EYES Up!

When I tried to look up why shares of Second Sight Medical Products Inc. (EYES) skyrocketed from $1.43 on March 4 to $26 Pre-Market on March 9, all I found was technical trend information, which wrote this off as a surprisingly good catalyst play. There were a couple articles explaining the Argus 2s Retinal Prosthesis System, which earned FDA approval on March 5 and fueled the stock trend. But what I read seemed to focus on tidbits of information relating to this technology, which can be somewhat misleading when removed from the bigger picture. Today, some analysts started suggesting that this is just another meme stock.

Sure, this penny stock turned out to be a gem to rally around during the NASDAQ downtrend. I’ve seen the Stocktwits page. But I also see people realizing what this company has to offer. This is only the beginning for Second Sight.

I have no affiliations with them, or with their Parisian partner, Pixium. I'm not even an experienced trader, by any means. I’m just very nerdy about ophthalmic news. And why not? Eyes are fascinating, complex, and delicate. They’re irreplaceable, right? You can swap out a couple key components (the cornea and the lens) but you can’t replace your retina, your optic nerve, or your whole eyeball.

Until now. Second Sight is rising to the challenge.

Not just with the Argus 2s. This external hardware (basically a video camera on some glasses) wirelessly transmits small electrical pulses to the Argus II retinal implant. The implant’s electrodes stimulate what’s left of the diseased retinal cells, and patients learn to interpret the signals into rudimentary images. The end result is that patients who have gone blind are given enough vision to see shapes and navigate a room. For a blind individual, that’s life changing! The vision quality is expected to improve with continued technological advancement. The Argus 2s is just such an advancement; an improvement to previous hardware, with greater processing power.

A bearish trader might note that the Argus II implant is approved for patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP), which is a somewhat rare condition. I've heard analysts put a lot of emphasis on the "rare" part. (Helping even one blind person regain some vision should be its own reward, though, right? ...No? OK then).

Let me lean into this doubt about profitability a little more, and add that Second Sight has discontinued the Argus II. Pairing these together will only benefit those who have already received the implant, which is about 350 patients worldwide.

How is it profitable long term to design a product that can only be used by a handful of people? Maybe this really is just another meme stock? Some analysts seem to think so... but only because they did not look past the Argus system to properly evaluate Second Sight’s real prize.

The Argus 2s external hardware will likely be repurposed to work with their other implant, Orion, which is still in early trials. So it is not quite correct to say it will only work with the Argus II, which is only used for patients with RP. This is what I find to be misleading about some of the information out there right now.

The Orion Visual Cortical Prosthesis System already makes the Argus II obsolete, because Orion is implanted in the visual cortex, rather than the eye. It bypasses all ocular anatomy, including the optic nerve.

What’s your eye problem? Glaucoma? Ocular Melanoma? Are your eyes gouged out? None of that matters. You may still have a chance at getting some vision back, if Orion is successful. The main limitations to this system are that it cannot give sight to those who were born blind, and it cannot give sight to those who went blind from issues within the brain.

The Argus system is a big fish, but Orion is the whale*. If it gets FDA approved then the technology will continue to advance, and it will have a huge impact on patients with many kinds of blinding eye conditions. There's the real profitability.

Think of the more futuristic possibilities as well. Eventually instead of a camera sitting on glasses, cameras could be embedded into ocular prostheses. Perhaps the visual quality might advance to be better than what our natural eyes can do. Perhaps someone with the implant could change channels, so to speak, from reality to AR or VR mode. Biotech from a sci-fi wish list might be seen in our lifetimes.

These ideas may seem far fetched, but traders who looked into this company might share similar dreams. Even without all that, it is a miracle that humankind has become advanced enough to restore some sight to the blind. If nothing else, do not underestimate the sheer awesomeness people feel when having stock in a company that helps blind people see. I think that feeling is another reason why people keep coming back for more: deep down, everyone cares about eyes, and this tech is pretty frickin' cool.

It will be a long wait, though. Orion is currently in a 5-year early feasibility study, with 6 people in the trial through 2023. The info available so far about it seems positive, but FDA approval is a long way off. Personally I think once it happens, Second Sight could see growth like what Regeneron experienced when Eylea was approved. I could be wrong, but whatever happens in terms of the stock price, Second Sight is doing amazing work and I wish them the best.

Disclaimer: These are just my humble opinions, not financial or investing advice. Please always do your own research before making any decisions.

*Also please note I am against whaling.