Launch as the National Project
Our R&D on the Visual Prosthesis has started as a government supported project in 2001 based on its social significance, to enhance Japan’s competitiveness in the field of medical device technology as well as industrial market.
This project was promoted as a joint effort of the Ministries of Economy, Trade and Industry, and Health, Labor and Welfare in order to develop a system that artificially provides vision for people with visual impairment which leads to blindness due to retinal damage.
From FY 2001 to 2005, NIDEK had committed to the system development which was delegated by New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), and had conducted basic research.(*1) As for the clinical research, study has been led by Ophthalmology Department of Osaka University. From FY 2006 to 2007, the project has won another fund from the Industrial Technology Research and Development Projects of NEDO and the research had been promoted toward the final product.
*1: The basic device research has been conducted with the following research institutions and NIDEK.
1) Nara Institute of Science and Technology
2) Kyushu University
Current R&D Progress
The R&D has been promoted in close cooperation with several universities. In the engineering side, NIDEK has been playing a leading role in the system development, and in the medical side, Osaka University has played a leading role in the research.
Through various efforts, 2 acute clinical trials (*2) were performed at Osaka University in 2005 and 2008. Based on the results from these trials, NIDEK is currently working on the system development for longer-term implantation. Specifically, the semichronic clinical trials (*3) were performed in patients with retinitis pigmentosa from April to May, and June to July 2010.
*2: The clinical trial performed in an operating room to apply stimulation to a patient for only a short time using the system.
*3: The clinical trial to implant the system in the human body for longer periods (about one month).
R&D on Visual Prosthesis
