First implant to treat depression revealed: New brain chip set to rival Elon Musk’s Nueralink

While Elon Musk’s Neuralink expects to begin human trials within six months, the neurotechnology company has unveiled a device that treats depression and is now in the skull of its first patient.

The “digital pill” from Inner Cosmos has two parts: an electrode that sits under the skin of the scalp and a “prescription pod” that snaps onto users’ hair to operate the device.

The implant sends tiny electrical impulses to the depressed brain region — the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex — once a day for 15 minutes.

The external device does not need to be on the head when treatment is not taking place.

The trial patient from St. Louis, Missouri, is scheduled to test the Inner Cosmos innovation for one year, and the company has another human trial scheduled to begin next month.

Implants that address all brain alignments are making waves in the industry, as many companies race to get their products to market first.

Musk’s Neuralink recently ran a product demonstration that showed its chip in a monkey’s brain, allowing it to control an on-screen keyboard to type complete sentences.

Synchron began human trials of its brain implant in July, which allows its wearer to control a computer using thought alone.

The company’s Stentrode brain implant, about the size of a paper clip, will be implanted in six severely paralyzed patients from New York and Pittsburgh.

Stentrode will allow patients to control digital devices just by thinking and give them the power to perform everyday tasks, including texting, emailing and online shopping.

Research facilities are also developing brain chips.

Southmead Hospital in Bristol is believed to be the first in the world to implant a device to reverse symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

However, the digital pill from Inner Cosmos is the smallest and least invasive technology yet — the implant is about the size of a penny.

The company likened the outer capsule to charging the Apple Watch.

The transplant takes 30 minutes on an outpatient basis.

Inner Cosmos was founded by entrepreneur Meron Gribetz, who was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder as a child.

“Our mission is to create a world that restores the cognitive power of humanity by rebalancing the human mind,” Gribetz said.

The world is in great turmoil, which leads to a disorder of perception

Millions are feeling the effects, leading to higher levels of depression.

“We believe our approach can ease the lives of those suffering from depression, and eventually expand to other cognitive disorders.”

The goal of Inner Cosmos is to move away from prescription drugs and towards a “more effective treatment”.

Depression, attention and anxiety we treat. Just to underscore the point, there are 140 million Americans each year who use medications for attention or depression, and that’s more than users who have iPhones,” Gribetz said in a 2022 presentation.

The Inner Cosmos digital pill is powered by a smartphone app, which also displays mood and depression graphs that can be shared with a doctor.

It’s the first time clinicians have had access to this kind of data, Gribetz said, “saving the health care industry billions due to misdiagnosis of severe suicidal depression,” he said.

“[The implant] Ten times smaller than anything I’ve ever heard of globally, on BCI brain slices [brain computer interface] We’re really excited,” Gribetz said. “It took us six years to build this thing.”

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