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Neural implants to treat arthritis, brain cancer and epilepsy could be available in ‘just a few years’
It may have been the stuff of science fiction, once. But startups around the world are already running clinical trials based around brain implants that could one day treat such life-threatening conditions as brain cancer, chronic pain, rheumatoid arthritis, Parkinsons disease, incontinence, and tinnitus.
The Observer reports that its a billion-dollar industry, expected to be worth nearly $20 billion by the 2030s. The news follows a spate of sci-fi-worthy medical advances, such as this groundbreaking melanoma jab that uses AI to personalize cancer vaccines, and a recent study into the power of a particular protein to halt, reverse and repair the damage done by Alzheimers disease.
Neural implants to treat life-threatening conditions are already being clinically trialed
In June 2024, The Guardian reported on the case of Oran Knowlson, a British teenager with severe epilepsy. He became the first person in the world to have a brain implant, or neurostimulator, to bring his epileptic seizures under control.
In his case, the neurostimulator sends electrical signals into the brain from underneath the skull. Its aim is to block the impulses that trigger seizures.
Over the coming weeks, three more children with the same rare form of epilepsy will be fitted with a similar implant. 22 children will have the same next year. The cogs are turning, and if the trials go well, the bodies sponsoring the research will apply for approval from regulators to take the technology to the next level.
The hope is that these devices will be available in the UKs national health service in four or five years, and eventually around the world.
Other implants could treat Parkinsons, tinnitus and rheumatoid arthritis
Whether its brain cancer, chronic pain, rheumatoid arthritis, Parkinsons, incontinence, or tinnitus, neural implants are being trialed to treat a whole host of ailments.
The devices of 2024 are more advanced and sophisticated than those of the past. Not only do they decode the brains electrical activity, according to the report, but they also regulate it.
In California, too, companies are trialing devices to treat epilepsy. But NeuroPaces, for example, isnt rechargeable and needs surgical replacement every few years. Other devices are placed in the chest, with wires running up to the brain, and have to be refitted as a child grows.
The first person to receive a Neuralink device, Noland Armagh, was reportedly able to control a mouse cursor on a computer screen by thinking. He said it made him feel like a Star Wars Jedi using the Force. Hes paralyzed from the neck down.
The devices backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos are more primitive, able only to decode signals without actively modulating them. But the progress is there, and the industry is gaining momentum.
When it comes to getting therapies on to the NHS and distributed globally, one professor of engineering science said. Europe and the UK can go head-to-head with the United States. Its a fair race, and were going to go for it.
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