SYLMAR, Calif.—Second Sight Medical Products Inc. (NASDAQ: EYES), a developer, manufacturer and marketer of implantable visual prosthetics to provide useful vision to blind patients, reported Tuesday that it generated net sales of $2.2 million in the second quarter ended June 30. This compared with $1.0 million in the second quarter of 2016, the company said.

The higher revenue is “mainly due to the increase in implant volume and the higher CMS U.S. reimbursement rate available in 2017,” the company noted. Second Sight reported a net loss for the second quarter of $6.8 million, which compares with a net loss of $8.5 million in the year-ago quarter.

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,” according to the company.

Among its second-quarter operating highlights, Second Sight said it increased implant volume to 19 Argus II Retinal Prosthesis Systems during the second quarter, compared with 14 in the first quarter of 2017 and 11 in the second quarter of 2016. The company also submitted an application to the FDA in mid-July seeking approval to conduct a feasibility study of the Orion Visual Cortical Prosthesis System (Orion) treating up to five human subjects.

Second Sight also expanded U.S. reimbursement coverage with the decision by Novitas authorizing coverage for medically necessary Argus II outpatient procedures. Novitas is the largest Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) in the U.S., with jurisdictions in 11 states and the District of Columbia that represent almost 80 million people, the company said.

“We are encouraged by the momentum in the business and pleased with our second quarter results, including our expanded Medicare coverage and the submission of the Orion IDE to the FDA requesting approval to begin human trials,” Will McGuire, president and chief executive of Second Sight, said in a statement. “The Novitas decision authorizing coverage for medically necessary Argus procedures significantly expands the company's total coverage area by almost 50 percent in the U.S. to include 28 states, two territories, and the District of Columbia.”