The US Meals and Drug Administration has allowed billionaire Elon Musk’s Neuralink to implant its mind chip in a second individual after the corporate provided fixes to an issue that occurred within the first affected person, the Wall Avenue Journal reported on Monday.
Reuters reported final week, citing folks conversant in the matter, that the problem disclosed by Neuralink the place tiny wires contained in the mind of its first affected person had pulled out of place is a matter the Elon Musk firm has identified about for years.
The corporate intends to repair the issue by embedding a few of the gadget’s wires deeper into the mind, the WSJ report mentioned citing an individual conversant in the corporate and a doc it had considered.
Neuralink and the FDA didn’t instantly reply to a Reuters request for remark.
Neuralink implanted a wi-fi mind chip in a human for the primary time earlier this 12 months. The large improvement was revealed by Musk on January 29 through a sequence of posts on X (previously referred to as Twitter).
Neuralink has been engaged on creating implantable brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). Final 12 months in Could, the corporate obtained approval from the US Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct human trials. In September 2023, the neurotechnology agency started its human trial recruitment.
In February, Musk revealed that the primary human affected person implanted with a brain-chip from Neuralink appeared to have absolutely recovered and was in a position to management a pc mouse utilizing their ideas.
In March, Neuralink livestreamed on Wednesday its first affected person implanted with a chip utilizing his thoughts to play on-line chess. Noland Arbaugh, the 29-year-old affected person who was paralyzed under the shoulder after a diving accident, performed chess on his laptop computer and moved the cursor utilizing the Neuralink gadget. The implant seeks to allow folks to manage a pc cursor or keyboard utilizing solely their ideas.
Up to now, the corporate has performed in depth checks on animals and has claimed a excessive success charge. Whereas performing a profitable mind chip implant is a significant milestone, the success of the product will probably be decided by its long-term efficiency and lack of unwanted side effects.
© Thomson Reuters 2024
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