Elon Musk’s futuristic brain chip startup Neuralink has received federal approval for its first in-human clinical trial, marking a major milestone for the company with big ambitions.
The company announced the Food and Drug Administration’s approval on Thursday, saying in a tweet that it “represents an important first step that will one day allow our technology to help more people. “
We are excited to share that we have received FDA approval to launch our first-in-human clinical study!
This is the result of the incredible work of the Neuralink team in close collaboration with the FDA and represents an important first step that will one day allow our…
— Neuralink (@neuralink) May 25, 2023
Musk promoted the Neuralink technology that could potentially help people suffering from paralysis. The technology involves placing tiny chips inside people’s skulls to relay electrical signals from the brain to a computer.
Neuralink did not disclose the nature of the FDA approval or when a clinical trial would begin. It simply said: “Recruitment is not yet open for our clinical trial. We will announce more information about this soon!”
Neuralink is playing catch-up with competitors. A rival company, Synchron, received approval for a similar trial in 2021.
Musk unveiled Neuralink to the public during a splashy livestream in 2020 where he showed pigs with brain chip implants walking on a treadmill and grunting in a pen. He showed data collected wirelessly from chips that represent the firing of pig neurons and how the information can be used to predict the position of the pig’s joints.
But behind the scenes, Musk’s company has been plagued by disagreements and executive departures, according to it’s still early luck report.