Fresh Vision for Pixium Retinal Implants

Image credit: Amanda Dalbjörn via Unsplash 

The intellectual property and assets relating to the PRIMA retinal implant developed by French bionic vision medtech, Pixium Vision has been acquired by Science Corporation, following Pixium going into liquidation earlier this year.

Science Corporation, a US-based brain-computer interface developer, said the PRIMA system may work in conjunction with its own Science Eye, which uses optogenetic gene therapy targeted at the cells of the optic nerve, paired with a ultra-thin device implanted directly over the eye’s retina.

In contrast, the PRIMA system – which received Breakthrough Device designation from the US Food and Drug Administration in 2023 – is comprised of a subretinal miniature photovoltaic wireless implant used with a small computer and glasses.

“Pixium’s PRIMA implant is, to my knowledge, the first really definitive demonstration of what researchers call “form vision” (the ability to recognize visual elements as parts of a larger object) in humans,” said Science Chief Executive Officer, Max Hodak in a statement.

“The Pixium device works by being, in effect, a tiny solar panel with hundreds of tiny little sub-panels. If you hit one of these pixels with infrared light, you will excite a small electric field directly above the point you illuminated.

“Wearing glasses with a camera and a small laser projector, an image can be projected onto the implant, exciting the remaining bipolar cells, and thereby getting information back into the signal chain that ultimately leads to vision in the brain.”

Pixium’s PRIMA device has three ongoing clinical trials – including a 38-patient pivotal study in Europe – which Science said it intended to continue and expand.

“It’s too early to know which approach, electrical or optogenetic, will work best in the retina long term as these technologies mature,” said Hodak.

“But whichever is used 20 years from now, there is a huge amount of good all of these early devices can do today.”

Refer to the announcement from Science for further information.