FDA Panel Recommends Against Bionic Eye

In the 1970s TV show “The Six Million Dollar Man,” the strapping young astronaut got a bionic eye. VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies of Santa Clara, CA had hoped that next year that might be your grandmother. Not so fast, a federal advisory panel said on July 14.
   A tiny telescope designed to be implanted in the eyes of some elderly patients should not receive FDA approval, the panel recommended on a 10-3 vote, according to the Associated Press.
   The agency’s ophthalmic devices panel recommended against the pea-sized bionic device for safety reasons, spokeswoman Heidi Valetkevitch said.
   The first-of-its-kind device is called the Implantable Miniature Telescope. The telephoto lens could enable some patients to do away with the special glasses and handheld telescopes they now use to compensate for the loss in central vision caused by the disease, according to VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies.
   The FDA typically follows the recommendations of its outside panels of experts, but isn’t required to do so.