Full Press Release Details
Sight Announces Final Medicare Hospital Outpatient Payment Rate for 2018 for the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System
Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)- 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.
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.
the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System
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:
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.
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.
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