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

CTOnews.com, March 27 (Reuters)-Elon Musk's brain-computer interface company Neuralink has contacted one of the largest neurosurgical centers in the United States as a potential partner in clinical trials, Reuters quoted six people familiar with the matter as saying. The company is prepared to test its equipment on human bodies with the permission of regulators.

On at least four occasions since 2019, Musk has predicted that his brain-computer interface company, Neuralink, will soon launch revolutionary human trials of brain implants to treat difficult conditions such as paralysis and blindness.

However, it emerged earlier this month that Neuralink's application for human trials had been rejected because of safety concerns. The company, which was founded in 2016, did not seek permission from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for human trials until early 2022, but was rejected, according to seven current and former Neuralink employees.

Since then, the company has been trying to unravel FDA's concerns, and it is unclear whether and when it will succeed. Neuralink has been in talks with the Barrow Neurological Institute, a neurological treatment and research facility in Phoenix, Arizona, to help conduct human trials, sources said.

Of course, the negotiations between the two sides may not produce substantive results of cooperation, but the source also said that Neuralink has discussed similar cooperation with other research centers. Neuralink representatives have not yet responded to requests for comment, while FDA declined to comment.

Francisco Ponce (Francisco Ponce), director of the Neuromodulation and Neurosurgery residency Program at Barrow Hospital, declined to comment on Neuralink, but said Barrow's long track record in the field put it in a good position to conduct research on such implants.

Ponce said that the Barrow Neurological Institute helped them standardize brain implant surgery to ensure that patients can stay asleep during the operation, which is a key step in making it more widely accepted.

It is worth mentioning that Barrow's implanted device is different from Neuralink's. Barrow uses a deep brain stimulation device, which was approved by FDA in 1997 to help humans prevent or reduce Parkinson's tremor. It has been implanted in more than 175000 patients.

In contrast, the Neuralink implant is a brain-computer interface (BCI) device that uses electrodes to penetrate the brain or on the brain surface to communicate directly with the computer. To the best of CTOnews.com 's knowledge, so far no company has been able to get FDA's license to bring BCI implants to market.

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