on the outstanding face value of the notes, and may be converted into shares of our common stock at $5.00 per share upon the occurrence of certain events, one of which is an initial public offering of our common stock.  In connection with all three rounds of these notes during 2012 and 2013, we issued warrants to purchase shares of our common stock to those investors. These warrants grant the holder the right to purchase additional shares ofcommon stock of the Company equal to the product of (a) 20%, multiplied by (b) the face amount of the convertible note divided by $5.00. The exercise price for each share that may be purchased under the warrant is $5.00. Until their expiration date, the warrants may be exercised at any time, and from time to time, in whole or in part. In connection with their purchase of convertible notes, entities affiliated with these three members of our board of directors, Alfred E. Mann, Gregg Williams and Aaron Mendelsohn, also acquired in those rounds warrants to purchase an aggregate of 927,152 shares of common stock. See "Principal Stockholders."

Bank Line of Credit and Loan from Principal Shareholder

We are in the process of discussing a revolving line of credit from a bank in an amount of up to $7 million. We anticipate that this loan may be guaranteed by one or more of our directors. No assurance can be given that we will be able to reach mutually acceptable terms or enter into a definitive agreement for this line of credit.

Pending our entering into a definitive agreement for this line of credit, we entered into a loan agreement on September 30, 2014 with an entity affiliated with Mr. Mann to lend us up to $3 million at an annualized rate of 1.5% on an unsecured basis. We intend to borrow $2 million from this entity on or about October 1, 2014, and at our discretion we may borrow an additional $1 million from this lender. We will utilize these funds for our general operating expenses. All amounts that we may borrow from this lender are due and payable 60 days after first funds we receive under this loan agreement.

Finder Fees

In connection with a private placement of our common stock completed in July 2014 we paid an entity affiliated with Aaron Mendelsohn, one of our directors, a finder fee of 26,785 shares of common stock.

Indemnification Agreements

We have entered into indemnification agreements with each of our current directors, executive officers and certain other directors. The indemnification agreements and our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws require us to indemnify our directors and officers to the fullest extent permitted by California law. See “Executive Compensation—Indemnification of Officers and Directors.”

Policies and Procedures for Related Party Transactions

Following the completion of this offering, our audit committee will have the primary responsibility for reviewing and approving or disapproving “related party transactions,” which are transactions between us and related persons in which the aggregate amount involved exceeds or may be expected to exceed $120,000 and in which a related person has or will have a direct or indirect material interest. Upon completion of this offering, our policy regarding transactions between us and related persons will provide that a related person is defined as a director, executive officer, nominee for director or greater than 5% beneficial owner of our common stock, in each case since the beginning of the most recently completed year, and any of their immediate family members. Our audit committee charter provides that our audit committee shall review and approve or disapprove any related party transactions.