US FDA clears Neuralink's brain chip implant in second patient, WSJ reports

[May 20, 2024]  (Reuters) -The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has allowed billionaire Elon Musk's Neuralink to implant its brain chip in a second person after the company offered fixes to a problem that occurred in the first patient, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Reuters reported last week, citing people familiar with the matter, that the issue disclosed by Neuralink where tiny wires inside the brain of its first patient had pulled out of position is an issue the Elon Musk company has known about for years.

The company intends to fix the problem by embedding some of the device's wires deeper into the brain, the WSJ report said citing a person familiar with the company and a document it had viewed.

A smartphone with a Neuralink logo displayed is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken on May 15, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Neuralink and the FDA did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

(Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)

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