Bengaluru: Elon Musk‘s Neuralink said Wednesday that it received approval to launch its first clinical trial in Canada for a device designed to give paralyzed people the ability to use digital devices just thinking.
He brain chip The startup said the Canadian study aims to evaluate the safety and initial functionality of its implant, which allows people with quadriplegiaor paralysis of all four limbs, to control external devices with your thoughts.
Canada University Health Network The hospital said in a separate statement that its Toronto facility had been selected to perform the complex neurosurgical procedure.
Regulator Health Canada did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the United States, Neuralink has already implanted the device in two patients. The company says the device is working well in the trial’s second patient, who has been using it to play video games and learn how to design 3D objects.
Founded in 2016 by Musk and a group of engineers, Neuralink is also building a brain chip interface that can be implanted inside the skull, which it says could eventually help disabled patients move and communicate again, and restore vision. .
In September, the startup received “breakthrough device” designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its experimental implant aimed at restoring vision. (Reporting by Harshita Meenaktshi and Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Nicholas Yong)
