Geographic atrophy is the worst form of age-related macular degeneration. For most people who have it, the centre of the world slowly greys out. Faces blur. Words vanish. There is no cure, only treatments that slow the loss. Now a small chip is giving some of that sight back.
Science Corp, based in Alameda, California, will begin selling its Prima implant in Europe, the company said. The device is a chip that sits at the back of the eye and works with a special pair of glasses.
The glasses beam near-infrared light to the chip, which converts it into signals for the retina. A “zoom” feature lets patients magnify letters. Prima has earned a CE mark from the notified body DEKRA, Bloomberg reported, clearing it for sale across 30 European countries.
The milestone is not only medical. This is the first device from a US brain-implant company to reach patients widely. The firm that got there is not the famous one. Science is the second most valuable US brain-implant company, behind Elon Musk’s Neuralink. Its founder, Max Hodak, helped start Neuralink before leaving to build this.
“This is the first in hopefully a long series of commercial products that proceed to advance that horizon, sometimes incrementally, but relentlessly,” Hodak said in an interview.
