Neurotech company aims to become first BCI developer with a commercial product to restore vision in patients with retinal disease.
Investor appetite for brain-computer interface technology shows no sign of abating, with the news that neurotech firm Science Corporation has raised $230 million in an oversubscribed Series C financing round as it prepares to bring its retinal implant technology to market. Following a successful clinical trial last year, the Alameda, CA–based company expects its first product to launch in Europe later this year, making it the first BCI developer to commercialize a vision restoration system.
Science Corp, which is developing BCI technologies designed to restore lost sensory functions, said the new funding will primarily support the commercialization of its PRIMA retinal implant, a device intended to restore vision to people who have lost central sight due to retinal disease.
PRIMA is designed for patients whose photoreceptors – the light-sensing cells of the retina – have been destroyed by disease but whose remaining retinal circuitry remains functional. The system combines a tiny photovoltaic implant with a set of specialized glasses. The implant, measuring just two by two millimeters and only 30 microns thick, is surgically placed under the retina and converts infrared light into electrical signals that stimulate surviving retinal cells. The glasses project infrared light patterns onto the retina, effectively transmitting visual information wirelessly through the eye’s natural transparency.
Those electrical signals are then relayed through the optic nerve to the brain, allowing patients to perceive visual patterns. The technology is designed to work alongside a patient’s natural peripheral vision, producing a form of prosthetic central vision that can help users recognize letters, words and shapes.
The current generation of the device provides black-and-white vision, but Science Corp says it is working on future improvements that would introduce grayscale perception and sharper resolution through smaller pixels and more advanced image processing.
The recent clinical trial evaluated the safety and performance of the PRIMA implant in patients with geographic atrophy, a late-stage form of age-related macular degeneration that gradually destroys the photoreceptors responsible for detailed central vision. Participants all had severe central vision loss before receiving the implant. Following surgery and visual training, most were able to read letters, numbers or short words, indicating the restoration of functional “form vision,” or the ability to distinguish shapes and written characters.
The trial became one of the first peer-reviewed demonstrations that a wireless retinal prosthesis could restore this level of visual function in patients with advanced macular degeneration. After the study was published, the company submitted an application for CE marking in the European Union and is also pursuing regulatory clearance from the US FDA.
Alongside its commercialization plans, Science Corp aims to expand PRIMA’s application beyond macular degeneration. New trials will include patients with Stargardt disease and retinitis pigmentosa, inherited retinal conditions that often lead to severe vision loss earlier in life.
The company said the new capital, which brings its total raised to around $490 million, will support both the regulatory and commercial rollout of the PRIMA platform as well as further research into neural interface technologies. Investors participating in the latest round include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, IQT and Quiet Capital.
Beyond retinal implants, Science Corp is building a broader portfolio of neural engineering technologies aimed at restoring or augmenting biological functions. Its work includes the development of biohybrid neural interfaces and a perfusion technology platform known as Vessel.
“We are building a company which will offer patients hope beyond the limitations of traditional medicine,” said Science Corp CEO Max Hodak. “By engaging the brain directly as an information processing organ, we are able to achieve much greater effect sizes and drive unprecedented clinical impact.”
Science Corp was recently joined by Sam Altman’s Merge Labs in an already crowded BCI market, alongside the likes of Elon Musk’s Neuralink, Synchron, Blackrock Neurotech, Precision Neuroscience, and Inbrain Neuroelectronics, in the quest to link man and machine.
Photographs courtesy of Science Corporation.
