👁️ Small chip in the eye restores sight to the blind

• A 2-millimeter implant under the retina has restored vision in 26 of 32 blind patients in a clinical trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
• Science Corporation has raised 230 million dollars in new funding and is valued at 1.5 billion dollars.
• European launch is expected later this year, which would make PRIMA the first brain-computer interface product for vision to reach the market.

26 of 32 patients regained their sight

Science Corporation's retinal implant PRIMA has restored vision in 81 percent of blind trial participants in a clinical study. The results are published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study, called PRIMAvera, included 38 participants with geographic atrophy caused by age-related macular degeneration, one of the most common causes of irreversible blindness. Of the 32 assessed after twelve months, 26 showed clinically meaningful improvement in visual acuity. On average, vision improved by five lines on an eye chart. Approximately 84 percent could read letters, numbers and words again.

Six participants were not assessed: three had died, one withdrew from the study and two were unavailable. Accounting for dropout, researchers estimated that 80 percent of all participants would have improved.

Doctor Mahi Muqit, senior vitreoretinal consultant at Moorfields Eye Hospital, described the results as a new era in artificial vision. No other experimental treatment has previously restored central vision in patients with advanced geographic atrophy at this level.

How the chip works

The PRIMA system consists of three parts: a 2-millimeter wireless implant surgically placed under the retina, a pair of augmented reality glasses and a pocket processor. The glasses capture a scene, AI identifies the most important object and near-infrared light projects the image onto the chip. The chip converts the light into electrical signals. Remaining nerve cells in the retina then relay the signals to the brain as vision.

The implant is 30 micrometers thin, half the thickness of a human hair. It has no battery and no wires. The surgery takes under two hours and can be performed by any trained vitreoretinal surgeon.

From Neuralink to his own company

Max Hodak was co-founder and president of Neuralink. He left the company in 2021 and founded Science Corporation. Five years later, the company has raised a total of 490 million dollars and is valued at 1.5 billion dollars. That makes Science Corp the second most valuable brain-computer interface company in the world.

The latest funding round of 230 million dollars includes investors such as Lightspeed, Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, Quiet Capital and IQT, the CIA's venture capital arm for national security technology.

Next steps for the treatment

Today, PRIMA treats the most advanced cases of age-related macular degeneration, corresponding to between 3,000 and 6,000 new patients per year in the United States. In total, more than five million people worldwide are affected by the disease.

Science Corp is planning a new trial for Stargardt disease and retinitis pigmentosa, inherited conditions that affect patients at a significantly younger age. Two patients are to receive implants before the end of June. The company is also developing a higher-resolution chip for less severe vision loss and a biohybrid brain device using engineered living neurons, with human testing planned for the end of 2027.

Sheila Irvine, one of the patients in the trial at Moorfields, described her vision before the implant as two black discs blocking all central sight. After the surgery, she could read prescription labels, tiny writing on tins and do crossword puzzles again. European commercial launch is expected later this year.

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