Retinal dystrophies and age-related macular degeneration related to photoreceptor degeneration can cause blindness. In blind patients, although the electrical activation of the residual retinal circuit can provide useful artificial visual perception, the resolutions of current retinal prostheses have been limited either by large electrodes or small numbers of pixels. Here, we report the evaluation, in three awake non-human primates, of a previously reported near-infrared-light-sensitive photovoltaic subretinal prosthesis. We show that multi-pixel stimulation of the prosthesis within radiation-safety limits enabled eye tracking in the animals, that they responded to the stimulations in the direction of the implant with repeated saccades, and that the implant-induced responses were present two years after device implantation. Our findings pave the way for the clinical evaluation of a 378-electrode prosthesis in patients affected by dry atrophic age-related macular degeneration.

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