Science Corporation Implants Vision-Restoring PRIMA Chip in First Stargardt Disease Patient

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Science Corporation has implanted its PRIMA vision-restoring chip in its first Stargardt disease patient, marking a significant step in brain-computer interface technology development for vision restoration.

Science Corporation, led by CEO Max Hodak, formerly Neuralink's president and co-founder, has successfully implanted its vision-restoring chip, PRIMA, into a patient with Stargardt disease, an inherited condition causing progressive central vision loss. Hodak revealed this milestone at TechCrunch Disrupt, situating PRIMA's development within the company's broader mission to advance novel brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies for medical applications.

Stargardt disease primarily affects the outer retina, leading to the degeneration of photoreceptors responsible for sensing light, while potentially preserving the inner retina that transmits visual signals to the brain. This deterioration results in an expanding central blind spot. Approximately 150,000 people worldwide suffer vision loss from this disease, which currently has no cure. PRIMA, already available in Europe for geographic atrophy patients, is designed as a small, approximately 2-by-2-millimeter implant that substitutes for damaged photoreceptors. It receives visual information wirelessly transmitted from camera-equipped glasses worn by the patient.

The first patient implanted with PRIMA received the device in May at Sydney Eye Hospital as part of an ongoing trial. Initial rehabilitation sessions were promising, with the patient recognizing a letter during the first session and reading a word in the second. Hodak described the current implant as providing a sharp, high-contrast black-and-white visual patch roughly equivalent to looking through a straw. Efforts are underway to increase the implant's field of view by addressing ocular curvature and electrode miniaturization, with a next-generation device anticipated in human trials within a year. Hodak envisions continued improvements leading to near-native visual acuity over the next five years.

Science Corporation, founded in 2021, aims first to validate its neural engineering techniques and create sustainable business avenues through vision restoration before developing more advanced BCIs. Unlike Neuralink’s devices inserted directly into brain tissue, Science Corporation plans to implant its BCI sensor atop the brain beneath the skull.

The company intends to extend BCI use to a range of neurological conditions, including neurodegenerative diseases and stroke, by facilitating novel cortical connections. Hodak expressed a long-term vision of understanding brain function to engineer synthetic brains and anticipates that by mid to later adulthood, many individuals may rely on some form of BCI to extend both lifespan and health span.