Neuralink was aware of brain implant issue years before first human trial: Report

Neuralink had recently announced that its first human trial was facing issues. A new report now suggests that the company was aware of these issues for years, according to a report by Reuters. The brain implant can give paralysed patients the ability to use digital devices by just thinking about the activity.

The first trial encountered a setback when the implant's tiny wires, thinner than a human hair, retracted from a patient's brain in its first human. This resulted in fewer electrodes to measure brain signals. The company managed to restore the implant's monitoring ability by modifying its algorithm to be more sensitive.

The report claims that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was aware of this potential issue as Neuralink had shared its animal testing results.

Neuralink implanted the device in the brain of its first patient, Noland Arbaugh, in January. Following the surgery, several threads retracted from Arbaugh's brain, but no adverse health effects were reported.

Arbaugh has since been able to play video games, browse the internet, and move a computer cursor on his laptop by thinking alone.

The report claims that Neuralink faced initial rejection from the FDA in 2022 over safety concerns about the threads, but was granted approval to begin human testing after additional animal testing.

The company also discovered that a subset of pigs implanted with its device developed brain inflammation called granulomas. Despite a severe case in one pig, the company concluded that the device and threads were not the cause of the inflammation.