Revenue Report Card for Recent IPO Class

As a rule, medical device companies have to demonstrate some level of commercial viability if they’re going to go public. A few are able to stage an IPO without meaningful revenue.

However, most other device companies that have gone public lately have had to prove that customers are buying what they’re selling. And now that they have gone public we have the opportunity to track their success.

So here’s an update of just how well recently minted medtech companies in ophthalmology are faring. The reports come directly from recently filed quarterly reports.

Glaukos Inc. is the rock star, raising $113 million in its June IPO. The company is the pioneer in Micro-Invasive Glaucoma Surgery, or MIGS, that will revolutionize glaucoma treatment. In 2012, the company secured FDA approval for the iStent, a tiny implant that lowers eye pressure by creating a permanent opening in the trabecular meshwork. Medicare and a majority of commercial payors currently reimburse the iStent procedure.

Glaukos isn’t profitable and carries a $192.3 million deficit. But the company reported $17.7 million in net sales for the quarter ended June 30, 2015, a 60% increase from the $11 million for the same period last year.

If Glaukos is Mick, Second Sight Medical Products Inc. may be Keith (or reverse that if you’d prefer.) Second Sight raised $32 million in a November IPO. The company’s Argus II System can restore vision to patients blinded by retinitis pigmentosa. The company sells the system inside and outside the US.

According to the quarterly report, Second Sight’s net sales “increased from $611,477 in the three months ended June 30, 2014 to $2,661,099 in the three months ended June 30, 2015, an increase of $2,049,622, or 335%. This increase in net sales was due to a higher number of implants performed in the second quarter of 2015 and the recognition of certain previously deferred revenue.”

The company also reported that for the first time it implanted Argus II in a patient suffering with dry age-related macular degeneration. “Second Sight anticipates implanting up to a total of five patients with the Argus II initially as part of this study to evaluate the feasibility of the device in patients with late stage dry AMD,” the company reported.

TearLab Corp. tapped into the white hot Dry Eye Market to raise $100 million in a December IPO. Quarterly sales of the company’s TearLab Osmolarity Test totaled $6,345,000 for the quarter ended June 30, an increase of $1,346,000 or 27% over the prior year’s quarters when sales totaled nearly $5 million. The company attributed the increase primarily to the sale of test cards used in its Dry Eye diagnostic.

Presbia PLC raised $42 million this past January. The company does have CE Mark for its microlens, an implantable lens developed to treat presbyopia, the age-related loss of the ability to focus on near objects. The company reports minimal revenue selling the lens in “certain strategic EEA (European Economic Area companies)” while pursuing US approval. For the three months ended June 30, 2015 the company reported $42,000 as compared to $61,000 for the corresponding period in 2014.

Presbia is running a pivotal clinical trial in the US. The positive data from the first 75 patients enabled the company to secure FDA approval for a second-stage enrollment. The company can enroll up to 337 additional subjects. Presbia hopes to file the data to the FDA in the third quarter of 2017.