Pixium Vision (France — EU)
The European company that invented and first demonstrated the PRIMA implant — the device that later became the first CE-marked BCI for form vision under science-corp.
Key facts
- Founded: November 2011, Paris, France — spin-out of Institut de la Vision / Université Pierre et Marie Curie. Founders: Bernard Gilly, José-Alain Sahel, Ryad Benosman. Backed by Sofinnova Partners, Omnes, Abingworth, Seventure, etc.
- Devices: IRIS I (epiretinal, 2013 clinical trials; derived from IMI system); IRIS II (epiretinal, scrapped); PRIMA (subretinal photovoltaic; 378 pixels, 2 × 2 mm) — technology from Prof. Daniel Palanker’s lab at Stanford.
- Clinical milestones: FDA IDE 2018; first-in-human in France 2017; first US implant at UPMC 2020; PRIMAvera pivotal trial (NCT04676854) — 38 patients across 17 EU sites.
- End of company: closed business January 31, 2024 (liquidation); after Paris commercial court + French FDI approval, April 25, 2024: IP and related assets, including 3 ongoing trials, acquired by Science Corporation.1
Why it matters
Pixium proved the core scientific claim that subretinal photovoltaic stimulation of bipolar cells could produce form vision (not just phosphenes) — the basis for Max Hodak’s 2024 acquisition letter and the NEJM results published under Science’s ownership (Oct 2025). The PRIMAvera results are often attributed to Science, but the technology and much of the trial are Pixium’s life’s work (“literally several peoples’ life’s work,” per Hodak).1
Patent relevance
The PRIMA technology is explicitly referenced in the Stanford University CN patent (2023) on photovoltaic retinal prostheses with optical field confinement — confirming that Stanford’s Prof. Daniel Palanker IP underpins the PRIMA photovoltaic architecture now owned by science-corp. The patent reports PRIMA’s current acuity as 20/460–20/565 in AMD patients and uses it as the baseline against which the next-generation 25 µm pixel pitch / optical field confinement approach is compared (targeting 20/100 or better).2
Related pages
- science-corp — acquirer
- retinal-prosthesis — product category
- retinal-prosthesis-companies — schema (EU origin column)
- brain-computer-interface, max-hodak
References
- Science Corp., “Welcoming Pixium Vision’s PRIMA retinal prosthesis to Science” (2024-04-25).
- bionic-vision.org company profile (verified by Brian Burg, 2025-10-25).
- BrightFocus Foundation (2026): PRIMA history (first-in-human France 2017; US 2020).