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Elon Musk’s neurotech startup Neuralink implanted its device in a human for the first time on Sunday, and the patient is “recovering well,” the billionaire said on Monday’s X (formerly known as Twitter). I mentioned it in my post.
The company is developing a brain implant that aims to allow patients with severe paralysis to control external technology using only neural signals. Neuralink began recruiting patients for its first clinical trial in the fall after receiving approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to conduct the trial in May, according to a blog post.
Musk said Monday that Neuralink’s first product will be called Telepathy, according to a post by X.
If the technology works properly, patients with severe degenerative diseases like ALS could one day use this implant to communicate by moving a cursor or typing with their heads, and access social media. You will be able to do things like
“Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a speed typist or an auctioneer,” Musk wrote. “That’s the goal.”
This human clinical trial marks just one step on Neuralink’s path to commercialization. Medical device companies must go through several rounds of rigorous data collection and safety testing before receiving final approval from the FDA.
Neuralink has not disclosed how many patients will participate in the first in-human clinical trial. The company did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the latest proceedings.
As part of the emerging brain-computer interface (BCI) industry, Neuralink is perhaps the best-known company in the space, thanks to the high profile of Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. BCIs are systems that decode brain signals and translate them into commands for external technology, and several companies, including Synchron, Precision Neuroscience, Paradromics, and Blackrock Neurotech, are also developing systems with these capabilities. .
Paradromics aims to begin its first clinical trial in human patients in the first half of this year. Precision Neuroscience conducted its first in-human clinical study last year. A patient who received Synchron’s BCI in 2021 used it to post from CEO Tom Oxley’s Twitter account.
It is not clear which companies will enter the market first.