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Vivani Now Intends to Spin Out Cortigent, Developer of Orion Implant
Author: Joan McKenna
Vivani Medical, of Alameda, California, reported March 12 that it intends to spin off its Cortigent neurostimulation business, formerly Second Sight Medical Products, into a fully independent, publicly traded company.
Vivani said it was changing strategies from plans announced in April 2023 for an initial public offering for Cortigent.
The latest approach will accomplish two things, Vivani said. It will allow Vivani shareholders to directly participate in Cortigent’s future (shares in Cortigent will be distributed to current Vivani stockholders) and enable Vivani to focus exclusively on the development of its NanoPortal sustained drug-delivery technology and portfolio of miniature, subdermal GLP-1 implants.
Cortigent’s Orion is designed to create artificial vision by implanting a neurostimulation device on the surface of the visual cortex in the brain. Orion converts images captured by a miniature video camera mounted on glasses into a series of small electrical pulses, bypassing the optic nerve and directly stimulating the visual cortex. The Orion completed an initial six-year clinical study in 2024, with encouraging safety and efficacy results, Vivani said.
The technology is also being developed for the recovery of arm and hand motion in paralysis due to stroke.
Jonathan Adams, MBA, has served as Cortigent’s CEO since 2023 and will retain that position after the spinoff.
Vivani was formed by the merger of Nano Precision Medical and Second Sight in August 2023.
Vivani CEO Adam Mendelsohn, PhD, said. “We believe that the best way to realize the full potential of Cortigent is to enable it to operate independently with a management team dedicated to advancing its proprietary neuromodulation technology and developing medical devices that address human conditions where there is significant unmet medical need.”
Mendelsohn’s father arranged the financing for Second Sight when it was formed in 1998.
