Science implants PRIMA in first Stargardt disease patient

The early result gives the company a live test of whether its chip can also help people with a second retinal disease.

Science Corporation has implanted its PRIMA vision chip in its first patient with Stargardt disease, giving the company an early clinical milestone that could help validate its broader neural-interface strategy. The patient received the implant in May at Sydney Eye Hospital in Australia, and Hodak said the first rehab session produced a letter and the second a word, suggesting the device can restore limited central vision. PRIMA is already sold in Europe for geographic atrophy, but Science is testing whether the same approach can also work for Stargardt disease, which currently has no cure and affects about 150,000 people worldwide. Hodak also said the company expects a next-generation version to reach human testing within a year and hopes to move toward near-native acuity over the next five years.