Neuralink, a start-up founded by Elon Musk, announced on Thursday (May 25) that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given its permission to test its brain implants on humans.
The company’s application was turned down in early 2022, despite Musk’s repeated claims that the FDA would soon approve his brain-chip company’s plans for human testing.
Concerns raised by the FDA regarding the experimental implant’s safety were addressed by the company.
Purpose of Neuralink implants is to allow direct brain-to-computer communication
Neuralink said in a tweet: “This is the result of incredible work by the Neuralink team in close collaboration with the FDA and represents an important first step that will one day allow our technology to help many people.”
According to Neuralink, receiving approval from US regulators is “an important first step” for their technology, which enables direct brain-to-computer communication.
The company added that enrollment for our clinical trial is not yet open and that more details would be released soon.
Neuralink is working on a brain implant that it thinks will allow paralyzed people to regain their ability to walk and treat other neurological conditions.
Musk stated that the purpose of Neuralink implants is to allow direct brain-to-computer communication during a start-up presentation in December.
It is possible to restore full body functionality to someone who has a severed spinal cord: Musk
“We’ve been working hard to be ready for our first human (implant), and obviously we want to be extremely careful and certain that it will work well before putting a device in a human,” he said at the time.
Neuralink could not carry out its first human tests in 2020, as the billionaire had predicted in 2019. In the meantime, demonstrations of the prototypes implanted in the monkeys’ skulls provided suggestions as to what the finished product will look like.
Many monkeys were observed “playing” simple video games or controlling a cursor on a screen during the Neuralink presentation. According to Musk, the business intends to use the implants to give patients who have lost their vision and mobility back.
“We would initially enable someone who has almost no ability to operate their muscles… and enable them to operate their phone faster than someone who has working hands,” he said.
“As miraculous as it may sound, we are confident that it is possible to restore full body functionality to someone who has a severed spinal cord,” he added.