A wireless retinal implant restored meaningful central vision in 81% of patients with advanced dry age-related macular degeneration, according to results from the PRIMAvera trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine on October 20, 2025. Of the 32 participants who completed one year of follow-up across 17 clinical sites in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, patients gained an average of about 25 letters, roughly five lines, on a standard eye chart.
Some patients did far better. One person improved by 59 letters, or about 12 lines, and 84% of participants used the device at home to read letters, numbers or words, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center reported. The device, called PRIMA, is a 2×2 mm photovoltaic chip developed by Stanford biophysicist Daniel Palanker and manufactured by Science Corporation.
How the chip gives sight back
Age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, damages the light-sensing photoreceptor cells in the central retina. In the advanced dry form, known as geographic atrophy, those cells die off in a widening patch and leave a blind spot in the middle of vision. The condition is a leading cause of severe visual loss in adults over 60, and until now no treatment could restore what was lost.
PRIMA works around the damage rather than repairing it. Surgeons slide the wafer-thin chip under the retina in the atrophic area. Patients then wear glasses with a small built-in camera that captures the scene and beams it as pulses of near-infrared light onto the implant. The chip converts the light into tiny electrical currents that stimulate the surviving nerve cells above it, which pass the signal on to the brain. Users can adjust zoom and contrast through the glasses.
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What the numbers actually showed
The trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, enrolled 38 patients aged 60 and older. Thirty-two completed the 12-month follow-up. The primary endpoint, an improvement of at least 0.2 logMAR (about 10 letters) in prosthetic visual acuity, was met by 80% of those patients, according to a summary from Science Corporation. Natural peripheral vision was not diminished by the implant.
"This study confirms that, for the first time, we can restore functional central vision in patients blinded by geographic atrophy," said Frank Holz, chair of ophthalmology at the University Hospital of Bonn and the trial's lead investigator. Serious adverse events happened mainly within the first two months after surgery, and 95% of them resolved within that window.
Availability and what to ask your doctor
Science Corporation received a CE mark from European regulator DEKRA on July 22, 2026, clearing PRIMA for commercial use in 30 European countries, the company announced. The first commercial implants are being lined up in Germany, and country-by-country reimbursement talks are underway. PRIMA is not yet available outside the EU and EEA.
In the United States the device holds Breakthrough Device status and Humanitarian Use Device designations from the Food and Drug Administration, but it has not received full authorization for clinical use. People living with advanced dry AMD who want to know whether the implant may one day be an option should speak with a retina specialist about their stage of disease and about ongoing trials. As with other new treatments, several early signs of eye disease can be spotted at a routine eye exam long before central vision is lost.
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This article is made and published by Jesper Bengtson, who may have used AI in the preparation.