Vivani Medical, Inc. is an emerging biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the development of miniaturized, subdermal implants to provide meaningful artificial vision to profoundly blind individuals. It recently announced that it was awarded a $1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to provide funding for the fifth year of the ongoing Orion Clinical Study conducted by its newly established subsidiary, Cortigent, Inc. The results of the five-year clinical trial are expected to be available in mid-2023.
Vivani Medical’s proprietary NanoPortal™ platform technology enables the company to develop implants designed to deliver drug molecules steadily over extended periods, with the goal of providing patients higher adherence to their prescribed medications. Its lead program is NPM-119, a 6-month mini GLP-1 implant being studied for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Estimated at about 82,000 Americans, type 2 diabetes is a condition where patients are often non-adherent to medication due to hassles related to the daily or weekly administration of oral and injectable products.
Cortigent, Inc. is a company that was founded to continue the work of Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. which was a pioneer in developing targeted neurostimulation systems that help to restore critical body functions. Cortigent aims to use its core technology to accelerate the recovery of arm and hand function in patients who are partially paralyzed due to stroke.
Dr. Robert Greenberg, Chairman and CEO of Vivani Medical, expressed his delight on being able to complete the fifth year of funding for the Orion Clinical Study. He further expressed the companies deep commitment to provide meaningful artificial vision to profoundly blind patients and the development of safe long-term treatments for diabetes. With its success in the NIH grant award, Vivani Medical is on its way to making accessible treatments for medical conditions by providing better outcomes through their innovative platform.
