Canada’s University Health Network said its Toronto Western hospital would be the first non-U.S. site of a trial for a device made by Neuralink Corp., Elon Musk’s brain implant company.

“We are incredibly proud to be at the forefront of this research breakthrough in neurosurgery,” UHN Chief Executive Officer Kevin Smith said in an announcement. He also said UHN would be the “first and exclusive” site of the trial in Canada, but did not say when it would begin.

On Wednesday, Neuralink said it had received approval from regulators in Canada to begin clinical trials for its device in that country.

“Health Canada has approved the start of our first clinical trial in Canada!” The company posted on X, the social media service also owned by Musk. “Recruitment is now open.”

Neuralink added that it was looking for patients with quadriplegia caused by ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, or spinal cord injury.

Health Canada had no immediate comment.

For months, Neuralink has been recruiting patients in the US, UK and Canada, with links to the registry on its website. Other companies in the field, such as Synchron Inc., are recruiting for their future trials.

Neuralink’s first product aims to allow patients to control external devices, such as computers, through their thoughts. Neuralink is also working on treatments for other conditions, such as blindness, but that project is far from over. In the distant future, Musk has said Neuralink could work with healthy patients on tasks like memory enhancement.

Its first human patient, Noland Arbaugh, was implanted with the Neuralink device earlier this year at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix.

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