Neuralink gets FDA OK for 2nd patient

Neuralink gets FDA OK for 2nd patient unknown

The FDA has given Elon Musk's Neuralink the green light to implant its brain chip into a second person, The Wall Street Journal reported May 20.

The approval comes a few weeks after the first patient experienced issues with the implant. The company has proposed fixes to the issue, including implanting the device threads 8 millimeters into the brains' motor cortex, compared to the 3-to-5 millimeters implanted into the first patient.

In March, Neuralink introduced 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh as the first patient to have received its brain chip implant. The neurotechnology company posted a video on Mr. Musk's X platform, showing the patient, who was left paralyzed after a diving accident in 2016, playing chess on a computer, directing a cursor to play the game by thinking. In May, the company said that a number of threads on the implant retracted from the patient's brain, causing the implant to lose part of its functionality.

Neuralink hopes to implant a second patient sometime in June and aims to implant 10 people with the device this year.