Neuralink competitor Paradromics partners with Saudi Arabia’s Neom

Texas-based neurotech startup Paradromics on Wednesday announced a strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Neom and said it is going to establish a Brain-Computer Interface Center of Excellence within the region.

Neom is a developing area inside northwest Saudi Arabia that is touted as “a hub for innovation,” based on its website. The realm’s strategic investment arm, the Neom Investment Fund, led the partnership. Paradromics declined to reveal the investment amount.

Paradromics is constructing a brain-computer interface, or a BCI, which is a system that deciphers brain signals and translates them into commands for external technologies. The corporate will work with Neom to “advance the event of BCI-based therapies” and arrange the “premier center for BCI-based healthcare” within the Middle East and North Africa, it said in a release.

“Working together, we are able to speed up the speed of innovation in BCI and expand access to impactful BCI-based therapies.” Paradromics CEO Matt Angle said in an announcement.

Paradromics is considered one of several corporations racing to commercialize BCIs, including Elon Musk’s startup Neuralink. Earlier this month, Neuralink announced it has implanted three human patients with its technology, based on a blog post. Precision Neuroscience and Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates-backed Synchron have also implanted their systems in humans.

None of those corporations have secured the FDA’s final stamp of approval.

Paradromics’ BCI, the Connexus Brain-Computer Interface , formerly referred to as the Connexus Direct Data Interface, is an array of tiny electrodes designed to be implanted directly into the brain tissue. The system could eventually help patients with severe paralysis regain their ability to speak by deciphering their neural signals. 

The corporate is gearing as much as launch its first human trial this yr, and announced its official patient registry in July. Paradromics’ technology has not yet been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and it still has a protracted option to go before commercialization. In 2023, the corporate received the FDA’s Breakthrough Device designation, which goals to assist speed up the go-to-market process.

Watch: Inside Paradromics, the Neuralink competitor hoping to commercialize brain implants before the tip of the last decade