Second Sight Enters R&D Agreement with Energy Dept. for Artificial Retina

by James Cavuoto, editor

Second Sight Medical Products Inc., the Sylmar, CA developer of visual prostheses, announced it has entered into a cooperative research and development agreement with the U.S., Department of Energy’s Artificial Retina Project. The agreement brings together Second Sight’s work in implantable retinal stimulators with research conducted at five national laboratories and three universities.

To date, DoE has invested over $8 million in the artificial retina project and anticipates spending another $20 million over the next three years. “The Department of Energy has led the way to many scientific breakthroughs, especially when several scientific disciplines combined to make a whole greater than the sum of the parts,” said Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham. “This project is one such example where biology, physics, and engineering have joined forces to deliver a capability that will enable blind people to see.”

Robert Greenberg, president and CEO of Second Sight, said, “The DoE’s foresight in this area of biomedical engineering will give patients access to technologies that would not otherwise be available. The national labs have an impressive roster of world-class scientists and engineers and an array of leading-edge equipment and technology that is unparalleled.”

Although the agreement with DoE does not provide funding to Second Sight, it does grant the firm exclusive access to intellectual property developed at DoE labs. The firm previously received approximately $200,000 annually in funding from DoE.

Second Sight’s role in the agreement is to integrate DoE technology into commercial product designs that will eventually move on to clinical trials. The DoE research institutions involved include national labs at Argonne, Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, and Sandia, as well as University of Southern California, University of California, Santa Cruz, and North Carolina State University.

Greenberg has stated his desire to get a product on the market within five years, if not sooner. The target market is individuals with certain forms of retinitis pigmentosis and macular degeneration.