Vivani Medical, Inc.: Form 10-Q for the period ended Mar 31, 2023

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read together with our unaudited condensed financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Some of the information contained in this discussion and analysis or set forth elsewhere in this Quarterly Report, including information with respect to our products, plans and strategy for our business and related financing, contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding our expected financial results in future periods. The words “anticipates,” “believes,” “could,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “might,” “plans,” “projects,” “will,” “would,” “strategy” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make regarding expectations for revenues, liquidity, cash flows and financial performance, the anticipated results of our development efforts and the timing for receipt of required regulatory approvals, insurance reimbursements and product launches, our financing plans and future capital requirements, and statements regarding the anticipated or projected impact of our merger on our business, results of operations, financial condition or prospects, the materially adverse impact of the recent COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and related public health measures on our business. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in the forward-looking statements that we make. We assume no obligations to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this Quarterly Report or to reflect actual outcomes.

Overview

Vivani Medical, Inc. (“Vivani,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” “our” or similar terms) is a preclinical stage biopharmaceutical company which develops miniaturized, subdermal implants utilizing its proprietary NanoPortal™ technology to enable long-term, near constant-rate delivery of a broad range of medicines to treat chronic diseases. Vivani uses this platform technology to develop and potentially commercialize drug implant candidates, alone or in collaboration with pharmaceutical company partners to address a leading cause of poor clinical outcomes in the treatment of chronic disease, medication non-adherence. For example, approximately 50% of patients treated for type 2 diabetes are non-adherent to their medicines which can lead to poor clinical outcomes. We are developing a portfolio of miniature, sub-dermal drug implant candidates that, unlike most oral and injectable medicines, are designed with the goal of guaranteeing adherence by delivering therapeutic drug levels for up to 6 months or the life of the implant. In addition, by leveraging our proprietary NanoPortal implant technology we can design implants that deliver minimally fluctuating drug levels that may improve the tolerability profiles for certain medicines for which side effects are associated with fluctuating drug levels such as GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1s).

In February 2022, we announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement between Nano Precision Medical, Inc. (“NPM”) and Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. (“Second Sight”), pursuant to which NPM became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Second Sight. On August 30, 2022, the merger closed and the combined company of Nano Precision Medical (“NPM” and Second Sight Medical Products (“SSMP)” was renamed Vivani Medical, Inc,

While the primary focus of Vivani is to develop and ultimately commercialize the drug implant business from legacy company NPM, Vivani’s new management team remains committed to identifying and exploring strategic options for the further advancement of the neuromodulation business of former legacy company Second Sight which includes development of its pioneering neurostimulation systems to help patients recover critical body functions. On December 28, 2022, the neuromodulation assets and certain of its liabilities were contributed to Cortigent, Inc. a newly formed wholly owned subsidiary of Vivani, in exchange for 20 million shares of common stock of Cortigent. In March 2023, Vivani announced the filing of a Registration Statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for the proposed initial public offering of Cortigent. Cortigent is expected to continue to be majority-owned by Vivani immediately following the initial public offering.

Subject to completion of Cortigent’s initial public offering, Vivani intends to focus exclusively on further development of the drug implant business. Vivani plans to file an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to support a first in human (FIH) study with lead asset NPM-119 (GLP-1 implant). Following an acceptable IND submission, Vivani plans to initiate the FIH study, named LIBERATE-1, which is a randomized, Phase 2, 12-week investigation of NPM-119 in patients with type 2 diabetes. The IND filing and the initiation of LIBERATE-1 remain on track to occur mid-2023.

Liquidity

From inception, our operations have been funded primarily through the sales of our common stock and warrants. The completion of our reverse merger with Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. provided $53.3 million in net assets including approximately $55.4 million in cash.

Second Sight was awarded a $6.4 million NIH five-year grant (with annual reviews) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund the “Early Feasibility Clinical Trial of a Visual Cortical Prosthesis”. The fifth and final year grant of $1.0 million was approved in March 2023.

We are subject to the risks and uncertainties associated with a business with no revenue that is developing novel pharmaceutical product candidates and medical devices candidates. We have incurred recurring operating losses and negative operating cash flows since inception, and we expect to continue to incur operating losses and negative operating cash flows for the foreseeable future. We expect our operating expenses to increase significantly as we continue our business operations, particularly as we prepare to and initiate our planned clinical trial of NPM-119 and conduct our other research and development activities. Our financial statements have been presented on the basis that our business is a going concern, which contemplates the realization of assets and satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. To finance our operations, we will need to raise additional capital, which cannot be assured. Our operating plan may change as a result of many factors currently unknown to us, and we will need to seek additional funds through public or private equity offerings or debt financings, grants, collaborations, strategic partnerships or other sources. However, we may be unable to raise additional capital or enter into such other arrangements when needed on favorable terms or at all. If we are unable to obtain funding on a timely basis, we may be required to significantly curtail, delay or discontinue one or more of our research or development programs, or we may be unable to expand or maintain our operations, maintain our current organization and employee base or otherwise capitalize on our business opportunities, as desired, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We estimate that currently available cash will provide sufficient funds to enable the Company to meet its planned obligations into the second half of 2024.

Merger Agreement

As discussed in the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements of the Company, on February 4, 2022, the Company entered the Merger Agreement. On May 13, 2022, the Company filed a Registration Statement on Form S-4 (the “Registration Statement”) with the SEC in connection with the contemplated Merger, which is currently effective. Shareholders of the Company approved the Merger on July 27, 2022, and the merger was completed in August 2022.

Safe Agreement

On February 4, 2022, in connection with the Merger, Second Sight and NPM also entered into a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (“SAFE”) whereby Second Sight provided to NPM an investment advance of $8 million. If the Merger were to be terminated without completion, NPM would issue to Second Sight that number of shares of NPM common stock equal to not less than 2.133% of the issued and outstanding shares of NPM common stock assuming exercise or conversion of all outstanding vested and unvested options, warrants, and convertible securities. The agreement provided that the SAFE would terminate if the Merger were to be successfully completed.

Under the terms of the SAFE, upon successfully completion of the Merger on August 30, 2022, the investment advance was eliminated. Under the accounting for a business combination, the $8 million adjusted the purchase consideration.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

The preparation of our condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) and the requirements of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission require management to make estimates, assumptions and judgments that affect the amounts, liabilities, revenue and expenses reported in the financial statements and the notes to the financial statements. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our critical accounting policies and estimates. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Some of those judgments can be subjective and complex, and therefore, actual results could differ materially from those estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

There have been no material changes to our critical accounting policies during the three months ended March 31, 2023.

Results of Operations

Operating Expenses. We generally recognize our operating expenses as incurred in two general operational categories: research and development and general and administrative. Our operating expenses also include a non-cash component related to the amortization of stock-based compensation for research and development and general and administrative personnel. We have received grants from institutions or agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health, to help fund the some of the cost of our development efforts. We have recorded the amount of funding received from these grants as reductions to operating expenses.

• Research and development expenses consist primarily of employee compensation and consulting costs related to the design, development, and enhancements of our current and potential future products, and clinical as well as internal and external costs associated with conducting clinical trials and maintaining relationships with regulatory agencies offset by grant revenue received in support of specific research projects. We expense our research and development costs as they are incurred.
• General and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries and related expenses for executive, legal, finance, human resources, information technology and administrative personnel, as well as recruiting and professional fees, patent filing and annuity costs, insurance costs and other general corporate expenses, including rent.

Comparison of the Three Months Ended March 31, 2023 and 2022

Research and development expense. Research and development expense increased by $1.3 million, or 48%, to $4.0 million in the first quarter of 2023 from $2.7 million in the first quarter of 2022. The costs increased due to costs of our acquired company Second Sight being included from the merger acquisition date of August 30, 2022. This inclusion increased these costs for the quarter by $0.6 million. The remainder of the increase was primarily due to subdermal drug implants development costs.

General and administrative expense. General and administrative expense increased $1.4 million, or 115%, to $2.6 million in the first quarter of 2023 from $1.2 million in the same period of 2022. This increase is primarily attributable to increased costs associated with the inclusion of our acquired company Second Sight which totaled $1.1 million in the first quarter of 2023. Approximately $0.1 million of costs were incurred related to the Cortigent IPO in the quarter.

Other income. Other income was impacted by the merger acquisition of cash which increased our interest income for the three months ended March 31, 2023 as compared to the same period in 2022 before the merger.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Our financial statements have been presented on the basis that our business is a going concern, which contemplates the realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. We are subject to the risks and uncertainties associated with a business with no revenue that is developing a novel pharmaceutical product candidates and medical device candidates, including limitations on our operating capital resources and uncertain demand for our products. We have incurred recurring operating losses and negative operating cash flows since inception, and we expect to continue to incur operating losses and negative operating cash flows for the foreseeable future.

Conducting clinical trials is a time-consuming, expensive and uncertain process that takes many years to complete and we may never generate the necessary data or results required to obtain marketing approval. We do not expect revenues until we are successful in completing the development and obtaining marketing approval for our products. We expect expenses to increase in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly as we initiate clinical trials, initiate new research and development projects and seek marketing approval for any product candidates that we successfully develop. In particular, we expect to incur increased expenses as we initiate our planned Phase 2 clinical trial of NPM-119, for which we plan to file an IND with the FDA. In addition, if we obtain marketing approval we expect to incur significant additional expenses related to sales, marketing, distribution and other commercial infrastructure to commercialize such product. In addition, our product candidates, if approved, may not achieve commercial success. We incur significant costs associated with operating as a public company in a regulated industry.

Until such time, if ever, we can generate product revenues, we anticipate that we will seek to fund our operations through public or private equity or debt financings, grants, collaborations, strategic partnerships or other sources. However, we may be unable to raise additional capital or enter into such other arrangements when needed on favorable terms or at all. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity, convertible debt or other equity-linked securities, the ownership interests of some or all of our common stockholders will be diluted, the holders of new equity securities may have priority rights over our existing stockholders and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect the rights of our existing common stockholders. Debt financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends. If adequate funds are not available, we may be required to curtail operations significantly or to obtain funds by entering into agreements on unattractive terms. If, for example, we raise funds through additional collaborations, strategic alliances or licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams, research programs or product candidates, or to grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us. Our inability to raise capital could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash decreased by $7.0 million from $46.4 million as of December 31, 2022 to $39.4 million as of March 31, 2023. Working capital was $34.9 million as of March 31, 2023 compared to $40.7 million as of December 31, 2022, a decrease of $5.8 million. We use our cash and cash equivalents and working capital to fund our operating activities.

Cash Flows from Operating Activities

During the three months ended March 31, 2023, we used $7.0 million of cash in operating activities, consisting primarily of a net loss of $6.3 million and a net increase in net operating assets of $1.1 million, partially offset by non-cash charges of $0.4 million for depreciation and amortization of property and equipment, stock-based compensation and change in right of use assets. During the three months ended March 31, 2022, we used $3.2 million of cash in operating activities, consisting primarily of a net loss of $3.9 million, offset by non-cash charges which provided cash of $0.4 million for depreciation and amortization of property and equipment, stock-based compensation, change in right of use and partially offset by a net decrease in net operating assets of $0.3 million.

Cash Flows from Investing Activities

Cash used for investing activities in the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022 was minimal for both periods. In 2023 $37,000 was used for the purchase of property and equipment. In 2022, $30,000 was used for the purchase of property and equipment.

Cash Flows from Financing Activities

Financing activities was zero in the three months ended March 31, 2023. Financing activities provided $8.0 million of cash in the three months ended March 31, 2022 from the funding of the SAFE agreement.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

As of March 31, 2023, we did not have any transactions, obligations or relationships that constitute off-balance sheet arrangements.

Interest Rate Sensitivity

The primary objective of our investment activities is to maintain the safety of principal and preserve liquidity without incurring significant risk. We invest cash in excess of our current needs in money market funds. As of March 31, 2023, our investments consisted solely of money market funds.

Exchange Rate Sensitivity

The majority of our operating expenses were denominated in U.S. dollars. We have not entered into foreign currency forward contracts to hedge our operating expense exposure to foreign currencies, but we may do so in the future.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Our management, including our Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) and our Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”), evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by this report. The term “disclosure controls and procedures,” as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act, means controls and other procedures of a company that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to the company’s management, including its principal executive and principal financial officers, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. As of March 31, 2023, based on the evaluation of these disclosure controls and procedures, our CEO and CFO have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at the reasonable assurance level.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

There has been no change in our internal control over financial reporting during the quarter ended March 31, 2023, that materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting. We are updating our internal control environment to address changes in our risks in financial reporting to accommodate our operating activities, staffing levels, and segregation of duties. Such changes may result in new or reduced controls.

Inherent Limitations on Effectiveness of Controls

Because of the inherent limitations of internal control over financial reporting, including the possibility of collusion or improper management override of controls, material misstatements due to error or fraud may not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Also, projections of any evaluation of the effectiveness of the internal control over financial reporting to future periods are subject to the risk that the controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate. A control system, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met. Further, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty, and that breakdowns can occur because of a simple error or mistake. Additionally, controls can be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people or by management override of the controls. The design of any system of controls also is based in part upon certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions; over time, controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or the degree of compliance with policies or procedures may deteriorate. Because of the inherent limitations in a cost-effective control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.

Our business is subject to numerous material and other risks. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below together with all of the other information contained in this Form 10-Q, including our consolidated financial statements and the related notes, and in our other filings with the SEC. If any of the stated risks actually occur, our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition could suffer materially. In such event, the trading price of our common stock could decline and you might lose all or part of your investment. The material risks associated with our business were most recently discussed in our Form 10-K that we filed on March 31, 2023. There have been no material changes from the risk factors previously disclosed in such filing.