SYLMAR, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. (NASDAQ: EYES) ("Second Sight" or
"the Company"), 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 John T. Blake has
been appointed Chief Financial Officer, effective immediately. Mr. Blake
succeeds Thomas Miller, who has served as Chief Financial Officer since
2014. In June 2017, Mr. Miller submitted his resignation to pursue other
opportunities but agreed at our request to remain in the position until
his successor was named.

“We are delighted to welcome John to the Second Sight team. John’s
financial acumen, track record of results and broad life sciences
industry experience will support our efforts to grow Second Sight as we
build on the momentum generated by the Argus® II Retinal
Prosthesis System (Argus II) and as we advance the development of the
Orion™ Cortical Visual Prosthesis System (Orion),” said Will McGuire,
Second Sight’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “In addition,
John’s strengths and capabilities are well-known to me since we worked
together at Volcano. It will be a genuine pleasure to work with him
again.”

Mr. Blake most recently served as Senior Vice President, Finance of aTyr
Pharma, a publicly-traded biotechnology company he joined in March 2015.
Prior to aTyr, Mr. Blake was responsible for the global financial
planning and analysis function at Volcano Corporation (Volcano), a
publicly-traded medical device company, where he successfully executed
Volcano’s rapid growth and expansion as Director, Financial Planning and
Analysis from March 2010 to March 2015 and as the SEC Reporting Manager
from November 2008 through March 2010. Mr. Blake was also previously an
auditor in public accounting and an analyst for BD Biosciences. His
extensive transactional experience spans multiple public offerings and
mergers and acquisitions, including the $1.2 billion sale of Volcano to
Royal Philips, NV in February 2015. Mr. Blake is a Certified Public
Accountant, holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from National
University and is a Beta Gamma Sigma scholar at the Marshall School of
Business at the University of Southern California. In addition, Mr.
Blake completed the High Potentials Leadership Program at Harvard
Business School and Strategic Financial Leadership Program at the
Stanford Graduate School of Business.

“John’s appointment is further evidence that the leadership team at
Second Sight continues to gain the depth that is critical to achieving
the Company’s business objectives and building the commercial efforts
for the Argus II and Orion,” said Gregg Williams, Second Sight’s
Chairman.

“I am delighted to join Second Sight at this exciting time in its
growth, build upon the commercial success to date of the Argus II and
advance the development of Orion. I look forward to working with Will
and the entire Second Sight team to impact the lives of patients,
further accelerate our achievements and drive shareholder value,” said
John T. Blake, Chief Financial Officer.

“We sincerely thank Tom for all of his many contributions to Second
Sight. He was an integral part of Second Sight’s IPO process and has
been a valued member of our management team. We wish him continued best
in his future endeavors,” concluded McGuire.

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.
Development of new hardware and software intended to improve the quality
of the vision produced by the Argus system is ongoing. Second Sight is
also developing the Orion™ Visual Cortical Prosthesis to restore some
vision to individuals who are blind due to many causes other than
preventable or treatable conditions. Second Sight’s U.S. Headquarters
are in Sylmar, California, and European Headquarters are in Lausanne,
Switzerland. For more information, please visit http://www.secondsight.com.

About the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System

Second Sight's Argus II System provides electrical stimulation that
bypasses defunct retinal cells and stimulates remaining viable cells
inducing visual perception in individuals with severe to profound
retinitis pigmentosa (RP). 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, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, the United
Kingdom, and the United States. Further information on the long-term
benefits and risks can be found in the peer reviewed paper at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0161642016305796

About the Orion Visual Cortical Prosthesis System

Like the Argus II, the Orion converts images captured by a miniature
video camera mounted on the patient's glasses into a series of small
electrical pulses. The Orion is designed to transmit these electrical
pulses wirelessly to an array of electrodes implanted on the surface of
the visual cortex, intended to result in the perception of patterns of
light. By bypassing the retina and optic nerve and directly stimulating
the visual cortex, a cortical prosthesis system has the potential to
restore useful vision to many more patients than the Argus II, including
patients completely blinded due to many reasons, including glaucoma,
diabetic retinopathy, or forms of cancer and trauma. The Company has
initiated a feasibility study in the U.S. at two centers: the Ronald
Reagan UCLA Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
The first-in-human subject was implanted and activated as part of the
first-in-human clinical studies with the Orion in 2018. No clinical data
is yet available for the Orion.

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, filed
on March 20, 2018, 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.

Contacts

Investor Relations:
Institutional
Investors
In-Site Communications, Inc.
Lisa Wilson,
212-452-2793
President
[email protected]
or
Individual
Investors
MZ North America
Greg Falesnik, 949-385-6449
Managing
Director
[email protected]
or
Media:
Nobles
Global Communications
Laura Nobles, 617-510-4373
[email protected]
or
Helen
Shik, 617-510-4373
[email protected]