Brain-Implant Device Restores Reading Vision in Patients With Advanced Macular Degeneration

Science Corp. has launched its PRIMA brain-computer interface commercially across 30 European countries, offering the first approved treatment able to restore functional central vision to patients with geographic atrophy, an advanced and previously untreatable form of age-related macular degeneration.

In a clinical trial of 38 patients across 17 sites, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, patients gained an average of 25.5 letters of visual acuity on a standard eye chart, and 84% regained the ability to read letters, numbers, and words. The tiny implant is placed under the retina and paired with a pair of glasses that project near-infrared light onto it; the chip converts that light into electrical signals that stimulate the eye's remaining cells and bypass the damaged photoreceptors that caused the vision loss.

PRIMA is the first brain-computer interface to receive CE marking in Europe for vision restoration, and has already received Breakthrough Device and Humanitarian Use Device designations from the US FDA, where the company is now working toward American approval. Geographic atrophy is one of the leading causes of blindness among older adults, and until now had no way to reverse vision already lost.