Science Corporation Implants Vision-Restoring Chip in First Patient with Stargardt Disease
Science Corporation has implanted its PRIMA vision-restoring device in its first patient with Stargardt disease, an inherited condition that gradually destroys central vision. CEO Max Hodak announced the milestone at TechCrunch Disrupt.
The patient received the implant in May during an ongoing trial at Sydney Eye Hospital in Australia. At the first rehabilitation session, he saw a letter; at the second, he could read a word.
PRIMA is already commercially available in Europe for people whose sight has been damaged by geographic atrophy, an advanced form of age-related macular degeneration. Science Corporation hopes the technology can also help people with conditions such as Stargardt disease, which currently has no cure. The disease damages the light-sensing cells in the outer retina, while potentially leaving the inner retina—which carries visual signals to the brain—intact. About 150,000 people worldwide have lost vision because of it.
The procedure takes about an hour and places a small chip at the back of the eye, where photoreceptors have degenerated. Camera-equipped glasses send images to the implant, which acts like artificial photoreceptors.
The current device measures two millimeters square. It provides a small, black-and-white patch of central vision, but Hodak said the image is sharp enough for patients to make out a few letters at a time. The next steps are to widen the field of view and increase detail by developing a larger implant and smaller electrodes. Hodak said a next-generation version is being prepared for human testing within the next year, with the company aiming to approach natural visual acuity over the next five years.
Hodak sees retinal implants as one part of a broader brain-computer interface (BCI) field. “The retina is part of the central nervous system,” he said, describing retinal, cochlear, and motor prostheses as different types of BCIs.
Science Corporation was founded in 2021 after Hodak left Neuralink, which he co-founded and led as president. The company is using vision restoration to demonstrate its neural-engineering approach and build a sustainable business as it pursues its longer-term BCI ambitions.
Its planned brain sensor would sit inside the skull, on top of the brain, rather than being inserted into brain tissue like Neuralink’s device. Hodak said the company is exploring applications for neurological conditions, including stroke, and expects its first clinical use to target a neurodegenerative disease that has not yet been publicly named.
Longer term, Hodak said, Science Corporation wants to better understand how the brain creates the mind and explore the possibility of building engineered brains. He also believes BCIs may eventually help people preserve their health as they age. “We want to figure out how do we extend not just lifespan but health span,” he said.
More about Science Corporation’s PRIMA implant · The company’s brain-sensor plans
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