FDA Approval a boost for second sight

The positive announcent likely came as a relief to managent, given the company’s share price has more than halved since January following the release of underwhelming second quarter financial results in August. Second Sight reported a net loss of US$6.8 million (AU$8.47 m) in the second quarter of 2017, despite a US$1.2 million (AU$1.49 m) increase in revenue compared to Q2 of 2016.However, since bottoming out at US$0.96 (AU$1.20) in the fortnight following the report, the share price recovered to sit at US$1.20 (AU$1.49), and CEO and president Mr Will McGuire said he was delighted to receive the favourable approval from the FDA.{{quote-A:R-W:470-I:2-Q: The Orion team has met all major internal milestones this year and we rain on-track to achieve the company’s stated goal of implanting our first Orion patient before year end. -WHO:Mr Will McGuire, President & CEO at Second Sight Medical Products}}“[We] can now focus on finalising the various approvals and agreents required at each clinical trial site. Once we complete those steps, our designated US clinical trial sites – the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston – can begin patient recruitment efforts,” McGuire said.“The Orion team has met all major internal milestones this year and we rain on-track to achieve the company’s stated goal of implanting our first Orion patient before year end.”Second Sight’s Orion Cortical Visual Prosthesis Syst is an implantable device which stimulates the human visual cortex by converting images into electrical pulses. These pulses are transmitted through an array of electrodes implanted on the visual cortex to induce patterns of light that mimic visual perception.It uses a miniature camera mounted on a patient’s glasses and is designed to bypass the optic nerve and retina to directly stimulate the visual cortex. The device is intended to significantly improve vision for patients with glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy or people with disease or trauma-induced vision damage.Second Sight is allowed to recruit five patients for the human clinical trials.