Elon Musk-led neurotechnology startup Neuralink has officially opened its patient registry in the United Kingdom.
Neuralink seeks UK participants for its clinical trials
Neuralink’s Patient Registry UK formally opened to accept applications from interested patients despite the lack of clinical investigations in the country as of this time.
The American brain-computer interface company is now inviting prospective patients with specific neurological conditions to register in the anticipated clinical trials in the UK.
Registering will keep them informed and potentially accelerate their participation when clinical trials start.
However, it must be noted that registering does not necessarily guarantee their spots in the upcoming clinical trials due to its currently limited scope.
“The Patient Registry UK allows us to determine your preliminary eligibility for future Neuralink clinical investigations in the United Kingdom, and contact you in relation to such clinical investigations, Neuralink, and/or Neuralink’s technology.”
Neuralink indicated in its Patient Registry page
Eligibility
Neuralink outlined that eligible participants in the UK must be more than 18 years old and suffering from the following conditions:
- quadriplegia (paralysis of arms and legs)
- paraplegia (being paralyzed from the waist down)
- vision loss
- hearing loss
- inability to speak
- major limb amputations
These qualifications are quite similar to those set in the United States, which enabled Noland Arbaugh to undergo Neuralink’s first human trial.
Arbaugh is a 30-year-old man who is suffering from quadriplegia, a “dysfunction or loss of motor and sensory function in the cervical area of the spinal cord.” This condition typically leads to the impairment of all four limbs.
Recent advancements
Neuralink attained a major achievement with its first chip implant in Noland Arbaugh’s brain despite initial complications.
“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
In addition, Neuralink has also officially obtained the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval to execute its second brain chip implant for a new patient.
The approval reportedly came after the company solved the initial complication with the first patient, where multiple threads retracted from the brain. Now, Neuralink plans to solve the issue by implanting some of the chip’s wires deeper into the brain from the previous 3-6 millimeters to 8 millimeters.
All that said, those who submitted a Patient Registry UK application will enable Neuralink to contact them about their, application, eligibility for future clinical trials, Neuralink, and/or Neuralink’s technology.
