Science Corp's PRIMA Eye Chip Tested in First Stargardt Patient
Science Corporation has implanted its PRIMA vision-restoring chip in a first patient with Stargardt disease. Chief executive Max Hodak said Oct. 13 on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt. TechCrunch Hodak is the former president and co-founder of Neuralink and founded Science Corporation in 2021 after leaving Neuralink.
The surgery took place in May in an ongoing trial at Sydney Eye Hospital in Australia. The patient recognized a letter in the first rehabilitation session and read a word in the second. Science Corporation described the case the same day in a post titled Clinical Trial Update: First Patient With Stargardt Disease Using PRIMA (Video). Science Corporation
PRIMA implantation takes about an hour. Surgeons place a 2 millimeter by 2 millimeter chip at the back of the eye, where light-sensing cells called photoreceptors have broken down. The chip acts like replacement photoreceptors. It sends small electrical pulses to the remaining healthy nerve cells. Patients wear glasses with a built-in camera that sends what the camera sees to the chip. The setup pairs a light-powered chip under the retina with glasses that project near-infrared light, light just outside human vision, to power and signal it. Science Corporation
PRIMA is already cleared for sale in Europe for people who lost sight to geographic atrophy, an advanced form of age-related macular degeneration. It is the first brain-computer interface device to receive a CE mark, the clearance needed to sell medical devices in Europe, with a first commercial implant in Germany expected soon. Science Corporation In trials, the system brought back basic form vision by taking over for damaged photoreceptors. Hodak described current vision as a sharp, black-and-white, high-contrast patch in the center of sight. Patients see a couple of letters at a time, like looking through a straw.
The company plans a new chip and redesigned glasses to improve vision. Hodak said the next-generation implant is in development and will reach human testing in the next year. The goal is to get close to natural sharpness within five years.
Stargardt disease is an inherited condition that slowly removes central vision and has no cure at present. About 150,000 people worldwide have lost vision from it. Science Corporation said it is exploring PRIMA for Stargardt patients and is also exploring trials for retinitis pigmentosa, another inherited eye disease.
On stage, Hodak noted the retina is part of the central nervous system. He grouped cochlear implants, retinal prostheses and motor prostheses together as types of brain-computer interfaces. He described a future where these interfaces cover many medical uses, not only computer control.
The broader context here is about reuse rather than a single recovery. In my view, the key point is already settled in geographic atrophy, where this type of chip can produce limited form vision. The open question is whether the same combination of glasses, chip and surviving retina can work across different diseases, patterns of damage and ages. Early results, a letter then a word, show early rehabilitation, not long-term sharpness. Progress will depend on tighter pixels, more focused electrical signals and more comfortable glasses. If those improve without making surgery harder, regular reading could become practical. That would make daily life easier for people with central vision loss long before vision looks natural.
