Synchron backed by Bezos and Gates tests brain-computer interface

In a Brooklyn lab full of 3D printers and a makeshift pickleball court, employees at a brain interface startup called Synchron are working on technology designed to rework each day life for individuals with paralysis.

The Synchron Switch is implanted through the blood vessels to permit individuals with no or very limited physical mobility to operate technology comparable to cursors and smart home devices using their mind. To date, the nascent technology has been used on three patients within the U.S. and 4 in Australia.

“I’ve seen moments between patient and partner, or patient and spouse, where it’s incredibly joyful and empowering to have regained a capability to be a little bit bit more independent than before,” Synchron CEO Tom Oxley told CNBC in an interview. “It helps them engage in ways in which we take as a right.”

Founded in 2012, Synchron is an element of the burgeoning brain-computer interface, or BCI, industry. A BCI is a system that deciphers brain signals and translates them into commands for external technologies. Perhaps the best-known name within the space is Neuralink, because of the high profile of founder Elon Musk, who can also be the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter.

But Musk is not the only tech billionaire wagering on the eventual transition of BCI from radical science experiment to flourishing medical business. In December, Synchron announced a $75 million financing round that included funding from the investment firms of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

In August 2020, the Food and Drug Administration granted Synchron the Breakthrough Device designation, which is for medical devices which have the potential to supply improved treatment for debilitating or life-threatening conditions. The next 12 months, Synchron became the primary company to receive an Investigational Device Exemption from the FDA to conduct trials of a permanently implantable BCI in human patients. 

Synchron is enrolling patients in an early feasibility trial, which goals to point out that the technology is secure to place in humans. Six patients will likely be implanted with Synchron’s BCI through the study, and Chief Industrial Officer Kurt Haggstrom said the corporate is currently about halfway through. 

The corporate has no revenue yet, and a spokesperson said Synchron is not commenting on how much the procedure will eventually cost.

While many competitors need to implant their BCIs through open-brain surgery, Synchron relies on a less invasive approach that builds on a long time of existing endovascular techniques, the corporate said.

Synchron’s BCI is inserted through the blood vessels, which Oxley calls the “natural highways” into the brain. Synchron’s stent, called the Stentrode, is fitted with tiny sensors and is delivered to the big vein that sits next to the motor cortex. The Stentrode is connected to an antenna that sits under the skin within the chest and collects raw brain data that it sends out of the body to external devices. 

Peter Yoo, senior director of neuroscience at Synchron, said because the device will not be inserted directly into the brain tissue, the standard of the brain signal is not perfect. However the brain doesn’t like being touched by foreign objects, Yoo said, and the less invasive nature of the procedure makes it more accessible.

“There’s roughly about 2,000 interventionalists who can perform these procedures,” Yoo told CNBC. “It’s a little bit bit more scalable, in comparison with, say, open-brain surgery or burr holes, which only neurosurgeons can perform.”

For patients with severe paralysis or degenerative diseases comparable to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, Synchron’s technology may also help them regain their ability to speak with friends, family and the skin world, whether through typing, texting and even accessing social media. 

Patients can use Synchron’s BCI to buy online and manage their health and funds, but Oxley said what often excites them probably the most is text messaging. 

“Losing the flexibility to text message is incredibly isolating,” Oxley said. “Restoring the flexibility to text message family members is a really emotional restoration of power.” 

In December 2021, Oxley handed over his Twitter account to a patient named Philip O’Keefe, who has ALS and struggles to maneuver his hands. About 20 months earlier, O’Keefe was implanted with Synchron’s BCI. 

“hello, world! Short tweet. Monumental progress,” O’Keefe tweeted on Oxley’s page, using the BCI. 

Synchron’s technology has caught the eye of its competitors. Musk approached the corporate to debate a possible investment last 12 months, in accordance with a Reuters report. Synchron declined to comment concerning the report. Neuralink didn’t reply to a request for comment.

Neuralink is developing a BCI that is designed to be inserted directly into the brain tissue, and while the corporate will not be testing its device in humans yet, Musk has said he hopes it’ll accomplish that this 12 months. 

Haggstrom said his company’s funding will help speed up Synchron’s product development and push it toward a pivotal clinical trial that will bring the corporate closer to commercialization.

Khosla Ventures partner Alex Morgan, who led an earlier financing round, said that while Synchron’s device may look like something out of science fiction, it’s grounded in “real science” and is already making a big difference in patients’ lives. 

“Synchron is definitely helping people as of straight away, today,” he said in an interview. “That, to me, is absolutely exceptional.” 

In January, the medical journal JAMA Neurology published the peer-reviewed, long-term safety results from a trial of Synchron’s BCI system in Australia. The study found that the technology remained secure and didn’t deteriorate in signal quality or performance over a 12-month period.

“That was an enormous publication for us,” Haggstrom said.

Haggstrom said commercialization is vital for all of the players within the industry.

“I at all times wish to be competitive, and so for me, being first to market is critical,” Haggstrom said. “We meet future patients to refer to about their needs and stuff, and so while you see that, and also you refer to these families and the caregivers, you desire to race as fast as you may to supply them assistance of their each day life.”

WATCH: Mind-reading technology will allow us to manage devices with our thoughts