Billionaire Elon Musk said the first human patient has received a Neuralink implant and is recovering.
“Initial results are promising for discovering neural spikes,” the founder of the neurotech startup said in a post on social media platform X.
The human clinical trials are a step towards commercializing Neuralink.
The company is developing a brain implant to help severely paralyzed patients control external technology using nerve signals alone.
Neuralink began enrolling patients in its first human clinical trial in the fall after receiving approval to conduct the study from the US Food and Drug Administration in May.
Last year, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the company's first human transplant trial, a major step in the startup's ambitions to help patients overcome paralysis and a range of neurological disorders.
The company said earlier that the research uses robots to surgically implant a brain-computer interface into areas of the brain that control motor intentions, adding that its initial goal is to give people the ability to use their hands, and use cursor or computer control. keyboard. Be alone with your thoughts.
Neuralink claims that the implant's ultra-thin wires help transmit signals to the participant's brain.
Musk said in another post on the X website that Neuralink's first product is called Telepathy.
The startup's PRIME study is a wireless brain-computer interface trial designed to evaluate the safety of implants and surgical robots.
The company is facing calls to overhaul its security protocols. Reuters reported earlier this month that the company was fined for violating US Department of Transportation regulations on transporting hazardous materials.
Last June, the company's value reached about $5 billion.
In late November, four lawmakers called on the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate Musk for allegedly misleading investors about the safety of his technology after veterinary records showed problems with the implants in monkeys, including paralysis, convulsions and swelling of the monkeys' brains.