LOS ANGELES—Second Sight Medical Products, (NASDAQ: EYES) which develops, manufactures and markets implantable visual prosthetics, has entered into a stock purchase agreement effective Aug. 14 with entities beneficially owned by Gregg Williams, chairman of the board of directors. The agreement calls for the purchase of 3,225,807 shares of common stock priced at $1.55 per share, the last reported sale price of the common stock on the effective date. This placement of common stock is anticipated to yield gross proceeds of approximately $5 million to the company.

No warrants or discounts were provided and no placement agent or investment banking fees were incurred in connection with this transaction. Second Sight said the investment provides it with continued current-year funding to support several important near-term initiatives to:

• Advance the Orion Cortical Visual Prosthesis System (Orion) six person feasibility study being conducted at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine;
• Continue to gather clinical and performance data to support safety and efficacy of Orion;
• Complete ongoing development of Argus 2s, the company’s next-generation externals and seek regulatory approvals; and
• Advance research in areas such as eye-tracking and object recognition that can be integrated with artificial vision to provide a more interesting and useful experience for users.

“We are delighted to receive this incremental $5 million investment from Gregg Williams, as we advance our initiatives for Orion and Argus 2s. We look forward to reporting on our continued progress,” Will McGuire, president and chief executive officer of Second Sight, said in the announcement.