Science Corporation Implants PRIMA Chip in First Stargardt Patient
Science Corporation’s PRIMA retinal implant helps its first Stargardt trial patient read a word, as larger, sharper next-generation chips are planned.
Summary
Science Corporation CEO Max Hodak announced on October 13, 2026, that its first Stargardt disease patient received the PRIMA retinal implant in May during an ongoing Sydney Eye Hospital trial. Rehabilitation progressed from seeing one letter in the first session to reading a word in the second. The inherited, currently incurable disease kills outer-retina photoreceptors, can spare the inner retina and creates an expanding central blind spot. About 150,000 people worldwide have lost vision from it. PRIMA is already commercially available in Europe for geographic atrophy, an advanced form of age-related macular degeneration.
An hour-long procedure places a two millimeter by two millimeter chip beneath the damaged retina, while camera-equipped glasses transmit images to the implant’s artificial photoreceptors. Current vision is a sharp, high-contrast, black and white central patch only a few letters wide. Science is developing a larger implant with smaller electrodes and expects a next-generation model in humans within a year, targeting near-native acuity within five years. Hodak founded Science in 2021 after leaving Neuralink and considers retinal, cochlear and motor prostheses forms of brain-computer interfaces. Science’s planned BCI would rest atop the brain rather than penetrate tissue; possible applications include brain-tumor monitoring, stroke and an undisclosed neurodegenerative disease. Hodak expects BCIs to support health span as people reach 60 or 70, although Science is not designing them for healthy 40-year-olds.
Positives
- The first Stargardt patient progressed from seeing one letter to reading a word within two rehabilitation sessions.
- About 150,000 people worldwide with Stargardt-related vision loss could benefit if PRIMA proves effective beyond the initial patient.
- PRIMA is already commercially available in Europe for geographic atrophy, giving Science an established clinical platform.
- A next-generation implant is expected to enter human use within a year, with near-native acuity targeted within five years.
- The hour-long implantation procedure preserves the inner retina’s pathway for transmitting artificial visual signals to the brain.
Risks & concerns
- The current two millimeter by two millimeter implant provides only a narrow central patch comparable to looking through a straw.
- PRIMA currently delivers black and white vision rather than color and shows only a few letters at once.
- Stargardt evidence is limited to one patient’s first two rehabilitation sessions in an ongoing trial.
- A wider field requires a larger implant adapted to the eye’s curvature and smaller electrodes for finer detail.
- Science has not disclosed its first neurological indication, while proposed uses for stroke and brain-tumor monitoring remain prospective.