France is embarking on the race for “bionic eyes”. The French company Pixum Vision intends to catch up with the American company Second Sight with the release of an innovative artificial retina.
Hexagonal hopes stem from the successful implantation last January of the Iris II implant on a 58-year-old patient. The device is equipped with 150 electrodes, which is three times more than the previous Iris I prototype, and more than the American version. Argus II from Second Sight which includes 60 electrodes.
Iris II is an implant that artificially stimulates the deficient retina in order to restore vision of forms and movements. “We are late compared to Second Sight, but our implant is more technologically advanced,” Pixium Vision president Bernard Gilly told AFP. The system works by means of a micro-camera installed on the pair of glasses worn by the patient. The visual information recorded by the camera is converted into light signals picked up by the implant, which replaces the failing retina.
Marketing in mid 2016
“After years in the dark, the patient said he saw the first light signals,” explained Professor Michel Weber, head of the ophthalmology service at Nantes University Hospital, cited by Ouest-France. Now is the time for eye rehabilitation “in accordance with clinical protocol to learn to interpret these perceptions”.
As part of the clinical trial, ten patients in Europe should benefit from an implementation of this new model. If all goes as planned, the marketing of the Iris II implant is expected in the middle of the year.
Thanks to this artificial retina, people with retinitis pigmentosa could partially recover their sight. This degenerative eye disease affects 20,000 to 40,000 people in France.
A French implant for AMD
French researchers will also have to develop this bionic eye to treat AMD if they want to follow in the footsteps of the Americans. Second Sight announced last July the success of the first successful implantation of Argus II in a British patient suffering from Macular degeneration(AMD).
However, the number of people suffering from AMD in France is greater than the patients suffering from retinitis pigmentosa (approximately 1.5 million people suffering from AMD). Pixum Vision claims to be ready to position itself in this buoyant market. The French company is working on a prototype implant with 2,500 electrodes for AMD. It could be tested in the coming months.
Read also: AMD: first successful bionic eye transplant
Retinal prostheses soon to be covered by the Social Security
