By Rachael Levy Dec 9 (Reuters) – Elon Musk’s brain implant company Neuralink has tapped a top U.S. health regulator responsible for overseeing the company and its competitors, according to a company announcement. U.S. FDA executive David McMullen will lead Neuralink’s medical affairs division, according to the company’s website, a prominent appointment that calls into […]
Health
Musk’s Neuralink taps FDA regulator who led division overseeing the start-up
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By Rachael Levy
Dec 9 (Reuters) – Elon Musk’s brain implant company Neuralink has tapped a top U.S. health regulator responsible for overseeing the company and its competitors, according to a company announcement.
U.S. FDA executive David McMullen will lead Neuralink’s medical affairs division, according to the company’s website, a prominent appointment that calls into question the Trump administration’s promise to end the revolving door of government regulators moving into the private sector.
McMullen most recently served as director at the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Neurological and Physical Medicine Devices, which is responsible for the total lifecycle review of devices such as Neuralink’s brain implant.
The move places a top government official inside Musk’s orbit after the billionaire led a government cost-cutting enterprise earlier this year that forced out regulators overseeing Neuralink and other medical device companies. The FDA ended up asking some of those scientists to return.
McMullen holds longtime ties to executives at Neuralink. He previously worked at a neuroscience lab at Duke University along with researchers who went on to the senior ranks at the company.
“This role combines scientific rigor, direct patient impact, and the chance to move the entire field of BCI (brain-computer interfaces) forward,” McMullen said in a statement.
Neuralink said in September that 12 people worldwide with severe paralysis have received its brain implants and were using them to control digital and physical tools through thought.
Neuralink began human trials in 2024 on its brain implant after addressing safety concerns raised by the FDA, which had initially rejected its application in 2022.
The company earlier faced scrutiny from U.S. regulators over its animal testing program. Neuralink employees previously told Reuters that the company was killing more animals than necessary, including monkeys and pigs, because it was rushing and botching experiments due to time pressures from Musk.
(Reporting by Rachael Levy in Washington; Additional reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Caroline Humer and Lincoln Feast.)