Overview
- An international trial across 17 European sites enrolled 38 people with geographic atrophy, with 32 assessed at one year after implantation.
- Using the PRIMA system, 80–84% of assessed participants could read letters, numbers and words, typically gaining about five lines on a standard eye chart.
- The device is a 2×2 mm, ~30 µm‑thick subretinal implant with 378 photovoltaic pixels used with augmented‑reality glasses and a waist‑worn processor that projects near‑infrared images onto the chip.
- Surgery involved a vitrectomy and subretinal placement of the chip, activation about a month later, and months of training to interpret the black‑and‑white prosthetic vision.
- Safety monitoring recorded 26 serious, mainly surgery‑related adverse events in 19 patients that mostly resolved within two months, and Science Corporation has applied for European certification while developing higher‑pixel iterations.