Monday, October 19, 2026
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Tag: vision-restoration

5 articles

Industry News

Science Corp reports first sign PRIMA works in an inherited eye disease

Science Corporation said on 13 October 2026 that the first patient with Stargardt disease, a rare inherited cause of central vision loss, to receive its PRIMA retinal implant saw a letter in his first rehabilitation session and read a word in his second. It is the first clinical result Science has reported from PRIMA outside geographic atrophy, the form of age-related macular degeneration the implant is sold for in Europe and the UK. The claim rests on one patient and a company video, with no acuity data or publication.

Oct 15

Industry News

Nobel laureate Karl Deisseroth says light-based brain-computer interfaces will take a little time to build

Karl Deisseroth of Stanford University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute shares the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, announced on 5 October, with Peter Hegemann of Humboldt University of Berlin and Georg Nagel of the University of Würzburg for discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics, the method of making chosen nerve cells switch on or off in response to light. Asked what the work means for neurotechnology devices, Deisseroth said brain-computer interfaces mostly run on electricity, recording activity and in some cases stimulating it, and that light could in principle do the same job but probably will take a little time to build. Optogenetics is closer to patients in two other forms. The FDA has accepted Nanoscope Therapeutics' application for MOGENRY, a one-time optogenetic eye injection for adults with retinitis pigmentosa and severe vision loss, with a decision expected in the first half of 2027. MapLight Therapeutics, which Deisseroth co-founded in 2018, plans a Phase 3 trial of a schizophrenia drug whose development drew on optogenetic laboratory work.

Oct 7

Industry News

Science Corp's PRIMA implant patients averaged a 29-letter vision gain at three years

Science Corporation reported on 5 October 2026 that the 18 patients still assessed for vision at 36 months in PRIMAvera, the pivotal trial of its PRIMA retinal implant for blindness from geographic atrophy in age-related macular degeneration, read on average 29 more letters on a standard eye chart than before surgery. At 12 months the 32 patients then assessed had gained 24.5 letters with PRIMA glasses. At 36 months, 14 of the 18 (78 percent) had gained at least 15 letters. No new safety signal appeared between months 12 and 36, and natural vision in the implanted eye stayed stable. The trial implanted 38 patients at 17 sites in five European countries; 27 were evaluable for safety and 18 for efficacy at 36 months. The results were presented at the EURETINA congress in Vienna and have not yet been peer reviewed. PRIMA went on sale in Europe in July 2026, is now also available in the UK, and is pending FDA approval in the United States.

Oct 6

Industry News

Belgian ReVision Implant closes €4M oversubscribed seed for cortical vision prosthesis, with first-in-human trial cleared for Q3 2026

Belgian neurotech ReVision Implant closed an oversubscribed €4 million seed round in May 2026 to bring manufacturing of its Occular cortical vision prosthesis in-house ahead of a first short-term human study planned for October 2026, with broader early-stage trials in blind volunteers expected in summer 2027. The round follows FDA Breakthrough Device Designation granted in March 2026.

May 27