Second Sight Medical
(NSDQ:EYES) posted second-quarter results yesterday that beat both the sales and earnings forecasts on Wall Street as it accelerated its pivot toward manufacturing a new cortical implant.
Citing the costs of reorganization, the Sylmar, Calif.-based company reported a loss of $8.44 million, or -0.07¢ per share, on sales of $1.28 million for the three months ended June 30, 2019, for a bottom-line loss of 6% on sales that dipped by 32.8% compared with Q2 2018.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were -$0.6, 1¢ ahead of The Street, where an analyst was looking for sales of $340,000.
The company announced in May that it would stop making its Argus 2 retinal implant in favor of focusing on the Orion cortical implant. It listed an impairment charge of $2.4 million in March based on Argus 2 inventory and its plans to suspend the device’s production. Second Sight reported restructuring charges of $873,000 in Q2 2019, which partially offset lower operating expenses.
In April, the company announced preliminary results from a small feasibility study of Orion, which is designed to give eyesight to the blind.
“We continue to make excellent progress with the development of the Orion platform and are working closely with the FDA to define pivotal study and post-market requirements,” Second Sight president & CEO Will McGuire said in a news release. “We commend CMS for creating a streamlined reimbursement pathway for innovative devices such as Orion with an FDA breakthrough devices designation. In preparation for Orion’s potential commercial launch, we are beginning to engage CMS and private payors in order to define the appropriate reimbursement pathways.
“Second Sight continues to pioneer the development of neuromodulation technology for artificial vision,” McGuire added. “The interim data from our Orion visual cortical prosthesis early feasibility study compare favorably to Argus and further support our belief in Orion’s potential to treat nearly all forms of blindness.”
For the second half of 2019, the company set goals of submitting Argus 2s to the FDA for approval, hire more staff to work on Orion and develop a plan for high-volume manufacturing.
Investors reacted by sending EYES shares down 3% to $0.76 at the close on Tuesday, but the stock had recovered to $0.79 at this afternoon’s close.
