FDA staff overseeing work by Elon Musk’s brain implant company Neuralink have lost their jobs in a widespread cull of federal employees led by the billionaire, according to a Reuters investigation.
Sources told Reuters that about 20 people in the FDA’s office of neurological and physical medicine devices were fired over the weekend, including several who were reviewing clinical trial applications from Neuralink, the news agency reported [link here].
However, the sources said they did not think those working on Neuralink were specifically targeted, and that other FDA staff reviewing applications from other companies making brain-computer interface devices also lost their jobs, Reuters said.
The FDA staff cuts are part of a government cost cutting drive ordered by President Donald Trump and led by a new government advisory agency, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed by Mr Musk.
The federal job losses affect numerous government agencies, including those that regulate companies owned by Mr Musk.
Neuralink is testing a brain chip which allows paralysed patients to control digital devices using their thoughts in a small clinical trial, and is also developing a brain implant to restore vision.
The sacked medical device reviewers received dismissal letters citing performance issues, but none had a history of performance issues and all received “top-notch rankings several weeks ago”, according to sources, Reuters reported.
As with other government agencies affected, they were all probationary staff with fewer legal protections, but the 20 job cuts will nevertheless hamper the FDA’s ability to “quickly and safely” process medical device applications, the news agency said.
“It’s intimidating to the FDA professionals who are overseeing Neuralink’s trial,” a former FDA official told Reuters. “We should be worried about the whole trial, and the protection of the people in the trial.”
Reuters reported that the White House, FDA and Mr Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but that President Trump has said that the world’s wealthiest man will recuse himself from any conflicts of interest when working to cut federal government costs.