Health Canada has given the all-clear for Neuralink, the Elon Musk-owned brain implant technology company, to launch a clinical trial in the country. 

The trial is currently seeking individuals with limited or no ability to use both hands.

Neuralink first opened a Canadian patient registry in anticipation of approval this past March. The investigational medical device trial, dubbed the Canadian Precise Robotically Implanted Brain-Computer Interface (CAN-PRIME), is the first for the company outside of the United States. 

In a statement, The University Health Network (UHN) said the implantation procedure for CAN-PRIME would be exclusively performed at the Toronto Western Hospital by a multidisciplinary team of neurosurgeons, neuroscientists, and medical experts. 

Neuralink’s wireless brain-computer interface (BCI) is implanted into the part of a patient’s brain that is responsible for movement, which the company claims can interpret brain signals so that patients can control a computer or smartphone just by thinking. 

The four-year long study is currently evaluating the safety and effectiveness of the implant as well as the associated surgical robot and software. The trial is currently seeking individuals with limited or no ability to use both hands due to a cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). 

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“This landmark surgery has the potential to transform and improve outcomes for patients who previously had limited options,” UHN’s CAN-PRIME study lead Dr. Andres Lozano said in a statement. 

Neuralink has been actively sharing updates of its trial in the United States, which currently has two participants. Noland Arbaugh, the first-ever Neuralink patient, has been public about his positive experience with the BCI, granting him the ability to play games such as chess and Sid Meier’ Civilization VI on his computer. 

Arbaugh did experience a setback earlier this year when the device’s wires retracted unexpectedly leading to data loss, which Neuralink said it remedied by recalibrating the BCI’s sensitivity. Neuralink said it took measures to avoid the wire retraction issue in its second patient. 

Feature image courtesy Neuralink.

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