American billionaire Elon Musk’s Neuralink has just secured the approval of the US Food and Drug Administration to conduct its second brain chip implant to a new patient. According to The Wall Street Journal, the approval comes as the company addresses the issues it encountered with the first trial patient.
Neuralink to fix issue that caused complications in first patient
On May 8, Neuralink disclosed that a number of threads retracted from the first patient’s brain. As a result, the brain chip implant generated fewer effective electrodes crucial for recording brain activity.
Reuters‘ report last week claimed that the company already knew that the wires might retract based on their animal testing.
Now, a person familiar with the matter revealed that Neuralink aims to solve the issue by implanting some of the chip’s wires deeper into the human brain.
Instead of 3 to 5 millimeters, the company will implant the wires 8 millimeters deep.
Brain chip designed to control computers and mobile devices with the mind
Neuralink’s PRIME Study utilizes a robot that surgically embeds a brain-computer interface implant in a key region of the brain.
The brain chip enables the patient to control computers and mobile devices by simply using their thoughts without “illeffects.”
For instance, the first human patient Noland Arbaugh used to depend on a tablet stylus to interact with digital devices before the implant surgery. His caregiver would only put the stylus into his mouth, requiring him to sit upright to use a tablet via the “mouth stick.”
Now, the brain chip implant allows him to simply lie in his bed to use and control such devices through his thoughts.
“The biggest thing with comfort is that I can lie in my bed and use [the Link]. Any other assistive technology had to have someone else help or have me sit up. Sitting causes stress mentally and on my body, which would give me pressure sores or spasms. It lets me live on my own time, not needing to have someone adjust me, etc., throughout the day.”
Mr. Noland Arbaugh
Mr. Arbaugh even described the experience as “a luxury overload” so far as it now enables him to do things that were impossible or hard in the past 8 years.
Trial expected to include 10 patients in total this year
Neuralink reportedly aims to conduct its second brain chip implant to a new patient in June 2024.
It plans to have a total of 10 willing patients for the PRIME Study this year alone.
The report noted that the Musk-led company received over 1,000 registrations from quadriplegics people. For context, quadriplegics are people with paralyzed arms and legs due to various conditions, such as spinal cord injury, stroke, or cerebral palsy.
Neuralink also plans to work on the necessary applications to Canadian and British regulators in the following few months to initiate brain chip implant surgeries.
