Neuralink Approved For Human Testing
Elon Musk's brain-implant company, Neuralink, got approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to start its first in-human clinical study. It's a big deal after they had a hard time getting approval before.
Musk said many times that his medical device company will start human trials. The brain implant aims to treat paralysis and blindness.
The company was established in 2016 but only applied for FDA approval in 2022. The FDA denied the application according to seven current and former employees who spoke to Reuters in March.
The FDA had given some concerns to Neuralink. These concerns are needed to be fixed before human trials can start. The concerns are related to the lithium battery of the device, the possibility of the implant's wires moving within the brain, and the device's safe extraction without causing damage to the brain tissue. The employees reported these issues.
The FDA approved something on Thursday. US lawmakers want to check if the group in charge of testing animals at Neuralink made mistakes in their experiments. They say the tests were rushed.
Federal investigations have looked into Neuralink.
In 2020, the USDA inspector general started checking if the Animal Welfare Act had been broken. Someone asked for an investigation. The act tells scientists how they should treat some animals when conducting tests. The company has killed over 1,500 animals since 2018. This includes over 280 sheep, pigs and monkeys. Reuters told people about this before.
The investigation is checking the USDA's supervision of Neuralink.
Neuralink tweeted that they are not ready for a clinical trial.
The Neuralink team did a great job. They worked closely with the FDA. They made an important first step. Their technology can help many people. The company said this in a tweet on Thursday.
Musk has a big plan for Neuralink. He said he would put it in his own kids. People talked about this a lot.
Musk thinks people can get surgical implants easily. These will cure many health problems like depression, autism, schizophrenia, and obesity. You can also use them to browse the internet and read minds.
3 Mar 2023 From SpaceX to Quantum AI: How Elon Musk is Pushing Boundaries
-
bfn.today7 Mar 2023 Tesler Investment System Makes Investing Easy for Beginners
