SYLMAR, Calif.--(Business Wire)--Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. ("Second Sight" or "the Company")
(Nasdaq:EYES), a developer, manufacturer and marketer of implantable
visual prosthetics to restore some useful vision to blind patients,
today announced plans to expand into South America by signing an
exclusive agreement with Tecnosalud S.A. (“Tecnosalud”) to distribute
the Argus® II Retinal Prosthesis System ("Argus II") in Argentina.
"We are excited to partner with Tecnosalud for our expansion efforts to
South America. Fourteen years ago, Tecnosalud took a cutting edge
technology in Argentina, the cochlear implant, and became the number one
distributor for Cochlear Ltd. in South America. Their experience in
bringing new high-value medical technologies to the market includes
expertise in navigating the national health system, which covers the
cost of care for those with disabilities. We believe this makes
Tecnosalud the ideal distributor in Argentina and that they can be just
as successful with the Argus II,” said Will McGuire, President and CEO
of Second Sight.
Tecnosalud will be responsible for executing in-country management of
all aspects of Second Sight's technology, including sales, marketing,
national reimbursement, surgical and technical support.
“We at Tecnosalud are dedicated to bringing new high-value medical
technologies to Argentina to improve the lives of our people. Over the
years, we have helped restore hearing to those who were deaf. Now, we
hope to restore sight to those who are blind with this incredible
technology,” said Javier Brizuela, President of Tecnosalud.
Tecnosalud, located in Buenos Aires, is the largest distributor of
cochlear implants and accessories in South America and the exclusive
partner of Cochlear Ltd. for the past 14 years servicing the hearing
impaired.
The Argus II is a device that induces visual perception in blind
individuals with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) by providing electrical
pulses to stimulate the retina's remaining cells, resulting in a
perception of light patterns in the brain. Patients learn to interpret
these light patterns to enhance their daily lives and visual function in
a sighted world. There are an estimated 10,000 individuals in Argentina
who are blind due to RP, with an additional 200 people newly diagnosed
each year.
Future enhancements to the Argus II will focus on external hardware
improvements and software upgrades so that current Argus II users may
benefit from the continually advancing technology.
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 are intended to stimulate the retina's remaining cells, resulting
in the perception of patterns of light in the brain. The patient then
learns to interpret these visual patterns, thereby regaining some visual
function. The Argus II is the first artificial retina to receive
widespread approval, and is offered at approved centers in Canada,
France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland,
Turkey, United Kingdom, the United States and now Argentina.
About Second Sight
Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. was founded in 1998 to create a
retinal prosthesis to provide sight to patients blinded from outer
retinal degenerations such as RP. Second Sight's mission is to develop,
manufacture, and market innovative implantable visual prosthetics to
enable blind individuals to achieve greater independence. Clinical
trials are currently underway to test the safety and efficacy of the
Argus II in patients with Dry Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD).
Second Sight is also developing the Orion™ I Visual Cortical
Prosthesis to restore some vision to individuals who are blind due to
causes other those currently treated by Argus II or other therapies.
Second Sight's headquarters are in Sylmar, California, and its European
Headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland. For more information, visit www.secondsight.com.
About Tecnosalud S.A.
Tecnosalud S.A, established in 1996, is a distributor of minimally
invasive therapeutic technologies and is located in Buenos Aires with
technical support centers in key cities across Argentina.
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, that 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 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 17, 2015 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.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160209005624/en/
For Patient Inquiries:
Argus II hotline:
International:
1-818-833-5027
US (toll free): 1-855-756-3703
patients@secondsight.com
or
Investor
Relations:
Institutional Investors
In-Site
Communications, Inc.
Lisa Wilson, 212-452-2793
President
lwilson@insitecony.com
or
Retail
Investors
MZ North America
Matt Hayden, 949-259-4896
Chairman
matt.hayden@mzgroup.us
or
Media
Relations:
Pascale Communications, LLC
Allison Potter,
+1-412-228-1678
allison@pascalecommunications.com
or
Tecnosalud
S.A.:
Javier A. Brizuela, +54 223 552-0666
President
javier@tecnosalud.com.ar
or
Edward
R. LeMoure, +1-305-215-6377
Executive Director
edlemoure@gmail.com
or
www.tecnosalud.com.ar
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