California/IBNS, May 9 -- In a major setback for Elon Musk-founded brain technology company Neuralink, the device it implanted in its first human patient has had mechanical issues, according to a blog post by the company.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported about the malfunction.

According to the blog post, in the weeks following the January surgery on first PRIME study patient Noland Arbaugh, some of the electrode-studded threads that sit in the brain tissue began to retract from that tissue, resulting in the device not working properly.

The company said it compensated for that retraction through a series of software fixes, which produced a rapid and sustained improvement that has now superseded Nolands initial performance.

Neur...