Vendors Give Patients Control with Smartphone Apps
and James Cavuoto, editor July 2020 issue Vendors of implanted neuromodulation systems have turned increasingly to new smartphone apps to enable patients to exert more control over their therapeutic regimens. The apps also offer clinicians an increased opportunity for remote medicine at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has made office visits less tenable. Last year, Boston Scientific introduced…
Succeeding from Failure
In times of economic uncertainty such as this, entrepreneurs and executives launching new products or new companies need to be certain they are maximizing their chances of success. This is one reason why our editors created the online Neurotech Commercialization Workshop [see Conference Report, p6]. In one of the afternoon breakout sessions at the first annual event, this editor led a session devoted to analyzing recent clinical trial failures in the neurotechnology industry.
Device Industry Interacts with Government During MDIC Annual Public Forum
As with so many conferences held in 2020, the MDIC Annual Public Forum has transformed itself from a multi-day in-person event to a series of virtual meetings. The Medical Device Innovation Consortium is a public-private partnership that focuses on advancing medical device regulatory science for the benefit of the end-user or patient. This consortium is unique to the medical device landscape since…
Mainstay Announces FDA Approval of ReActiv8 Pain Stimulator
Mainstay Medical, the Dublin, Ireland manufacturer of neuromodulation systems, announced FDA approval of ReActiv8, its implantable restorative neurostimulation system for chronic low back pain. The FDA approval grants Mainstay the right to market ReActiv8 in the U.S. as an aid in the management of intractable chronic low back pain associated with multifidus muscle dysfunction, as evidenced in adults who have failed therapy, including pain medications and physical therapy, and are not candidates for spine surgery.
Graphene Probes Move Toward Commercialization
In recent years, one of the most significant areas of research in biomaterials for new neural implants has been graphene. Researchers in Europe and North America have made steady progress developing devices with higher spatial resolution using the material. There is now at least one commercial startup in this space. INBRAIN Neuroelectronics, a spin-off of the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Na…
Neurotech Reports Plans Online Commercialization Workshop on July 8
Neurotech Reports announced it will offer a commercialization workshop for neurotech startups and established firms seeking to launch new products on July 8. The workshop, hosted on Zoom, will feature short courses from NBR editors James Cavuoto, Jennifer French, Jeremy Koff, and Jo Jo Platt. The free morning sessions will feature short courses devoted to preparing a pitch deck, developing a financial model, attracting early-stage investment, and assessing the market opportunity.
Neurotech Reports Plans Online Commercialization Workshop on July 8
Neurotech Reports announced it will offer a commercialization workshop for neurotech startups and established firms seeking to launch new products on July 8. The workshop, hosted on Zoom, will feature short courses from NBR editors James Cavuoto, Jennifer French, Jeremy Koff, and Jo Jo Platt. The free morning sessions will feature short courses devoted to preparing a pitch deck, developing a financial model, attracting early-stage investment, and assessing the market opportunity.
Neurotech Reports Plans Online Commercialization Workshop on July 8
Neurotech Reports announced it will offer a commercialization workshop for neurotech startups and established firms seeking to launch new products on July 8. The workshop, hosted on Zoom, will feature short courses from NBR editors James Cavuoto, Jennifer French, Jeremy Koff, and Jo Jo Platt. The free morning sessions will feature short courses devoted to preparing a pitch deck, developing a financial model, attracting early-stage investment, and assessing the market opportunity.
A Safe Trade
It’s too early to assess what impact, if any the recent report from Public Citizen criticizing FDA oversight of the SCS industry will have on future regulatory policy [see article p1]. But unlike previous attacks coming from news organizations, this report may carry some weight with regulatory agencies or legislative bodies because of the participation of Victor Krauthamer, a former division director at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health.
Iontronic Implants May Supplant Metal Electrodes
Most of the neural implants in use today rely on metal electrodes that either stimulate or record from neural tissue using the flow of electrons at the neural interface. But at least one commercial firm and several research institutions in Europe and North America are looking at implants that exploit the flow of ions, as opposed to electrons. The capacitive current that flows at an ionic interface is much safer and effective than the faradic current produced .