Science Corporation has implanted a vision restoring chip in a patient with Stargardt disease, the first such case for the company. The device, called PRIMA, is designed to help restore central sight lost to the inherited retinal condition. Company leadership discussed the procedure this week at TechCrunch Disrupt.
Max Hodak, formerly president and cofounder of Neuralink, described the PRIMA work as part of a path toward a novel brain computer interface. The retinal implant is being developed as more than a treatment for one form of blindness. Science Corporation has tied the project to a wider effort to send and receive signals from neural tissue.
Stargardt disease damages the macula and erodes the sharp central vision used for reading and faces. Peripheral vision often remains, which can leave patients with a frustrating mix of useful and missing sight. An implant that stimulates surviving retinal cells aims to fill some of that gap without restoring the eye to its original state.
A single implant does not establish that the therapy is safe or effective over time.
A single implant does not establish that the therapy is safe or effective over time. Clinicians will want measures of reading ability, object recognition, and adverse events across a larger group. Earlier retinal prostheses have often delivered limited function in daily life, a record that will shape how this case is judged.
Independent verification of the first patient's outcome has not been published. Until peer reviewed data or regulator filings appear, the news is best read as the opening of a trial pathway. Science Corporation is one of several firms seeking to move neural interfaces from laboratory demonstrations into approved medical devices.
