Second Sight Announces Final Medicare Hospital Outpatient Payment Rate for 2018 for the Argus II Retinal
Prosthesis System
Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. (NASDAQ:EYES) ("Second Sight"), a developer, manufacturer and marketer of implantable
visual prosthetics that are intended to create an artificial form of useful vision to blind patients, today announced that the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized its Medicare hospital outpatient payment rate of $122,500 for the
Argus® II Retinal Prosthesis System (Argus II) procedure for calendar year 2018. The payment for the surgical procedure
includes the cost of the Argus II.
“We sincerely appreciate CMS’ decision to establish the 2018 outpatient payment rate using their equitable adjustment authority.
This payment rate will facilitate ongoing Medicare patient access to this life changing treatment, while we work to drive adoption
at our Centers of Excellence. We look forward to continuing to work with CMS to establish a long-term stable payment rate for the
Argus II procedure,” said Will McGuire, President and Chief Executive Officer of Second Sight.
About the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System
Second Sight's Argus II System provides electrical stimulation that bypasses the defunct retinal cells and stimulates remaining
viable cells inducing visual perception in individuals with severe to profound Retinitis Pigmentosa. The Argus II works by
converting images captured by a miniature video camera mounted on the patient's glasses into a series of small electrical pulses,
which are transmitted wirelessly to an array of electrodes implanted on the surface of the retina. These pulses stimulate the
retina's remaining cells, intending to result in the perception of patterns of light in the brain. The patient must learn to
interpret these visual patterns, having the potential to regain some visual function. The Argus II was the first artificial retina
to receive widespread commercial approval, and is offered at approved centers in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Saudi
Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Further information on the benefits and
risks can be found in the peer reviewed paper at:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0161642016305796
About Second Sight
Second Sight's mission is to develop, manufacture and market innovative implantable visual prosthetics to enable blind
individuals to achieve greater independence. Second Sight has developed, and now manufactures and markets, the Argus® II Retinal
Prosthesis System. Enrollment has been completed in a feasibility trial to test the safety and utility of the Argus II in
individuals with Dry Age-Related Macular Degeneration. New hardware and software to improve the quality of the vision produced is
underway. A clinical trial to study the Argus II in better-sighted subjects earlier in the disease was recently approved in
Germany. Second Sight is also developing the Orion™ Visual Cortical Prosthesis to restore some vision to individuals who are blind
due to causes other than preventable or treatable conditions. U.S. Headquarters are in Sylmar, California, and European
Headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland. For more information, visit www.secondsight.com.
Safe Harbor
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which are intended to be covered by the
"safe harbor" created by those sections. All statements in this release that are not based on historical fact are "forward looking
statements." These statements may be identified by words such as "estimates," "anticipates," "projects," "plans," or "planned,"
"seeks," "may," "will," "expects," "intends," "believes," "should," and similar expressions, or the negative versions thereof, and
which also may be identified by their context. All statements that address operating performance or events or developments that
Second Sight expects or anticipates will occur in the future, such as stated objectives or goals, or that are not otherwise
historical facts, are forward-looking statements. While management has based any forward-looking statements included in this
release on its current expectations, the information on which such expectations were based may change. Forward-looking statements
involve inherent risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking
statements, as a result of various factors including those risks and uncertainties described in the Risk Factors and in
Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations sections of our Annual Report, on Form 10-K,
as filed on March 16, 2017, and our other reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. We urge you to consider those risks and uncertainties in evaluating our forward-looking statements. We caution readers
not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Except as otherwise
required by the federal securities laws, we disclaim any obligation or undertaking to publicly release any updates or revisions to
any forward-looking statement contained herein (or elsewhere) to reflect any change in our expectations with regard thereto, or any
change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any such statement is based.
For Second Sight:
Institutional Investors
In-Site Communications, Inc.
Lisa Wilson, 212-452-2793
President
lwilson@insitecony.com
or
Individual Investors
MZ North America
Greg Falesnik, 949-385-6449
Senior Vice President
greg.falesnik@mzgroup.us
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