Neuralink: Musk's brain implant company in search of human trials partner, Health News, ET HealthWorld
Francisco Ponce
, director of Barrow's Center for Neuromodulation and Neurosurgery Residency Program, declined to comment on Neuralink but said Barrow was well-positioned to conduct such implant research because of its long track record in the field.
The FDA declined to comment on Neuralink's efforts to find a partner for its clinical trials. Neuralink's latest efforts come as it faces two known US federal probes into its practices.
The US Department of Agriculture's Inspector General began looking into potential animal-welfare violations at Neuralink last year. Current and former employees have detailed concerns to a news agency about the company's rushed animal experiments, resulting in needless suffering and deaths.
The US Department of Transportation has said it is investigating the potential mishandling of hazardous pathogens during the company's partnership on animal trials with University of California, Davis between 2018 and 2020.
Barrow has helped standardize brain implant surgeries in which the patient can remain asleep, a key step in making it more acceptable to a broad set of the population, Ponce said.
This is in line with Musk's vision for Neuralink's brain chip. The billionaire CEO of Tesla Inc and majority owner of Twitter has said Neuralink's brain implants will become as ubiquitous as Lasik eye surgery.
The devices Barrow has been implanting so far are different than Neuralink's. Barrow works with deep brain stimulation devices, which received FDA approval in 1997 to help reduce Parkinson's tremors and have been implanted in more than 175,000 patients.
Neuralink's implant is a brain computer interface (BCI) device, which uses electrodes that penetrate the brain or sit on its surface to provide direct communication to computers. So far, no company has received US approval to bring a BCI implant to the market.
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Monday, March 27, 2023 at 10:16 am