In 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Second Sight's retinal implant system, the Argus II, which uses an eyeglass-mounted video camera that sends information to an electrode array in the eye's retina. Users have reported seeing light and dark, often enough to navigate on a street or find the brightness of a face turned toward them. But it's far from normal vision, and in May 2019 the company announced that it would suspend production of the Argus II to focus on its next product.
The company has had a hard time over the past year: At the end of March it announced that it was winding down operations, citing the impact of COVID-19 on its ability to secure financing. But in subsequent months it announced a new business strategy, an initial public offering of stock, and finally in September the resumption of clinical trials for its Orion implant.
The Orion system uses the same type of eyeglass-mounted video camera, but it sends information to an electrode array atop the brain's visual cortex. In theory, it could help many more people than a retinal implant: The Argus II was approved only for people with an eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa, in which the photoreceptor cells in the retina are damaged but the rest of the visual system remains intact and able to convey signals to the brain. The Orion system, by sending info straight to the brain, could help people with more widespread damage to the eye or optic nerve.
Six patients have received the Orion implant thus far, and each now has an array of 60 electrodes that tries to represent the image transmitted by the camera. But imagine a digital image made up of 60 pixels—you can't get much resolution. Read more >
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