Business Wire10.30.20
Second Sight Medical Products Inc., a developer, manufacturer and marketer of implantable visual prosthetics that are intended to create an artificial form of useful vision for blind individuals, has resumed its Early Feasibility Study of the Orion Visual Cortical Prosthesis System (Orion) at UCLA Medical Center (UCLA). The study, which includes four participants at UCLA and two participants at Baylor College of Medicine, was paused for in-person visits following the guidelines for clinical trials at each institution in March 2020 due to COVID-19. Study visits have now been resumed.
The first human subject was implanted with Orion in January 2018. A total of six subjects have been implanted in the Orion Early Feasibility Study.
“We are delighted that the Early Feasibility Study has restarted. The study, like many such investigations, was suspended as medical centers focused attention and resources on their COVID-19 response and to protect the health of study participants. Our highest priority remains the health and safety of all of our study participants, and we look forward to continuing this important research. We remain committed to this innovative technology and believe that Orion has the potential to safely benefit blind individuals and help them to perform everyday tasks,” stated Matt Pfeffer, acting CEO.
Orion is a breakthrough technology intended to provide useful artificial vision to individuals who are blind due to a wide range of causes, including glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, optic nerve injury or disease, and eye injury. Orion converts images captured by a miniature video camera mounted on glasses into a series of small electrical pulses transmitted wirelessly to electrodes implanted directly on the visual cortex of the individual subject’s brain.
In June 2019, the study’s principal investigators, Nader Pouratian, M.D., Ph.D., of UCLA and Daniel Yoshor, M.D., of Baylor, presented 12-month results from the Early Feasibility Study at the World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery Annual Meeting in New York City. On both the primary and secondary outcome measures, latest results at 12 months have been positive.
The first human subject was implanted with Orion in January 2018. A total of six subjects have been implanted in the Orion Early Feasibility Study.
“We are delighted that the Early Feasibility Study has restarted. The study, like many such investigations, was suspended as medical centers focused attention and resources on their COVID-19 response and to protect the health of study participants. Our highest priority remains the health and safety of all of our study participants, and we look forward to continuing this important research. We remain committed to this innovative technology and believe that Orion has the potential to safely benefit blind individuals and help them to perform everyday tasks,” stated Matt Pfeffer, acting CEO.
Orion is a breakthrough technology intended to provide useful artificial vision to individuals who are blind due to a wide range of causes, including glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, optic nerve injury or disease, and eye injury. Orion converts images captured by a miniature video camera mounted on glasses into a series of small electrical pulses transmitted wirelessly to electrodes implanted directly on the visual cortex of the individual subject’s brain.
In June 2019, the study’s principal investigators, Nader Pouratian, M.D., Ph.D., of UCLA and Daniel Yoshor, M.D., of Baylor, presented 12-month results from the Early Feasibility Study at the World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery Annual Meeting in New York City. On both the primary and secondary outcome measures, latest results at 12 months have been positive.