Elon Musk’s brain-chip startup, Neuralink, seeks to enroll three patients to evaluate its device in a study that is expected to take several years to complete, according to details on the U.S. government’s database of clinical trials.
Neuralink is testing its implant to give paralyzed patients the ability to use digital devices by thinking alone, a prospect that could help people with spinal cord injuries.
Neuralink’s study is estimated to have a primary completion date of 2026, with the full study expected to be complete in 2031.
The study will enroll patients between the ages of 22 years and 75 years with a condition known as quadriplegia or tetraplegia.
According to eligibility criteria posted on the database, patients must have limited mobility without improvement for at least one year, with a life expectancy greater than or equal to 12 months.
Eligible patients must have very limited or no hand, wrist, and arm movement due to spinal cord injury or a neurological disorder called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
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The study was registered as a “first-in-human early feasibility study” on Monday.
Early feasibility studies are exempt from a requirement to post trial details on the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s website, ClinicalTrials.gov, but major medical journals often require trials be registered on the database.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that more than 1,000 quadriplegics had signed up for Neuralink’s patient registry.
The study uses a robot to surgically place a brain-computer interface (BCI) implant in a region of the brain that controls the intention to move, Neuralink had said.
In January, Neuralink implanted the device in the brain of its first patient, Noland Arbaugh, who is paralyzed from the shoulders down due to a 2016 diving accident.
The device has allowed Arbaugh to play video games, browse the internet and move a computer cursor on his laptop by thinking alone, according to company blog posts and videos.