Second Sight artificial retina receives backing from UK government for blind study

Jan. 10, 2017
Second Sight Medical Products will receive UK Government healthcare funding for a study involving blind patients with retinitis pigmentosa to receive treatment with the company's Argus II retinal prosthesis system.

Implantable visual prosthetics developer and maker Second Sight Medical Products (Sylmar, CA) will receive UK Government healthcare funding for a study involving blind patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) to receive treatment with the company's Argus II retinal prosthesis system.

Related: FDA approves artificial retina

NHS England has announced that a selective group of severely blind RP patients can have access to Argus II. There will be two implantation centers: Manchester Royal Eye Hospital and Moorfields Eye Hospital. The hospitals and Second Sight will also provide follow-up, rehabilitation, and support to patients receiving an Argus II implant.

Argus II will be funded via the Commissioning through Evaluation (CtE) program, which is designed for treatments that show significant promise for the future, while new clinical and patient experience data are collected within a formal evaluation program. Argus II is already reimbursed under a similar "coverage with evidence development" program in France called Forfait Innovation, where patients have benefited from the Argus II treatment.

Second Sight continues its groundbreaking work with the aim to restore vision to patients with every type of untreatable blindness. Its UK research on age-related macular degeneration (AMD)—an illness is more complex than RP—continues. In 2015, the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital fitted several AMD patients with implants.

In the U.S., Second Sight is working with the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), recently performing the successful implantation and activation of a wireless visual cortical stimulator in a human subject.

For more information, please visit www.secondsight.com.

About the Author

BioOptics World Editors

We edited the content of this article, which was contributed by outside sources, to fit our style and substance requirements. (Editor’s Note: BioOptics World has folded as a brand and is now part of Laser Focus World, effective in 2022.)

Sponsored Recommendations

Next generation tunable infrared lasers

Nov. 28, 2023
Discussion of more powerful and stable quantum cascade tunable infrared lasers, applications, and test results.

What AI demands mean for data centers

Nov. 28, 2023
The 2023 Photonics-Enabled Cloud Computing Summit assembled by Optica took an aggressive approach to calling out the limitations of today’s current technologies.

SLP feature for lighting control available on cameras offering

Nov. 28, 2023
A proprietary structured light projector (SLP) feature is now available on the company’s camera series, including the ace 2, boost R, ace U, and ace L.

Chroma Customer Spotlight - Dr. David Warshaw, About his Lab

Nov. 27, 2023
David Warshaw, Professor and Chair of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Vermont (UVM), walks us through his lab. Learn about his lab’s work with the protein...

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of Laser Focus World, create an account today!