Device to Aid Vision Gets US FDA Approval

The US Food and Drug Administration has given Neuralink’s experimental brain chip to aid the blind in seeing Breakthrough Device Designation.

Called Blindsight, the company announced the feat in a social media post on Tuesday, September 17.

“We have received Breakthrough Device Designation from the FDA for Blindsight. Join us in our quest to bring back sight to those who have lost it. Apply to our Patient Registry and openings on our career page.”

The Breakthrough Device tag by the US FDA recognizes newly developed devices that hold the potential to provide better diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of life-threatening diseases or conditions, the Breakthrough Devices Program puts applications on a fast track to market clearance.

According to co-founder of Neuralink, Elon Musk, the device will enable even those who have lost both eyes and their optic nerve to see.

It provides hope to all persons with vision impairment on the condition that their visual cortex is not damaged, he said.

“Provided the visual cortex is intact, it will even enable those who have been blind from birth to see for the first time.”

“To set expectations correctly, the vision will first be at low resolution, like Atari graphics, but eventually it has the potential to be better than natural vision and enable you to see in infrared, ultraviolet or even radar wavelengths, like Geordi La Forge.”

Source:opemsuo.com