Science Corporation announced it has implanted its vision-restoring chip, PRIMA, in its first patient with Stargardt disease, an inherited eye condition that causes progressive central vision loss. The implant, which is part of the company’s broader brain-computer interface (BCI) research, aims to restore vision by stimulating the optic nerve.
The chip is commercially available in Europe for patients with geographic atrophy, a form of age-related macular degeneration, but its application in Stargardt disease is still in trial. Stargardt disease affects the outer retina, leading to a central blind spot that grows over time, impacting approximately 150,000 people globally.
"The retina is part of the central nervous system," said Max Hodak, CEO of Science Corporation. "We consider cochlear implants, retinal prostheses, motor prostheses, these are all different types of BCIs." Hodak emphasized the company’s vision of expanding BCIs beyond computer control into broader medical applications.
The first patient with Stargardt disease received the PRIMA implant in May at the Sydney Eye Hospital in Australia. During rehabilitation sessions, the patient was able to read a letter and then a word, using a camera-equipped pair of glasses that transmits visual data to the implant.
"The device that this patient has is a two millimeter by two millimeter implant placed under the back of the eye, and so it’s like looking through a straw," said Hodak. "It is not a big field of view color vision. It’s a patch in their central vision where it’s black and white, but it is sharp."
The company outlined plans to increase the field of view and improve resolution by reducing electrode size, aiming to achieve native acuity within five years. Science Corporation also plans to explore BCIs for neurological conditions like neurodegenerative diseases and stroke recovery.
Source: techcrunch
