Science Corporation has launched the commercial availability of its PRIMA retinal implant across Europe, marking what the company describes as the first treatment shown in clinical trials to restore functional central vision in patients suffering from geographic atrophy caused by age-related macular degeneration. The device received a CE mark under the European Union Medical Device Regulation, authorizing its commercial availability across 30 European countries, with the first commercial implant procedure expected in Germany as early as September.
The PRIMA system combines a small wireless photovoltaic chip implanted beneath the retina with a pair of glasses containing a camera and projection system. Images captured by the glasses are converted into near infrared light signals that stimulate the remaining retinal cells, effectively bypassing the damaged photoreceptors responsible for central vision loss. The glasses also include a zoom function that magnifies text, helping patients read letters, numbers, and words that had previously become illegible due to their condition. Geographic atrophy associated with age-related macular degeneration affects more than five million people globally, progressively destroying the photoreceptors at the center of the retina that are responsible for reading and recognizing faces.
Results from a multi center clinical trial involving 38 patients across 17 sites in five countries, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed a mean improvement of 25.5 letters, more than five lines, on a standard eye chart. Of the patients studied, 84 percent reported the ability to read letters, numbers, and words following the implant, restoring a functional level of central vision, while 80 percent achieved significant improvements in prosthetic visual acuity at the 12 month mark. Science Corporation founder and chief executive Max Hodak described the device as effectively serving the same function for vision that cochlear implants serve for hearing loss, framing it as a long awaited option for a condition that previously had no treatment capable of restoring lost vision.
Science Corporation, which develops brain computer interface technology more broadly, acquired the intellectual property behind PRIMA from French bioelectronics company Pixium Vision in 2024 after the original developer entered liquidation proceedings. The company is now working through country specific reimbursement discussions across Europe, with each treatment expected to cost several hundred thousand dollars. In the United States, Science Corporation is in discussions with the Food and Drug Administration and says the device could become available to American patients as early as 2027, following separate Breakthrough Device and Humanitarian Use Device designations already granted by the agency. In the United States alone, roughly one million people have been declared legally blind due to geographic atrophy, a population that could eventually gain access to the treatment pending regulatory clearance.
Follow the SPIN IDG WhatsApp Channel for updates across the Smart Pakistan Insights Network covering all of Pakistan’s technology ecosystem.
