Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

December 16 (Xinhua)-- Synchron, a brain-computer interface startup, announced a $75 million financing on Thursday, with investors including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (Jeff Bezos)) and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates's investment company. Synchron is one of the main competitors to the Neuralink created by Elon Musk, which is under investigation for alleged cruelty to animals.

Synchron focuses on restoring certain functions for paralyzed patients, using the brain-computer interface (BCI) device Synchron Switch, which allows patients to move the computer cursor on the screen just by thinking. The brain-computer interface device can be implanted into blood vessels on the surface of the cerebral motor cortex through the jugular vein during minimally invasive surgery, similar to the insertion of a coronary stent. Companies such as Neuralink use more invasive techniques, including skull piercing.

Tom Oxley, founder and chief executive of Synchron, said in a statement on Thursday: "We have the opportunity to provide first-class business BCI, paralysis is much more serious than people realize, and 100m people around the world suffer from upper limb disorders. We are very happy to bring this technology to those who need it."

With this financing, Synchron raised a total of $145 million. Although Synchron lags behind Neuralin and Max Hodak Hodak's Science Corp., in fundraising, it is well ahead of most other BCI companies, according to market research firm Pitchbook.

Synchron Switch aims to help paralyzed people, such as people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), communicate by using their brains to control computer cursors. The company has recruited three patients in the United States to participate in feasibility trials and implanted the device in two of them. Oxley expects the rest of the patients to register and receive implants in the coming months.

Doctors will observe the volunteers for a year and report the results to the FDA. Two years ago, the agency granted Synchron "breakthrough" status, which allowed it to go through a relatively simplified approval process. Oxley's next big goal is to launch a key trial of FDA, which will qualify Synchron for Medicare and put it on a future revenue path.

Compared with Synchron, Neuralink doesn't seem to be going well. It is reported that the company is under federal investigation for suspected violations of the Animal Welfare Act after employees expressed strong dissatisfaction with the unnecessary suffering and death caused by hasty testing. Musk is said to have told Neuralink employees that he wanted to tie bombs to their heads to speed up the company's growth, but employees wanted more mature traditional testing methods.

This week, the Council of responsible Medical Physicians, a medical ethics advocacy group, asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to hold Neuralink accountable for violating biological testing agreements and to disqualify data from animal trials. The group also asked FDA to ban Neuralink from conducting additional animal tests. FDA's sanctions could force the company to restart a rigorous approval process.

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