Chinese firm Neuracle completed the world’s first commercial brain chip implant on a paralyzed man.
According to the South China Morning Post, surgeons implanted the coin-sized chip on a patient who was left paralyzed from a car accident. The device, called Neural Electronic Opportunity (NEO), is “placed on the brain’s outer surface without penetrating tissue, reading neural signals and translating them into hand movements,” the report explained.
Aric Chang, the founder and managing partner of PrototypeVC, said that Elon Musk’s brain implant company, Neuralink, is “still years deep in clinical trials.”
“Though many would see this as ‘China beating Neuralink,’ the race is more nuanced. NEO only has 8 electrodes that sit on the surface of your brain, while Neuralink has 1000+ electrodes that penetrate your brain,” Chang explained. “So while Neuralink still leads in tech, China is playing a game of deployment, becoming the first to market with a passable product and iterating in the field after collecting IRL data, the same playbook with EVs and humanoid robots.”
Another brain-computer interface (BCI) company, Synchron, reported positive results from its 12-month study on its implant. “The COMMAND study results represent a major medical milestone, confirming the safety of the Stentrode BCI with no neurologic safety events reported during the 12-month study period,” Dr. Elad Levy, M.D., MBA, FAANS, FACS, Co-Principal Investigator, COMMAND trial, and President of UB Neurosurgery (UBNS), said last year. “This minimally-invasive approach has the potential to unlock BCI technology at scale for the millions of patients with paralysis and other mobility challenges.”
