„Made in Germany“ brain chips
Mr. Schüttler, a brain chip developed by Cortec has been implanted in a human for the first time – how is the patient doing?
The patient is doing very well. He was able to go home immediately 24 hours after the procedure. We will see him and our clinical partners in the US again soon when the recovery period is over. Then the actual clinical study will begin.
What happens in the study?
First of all, this is a normal rehabilitation study. The patient will undergo six weeks of physical therapy to improve his dexterity. The patient had previously suffered several strokes, leaving him paralysed on one side. During physical therapy, we will simultaneously activate the chip, which is designed to help the patient relearn certain functions.
So, unlike Neuralink, the patient is not supposed to use the chip to control technical devices?
We definitely want to address such aspects in future studies. These will focus on patients using our chip to write texts on computers or control wheelchairs, for example. However, our technology is not intended to promote transhumanism, but to improve medicine. Our current study is therefore mainly concerned with testing a basic technology that would be a breakthrough for neurology: the so-called closed-loop method.
What is the aim of this?
We want to test the extent to which electrical brain stimulation at specific times can improve the learning ability of stroke patients and, later, the symptoms of epilepsy or depression patients. The treatment of brain diseases is not very advanced at present, and existing technologies are comparable to the state of development of cardiac pacemakers in the 1960s. At that time, the devices ensured that the heart beat exactly 90 times per minute, regardless of whether the patient was asleep or climbing stairs. Although this saved lives, it did not meet the needs of the patient. Today, pacemakers only respond when they are needed. To do this, the heart must be monitored around the clock.
So the chip is designed to emit electrical impulses when they are needed by the brain and to measure its activity?
Exactly, with the help of electrical contact mats that are placed on the brain. These are connected to the chip, which constantly transmits the brain signals to a computer. The computer analyses these signals and automatically sends a command to the implanted chip, which emits the impulses at the right time and in the right „dosage“ via the contact mats. The brain is like the heart: you shouldn't stimulate it around the clock. A sleeping brain is very different from an excited or relaxed brain.
Why was the study conducted in the US and not in Germany?
First of all, it's not that easy to put together a suitable team for such a study. We needed neurologists, neurosurgeons, clinical researchers, physical therapists, and so on. In the end, we found such a team in Seattle. Funding for such studies has also been better in the US so far—the National Institute of Health has provided very comprehensive support for this type of research. But now, many of these funds have been rigorously cut. So it's all the better that the European Commission has recently approved suitable funding instruments that did not previously exist in the region.
Our technology is not intended to promote transhumanism, but to improve medicine.
Martin Schüttler, Cortec
You have received 40 million euros from investors so far, plus public funding. Are you currently working on further financing?
We are already generating revenue by supplying other companies with services and products related to brain-computer interface technologies such as electrodes. This is a thriving business and has recently brought us annual sales in the single-digit million range. We expect to be in the black in the next few years. We are aiming for a new investment in 2026, when we will enter the next phase of our study and test more patients or specific patient groups. Such studies can involve several hundred patients and cost many millions of euros.
Elon Musk wants to implant brain chips in 20,000 people annually by 2031 with his company Neuralink, and generate at least a billion dollars in revenue – is that realistic?
I don't think I could say something like that with any credibility. But both Neuralink and its investors are, of course, a bit different and very, very visionary and determined. Much of what such US companies achieve ahead of schedule only works because they are well-funded. Whether a market for implantable brain-computer interfaces can develop as quickly as Neuralink predicts for itself is currently totally unclear.
Neuralink's research is repeatedly accused of animal cruelty. In 2022, US authorities investigated allegations that laboratory animals such as monkeys, pigs, and sheep had suffered unnecessarily and died. To what extent does Cortec conduct animal testing?
In brain research, animal testing is a must in order to ensure the functionality and safety of implants for humans. At the same time, companies are required to keep such experiments to an absolute minimum in terms of number, duration, and potential animal suffering. The extent to which we have conducted animal testing is in no way comparable to what happens at Neuralink. We also do not conduct primate research because it is not necessary in our field.
