A retina chip that restores sight is going on sale in Europe

Science Corp will begin selling its Prima retina implant in Europe after earning a CE mark from DEKRA, clearing the device for sale across 30 countries. The chip, which restores sight in patients with geographic atrophy from age-related macular degeneration, helped patients gain an average of 25.5 letters on an eye chart in a trial of 38 patients. Science Corp, the second most valuable US brain-implant company behind Neuralink, expects its first commercial patient in August, likely in Germany.

Geographic atrophy is the worst form of age-related macular degeneration. For most people who have it, the centre of the world slowly greys out. Faces blur. Words vanish. There is no cure, only treatments that slow the loss. Now a small chip is giving some of that sight https://thenextweb.com/news/meta-free-ai-glasses-blind-veterans back. Science Corp, based in Alameda, California, will begin selling its Prima implant in Europe, the company said https://science.xyz/news/ce-mark/ . The device is a chip that sits at the back of the eye and works with a special pair of glasses. The glasses beam near-infrared light to the chip, which converts it into signals for the retina. A “zoom” feature lets patients magnify letters. Prima has earned a CE mark from the notified body DEKRA, Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-22/retina-chip-designed-to-restore-sight-to-go-on-sale-in-europe reported, clearing it for sale across 30 European countries. The milestone is not only medical. This is the first device from a US brain-implant https://thenextweb.com/news/brain-computer-interfaces-new-digital-divide company to reach patients widely. The firm that got there is not the famous one. Science is the second most valuable US brain-implant company, behind Elon Musk’s Neuralink https://thenextweb.com/news/brain-implants-bci-china-neuralink-commercial-race . Its founder, Max Hodak, helped start Neuralink before leaving to build this. “This is the first in hopefully a long series of commercial products that proceed to advance that horizon, sometimes incrementally, but relentlessly,” Hodak said in an interview. The word that matters there is commercial. Brain-implant companies have run trials for years. Selling a device to ordinary patients is a different threshold. What the chip can, and cannot, do The trial behind the approval was small but striking. Published in the New England Journal of Medicine https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2501396 , it followed 38 patients across 17 sites in five countries. On average they gained 25.5 letters, more than five lines on a standard eye chart. And 84% could again read letters, numbers, and words. It is not a cure. Geographic atrophy from AMD affects more than five million people worldwide. But it is a genuine return of function. Science has raised $489m at a $1.5bn valuation. Europe first, America later The geography is telling. Science expects its first commercial patient in August, probably in Germany, then dozens more this year and around 200 next. The US comes later. The company is working with the Food and Drug Administration and hopes to reach the US market next year. Prima already holds FDA Breakthrough Device and Humanitarian Use Device designations, both meant to speed narrow, high-need treatments. Meanwhile China https://thenextweb.com/news/china-first-commercial-brain-implant-neuracle-neo has named brain tech a national priority and cleared its own first implant. The global race https://thenextweb.com/news/hemispheric-neuroai-brain-model-funding is drawing in billions. The science that restores sight is arriving. Where you can buy it, and what it will cost, is the next question. For now the answer is simple: Europe, price unset. Get the TNW newsletter Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.