Bioelectronics company, Pixium Vision SA, has announced that it has received the HealthTech Award 2020 for its bionic vision system.
This futuristic system, which won its award in the Best Product/Deal category, is designed to give blind people the ability to see and was recognized as the winner during the MedTech Forum 2021, which recognizes “the most promising gamechangers developing emerging technologies for healthcare in Europe,” according to a press release .
“We are tremendously proud to receive this HealthTech Award 2020 for the groundbreaking work being carried out with the Prima System,” Pixium Vision CEO, Lloyd Diamond, said. “The Prima System has demonstrated its potential to make a significant improvement to the quality of life of patients with dry AMD and this award recognizes its capacity to improve vision.”
The Prima System, which is what the bionic vision system is formally known as, is designed to restore vision to those that are blind and it can do so without permanently replacing the vision they currently have, if at all.
“The Prima System, a photovoltaic substitute of photoreceptors providing simultaneous use of the central prosthetic and peripheral natural vision in atrophic dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), is being studied in the pivotal PRIMAvera trial,” according to the press release.
This study was initiated last year and its purpose is to “confirm the safety and the benefits provided by the Prima System.” This study and its approval is the last clinical step Pixium Vision needs for the system before seeking market approval in Europe.
“Positive data from a French feasibility study have shown that patients with dry AMD had a significant improvement in vision when using the Prima System,” the press release says. “This study also demonstrated that patients could simultaneously use prosthetic central vision generated with the Prima System and their remaining peripheral vision, an important step forward in treatment for dry AMD.”
According to InterestingEngineering , the goal of the Prima System is to use technology to improve loss of vision or retinal degenerative illnesses such as AMD. Two hundred and eighty five million people around the world are visually impaired, according to InterestingEngineering, with 39 million of those people being completely blind. Two hundred million of that 285 million live with AMD and each day, 365,000 more people are diagnosed with AMD, InterestingEngineering reports. The 25 Best Sci Fi Movies 26 IMAGES Pixium Vision’s bionic vision system seems to be one step closer for humanity in bridging the gap between reality and sci-fi such as Star Trek. Similar technology, albeit just a touch more sci-fi than the Prima System, can be found in the likes of Star Trek: The Next Generation after all. LaVar Burton’s Geordi La Forge can be seen using ocular implants. That ocular implant, however, was less about restoring vision and more about giving him telescopic vision and head-detecting infrared vision.
It’s easy to see the kind of impact a product like the Prima System could have on the world once approved and brought to market.
For more bionic creations, read this story about a bionic moon jellyfish created by scientists and then check out this story about how scientists are creating smart OLED tattoos that can glow . Read this story about how scientists have created the first part-human, part-monkey embryos after that.
