[Nfbf-l] Second Sight Surpasses Major Milestone for Blind People with Retinitis Pigmentosa
Alan Dicey
adicey at bellsouth.net
Tue Oct 30 13:39:22 UTC 2012
Second Sight Surpasses Major Milestone for Blind People with Retinitis
Pigmentosa
50th and 51st Patients Worldwide implanted with Argus® Retinal Prosthesis;
Additional Procedures Planned across Europe and Elsewhere.
Lausanne, Switzerland, October 25, 2012.
Professor Stanislao Rizzo, vitreoretinal Surgeon and Director of U.O.
Chirurgia Oftalmica, AOUP, Pisa, Italy, marked an important milestone last
week when a patient blinded by Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) was implanted with
an Argus II Retinal Prosthesis (Argus II), becoming the 50th patient in the
world to be implanted with sight restoring technology manufactured by Second
Sight Medical Products Inc. The next day his colleague Prof. Albert
Augustin, Augenklinik Karlsruhe, Germany, implanted the 51st device into a
German patient.
"I am very proud to have been the surgeon that performed the milestone 50th
implant," said Prof. Rizzo, "Our patients are really grateful for this
groundbreaking therapy as this gives them back more autonomy in their daily
life".
RP is a rare, hereditary disease that causes a progressive degeneration of
the light-sensitive cells of the retina, leading to significant visual
impairment and ultimately blindness, which until now was untreatable. Second
Sight's Argus II System employs electrical stimulation to bypass these
defunct cells and stimulate remaining viable retinal cells to induce visual
perception in blind individuals.
Prof. Rizzo added, "The results we have seen to date have gone way beyond
any expectation that I had. Patients that previously had practically no
residual vision, can now distinguish shapes, move around and eat more
independently. This has an enormous emotional and functional impact on their
quality of life. As well, the safety profile has been very strong and none
of my seven patients have experienced a serious adverse event."
The 51st patient was implanted by Prof. Augustin who said, "This is a great
opportunity! For the first time in history we are re-establishing visual
function in these blind patients."
"The cooperation of hospitals all over Europe has been very gratifying",
said Gregoire Cosendai, PhD, Head of Europe for Second Sight. "Leading
ophthalmologists are now aware of the meaningful benefit that Argus II
offers their patients and are becoming proactive in advancing the therapy in
their clinic. We will soon see additional procedures performed in other
countries, both within and outside Europe."
About the Second Sight Retinal Prosthesis System
The system works by converting video images captured by a miniature camera,
housed in the patient's glasses, into a series of small electrical pulses
that are transmitted wirelessly to an array of electrodes on the surface of
the retina. These pulses are intended to stimulate the retina's remaining
cells resulting in the corresponding perception of patterns of light in the
brain. Patients then learn to interpret these visual patterns thereby
regaining some visual function. Six of the first 50 patients were implanted
with a first generation Argus I system, that was attached to an electronic
implant inserted invasively in the skull behind the ear with a wire
connecting to the eye under the skin. The last 45 patients have received the
second generation Argus II system, which is much less invasive and is
implanted only in and around the eye. Second Sight gained European approval
(CE Mark) for the Argus II system in 2011 - the first and only approval of a
retinal prosthesis anywhere in the world. In September 2012, a U.S. Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) Ophthalmic Devices Advisory Panel unanimously
voted 19-0 to recommend FDA approval, which is now pending.
About Second Sight
Second Sight Medical Products Inc., located in Los Angeles, California, was
founded in 1998 to create a retinal prosthesis to provide sight to patients
blinded from outer retinal degenerations, such as RP. Through dedication and
innovation, Second Sight's mission is to develop, manufacture and market
implantable visual prosthetics to enable blind individuals to achieve
greater independence. European Headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland.
For more information, go to www.2-sight.com.
Contacts
Second Sight Medical Products
Maura Arsiero, PhD
publicrelations at 2-sight.com
Tel: +41 21 693 91 01
Mobile: +41 76 570 88 70
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