Second Sight achieves milestone with conditional FDA approval to start Orion feasibility clinical trial

Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. ("Second Sight" or "the Company"), a developer, manufacturer and marketer of implantable visual prosthetics to provide useful vision to blind patients, today announced that the Company has received conditional approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin the Orion™ Cortical Visual Prosthesis System (Orion) feasibility clinical study. The conditional approval allows two U.S. sites to enroll up to five total patients. The FDA has also requested that the Company conduct additional device testing and address outstanding questions. Second Sight has 45 days to respond to FDA's requests.

"This is an exciting milestone for the Company given the potential of Orion to provide useful vision to millions of blind individuals worldwide who have no other option today. We are delighted to have received conditional approval from the FDA to move forward and can now focus on finalizing the various approvals and agreements required at each clinical trial site. Once we complete those steps, our designated U.S. clinical trial sites, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and Baylor College of Medicine (Baylor) in Houston, can begin patient recruitment efforts. The Orion team has met all major internal milestones this year and we remain on-track to achieve the Company's stated goal of implanting our first Orion patient before year end," stated Will McGuire, President and Chief Executive Officer of Second Sight.

"The ability to implant the first Orion system, which has the potential to treat nearly all forms of profound blindness, has been a stated goal of the Company since our IPO. We are grateful for the rapid review and approval by the FDA. This milestone is a testament to the careful, high-quality work completed by the Second Sight and UCLA teams to date. We look forward to continuing our work with UCLA as this exciting clinical trial begins and also welcome Baylor to this important effort," stated Dr. Robert Greenberg, Chairman of the Board.

Blind patients interested in the Orion clinical trial can contact Second Sight customer service at 1-855-756-3703.​