New EU-Approved Device Aims to Restore Central Vision for Millions With Advanced AMD

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of vision loss, affecting more than 5 million people worldwide. In its advanced stages, the disease often wipes out central vision, leaving patients with a persistent blind spot that makes everyday tasks—reading a menu, sending a text, recognizing faces—painfully difficult. While existing therapies can slow certain forms of AMD, they have not been able to bring back lost sight.

A newly approved European device is aiming to change that. The Prima system, developed by California-based Science Corporation, pairs an implant placed in the retina with camera-equipped glasses and a wearable processor designed to route visual information around damaged cells. The technology received European approval in July and is still awaiting clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration.

In clinical use, the system has shown promising functional gains. After a period of training, more than 80% of people who received the implant were able to perform tasks that depend heavily on central vision, including reading, working on crossword puzzles, and using a smartphone.

Prima’s approach is built on a key biological detail of AMD: the disease primarily destroys photoreceptors, the light-sensing cells that convert incoming light into electrical signals. Much of the downstream retinal wiring—particularly bipolar and ganglion cells—can remain intact. By tapping into that surviving circuitry, the Prima implant aims to replace the job of the missing photoreceptors rather than rebuilding the entire visual pathway.

“We’re leveraging all of the body’s own natural functions to process and transmit the information,” says Frank Brodie, an ophthalmologist at the University of California, San Francisco, who serves as medical director for Prima.

The system starts with the glasses. A small forward-facing camera captures the wearer’s surroundings in real time. The video stream is about five megapixels at 30 frames per second—roughly comparable to television resolution and refresh rates. That raw feed travels through a fiber-optic cable to a compact external processor that can sit on a table or be carried in a pocket.

The processor converts the video into a pattern of infrared light signals, which are then sent back to the glasses. Physical controls on the device allow users to tune key viewing parameters, including brightness, contrast, and zoom—adjustments that can make a major difference for someone relying on an artificial visual input.

On the glasses, a laser projector directs pulses of near-infrared light toward the eye at 880 nanometers, a wavelength invisible to the wearer. The light passes through the pupil and reaches the implant at the back of the eye. There, a microchip containing 378 pixels goes to work. Each pixel includes an electrode and two photovoltaic cells. Those photovoltaic elements transform the incoming infrared light into electrical current that stimulates the remaining retinal cells, which then relay the signal onward to the brain.

Notably, the photovoltaic cells also supply power to the implant—functioning like tiny solar panels—so the system avoids the need for an implanted battery.

Why it matters

If broader trials and regulatory review continue to validate these results, Prima could represent a meaningful shift for people with advanced AMD: not just preserving vision, but partially restoring lost function. The next milestones to watch are FDA decisions in the US and longer-term data on durability, safety, and how well patients retain and improve their performance with continued training.