Precision Neuroscience Competes Elon Musk-Backed Neurolink: Achieves Milestone in Brain-Computer Interface Technology

Precision Neuroscience's neural implant system was placed on a patient's brain in West Virginia, marking the first time the company's electrode array was used on a conscious human.

The procedure yielded a real-time, high-resolution rendering of the patient's brain activity, claimed by Precision to be the highest-resolution picture of human thought ever recorded.

"It was incredibly surreal," Craig Mermel, president and chief product officer at Precision, said in an interview with CNBC. "The nature of the data and our ability to visualize that, you know, I got... chills."

Precision Neuroscience, an industry competitor to Elon Musk-backed Neuralink, was founded in 2021 to help paralysis patients operate digital devices by decoding their neural signals.

The company's Layer 7 Cortical Interface, a thin electrode array, can conform to the brain's surface without causing tissue damage.

Precision's system was temporarily placed on the brains of three patients undergoing neurosurgery for tumor removal.

Patients in the study had Precision's system on their brains for 15 minutes, with two awake to capture brain activity as they spoke.

Precision plans to make the procedure less invasive, aiming to implant the array through a small slit in the skull.

Paradromics and Neuralink, competing brain-computer interface companies, have designed systems meant to be inserted directly into the brain tissue, a method Precision intends to avoid due to the risk of tissue damage.

Precision plans to perform the procedure on two more patients in the coming weeks as part of its pilot study.

Precision hopes to receive full FDA clearance for its first-generation device by next year.