JAKARTA - One of Elon Musk's companies, Neuralink, has approached one of the largest neural surgery centers in the US as a potential clinical trial partner as the company prepares to test its devices on humans once regulators allow it. This was revealed by six people familiar with the matter.
Neuralink has developed brain implants since 2016 which is expected to be a cure for difficult conditions such as paralysis and blindness.
However, the company suffered a blow in early 2022 when the US Food and Drug Administration rejected its request to advance to clinical trials in humans due to key safety concerns, Reuters reported earlier this month.
Since then, Neuralink has been working to address the supervisory agency's concerns and it is not yet clear whether and when they will succeed.
Neuralink has spoken with theturbative Neurology Institute, a Phoenix-based neuromedicine treatment and research organization, Arizona, to help carry out clinical trials on humans, the sources said.
However, the talks will not necessarily end in cooperation. Neuralink has also discussed cooperation with other centers, added the sources who asked for anonymity to discuss classified considerations.
Reuters was unable to verify the latest status of the conversation. Neuralink's representative did not respond to a request for comment.
Francisco Ponce, Director of theaturation's Center for Neuromodulation and Neurosurgery Residency Program, declined to comment on Neuralink, but said it had a good position to conduct such implant research due to its long track record in the field.
The US Food and Drug Administration declined to comment on Neuralink's efforts to find partners for its clinical trials.
Neuralink's latest effort comes as the company faces two known US federal investigations into its practice.
The US Department of Agriculture's Inspector General began researching potential animal welfare abuses in Neuralink last year. Current employees and former employees have highlighted their concerns to Reuters about the company's hasty animal trials, leading to unnecessary suffering and deaths.
The US Department of Transport said it was investigating the possibility of handling dangerous pathogens during the company's partnership with California University, Davis in animal trials between 2018 and 2020.
According to Ponce,men have helped convert brain implant surgery into a procedure that can be done while a patient is sleeping, an important step in making the procedure more accepted by a wider group of populations.
This is in line with Musk's vision for Neuralink's brain chip. The CEO of Tesla Inc and the majority shareholder on Twitter have said that Neuralink's brain implants will be the umum of Lasik.
The device that has been implanted so far is different from Neuralink. How to work with internal brain stimulation devices that received FDA approval in 1997 to help reduce Parkinson's tremors and have been implanted with more than 175.000 patients.
Neuralink's implant is a brain computer interface (BCI) device, which uses electrodes that penetrate the brain or are placed on its surface to provide direct communication to the computer. So far, no company has received US approval to bring BCI implants to market.
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