News
Neurotech’s FSA/HSA Playbook Runs Through Four Systems
FSAs and HSAs hold tax advantaged money that never touches a payer contract nor a CPT code. Reaching these funds means choosing among a retail list, a clinician’s letter, an FDA pathway, and a reimbursement form, each with a different tradeoff on what a neurotech company can claim.
VNS Study Points to Vascular Mechanism Behind Durable Learning Effects
Vagus nerve stimulation, long heralded as a neuromodulatory technology acting through autonomic nerve connections, may also work by tuning the physical behavior of blood vessels in the brain. A new mouse study from researchers at Tohoku University adds weight to the view that the autonomic interface between body and brain can shape learning by altering vascular dynamics after training.
Journal Article Recaps Impact of SPARC Program on Bioelectronic Medicine
A newly published article in the journal Bioelectronic Medicine, authored by several pioneers in the field, outlines many of the achievements produced by the NIS’s SPARC program, which ended in 2025. The SPARC program—Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions—was launched in 2015 with a practical and ambitious premise: bioelectronic medicine would not scale clinically unless the field first built a shared precompetitive foundation for understanding, accessing, stimulating, recording, and modeling the peripheral nervous system.
Arbor Neuroscience Emerges to Map Brain Circuits Targeted by Neuromodulation
Philip Sabes, CEO of Arbor Neuroscience and cofounder of Neuralink, suggests in a recent company blog post that we are taking the same, woefully inadequate approach to treatment. “A diagnosis is a category, agreed on by convention. Symptoms are what a particular person actually experiences,” he noted. “Two people with the same diagnosis can look very different.”
Mobia Medical: from Application Evolution to IPO to Commercialization
Formerly known as MicroTransponder, Austin, TX-based Mobia Medical is commercializing Vivistim, an implanted vagus nerve stimulation system indicated for use during rehabilitation therapy to reduce upper-extremity motor deficits and improve motor function in chronic ischemic stroke patients with moderate to severe arm impairment.
MIT Microscope Offers a Faster Look at Whole-Brain Electrical Activity
A new high-speed microscope from MIT could give neuroscientists a more direct way to observe how neurons communicate across an entire brain—an advance with implications for basic neuroscience, neurotechnology tool development, and future efforts to map distributed neural circuits in real time.
Briefings: Boston Scientific Recall, Nerve Stimulation for Sleep Apnea, Overactive Bladder, More
News from around the neurotech industry including Boston Scientific’s recall of Infinion CX lead, results from a hypoglossal nerve stimulation system trial, neural implants that work without batteries, vaginally-inserted, wireless neuromodulation device, cranioplasty implant and BCI connections receive FDA clearance, new US VP of Neuromodulation for Abbott, and more.
Neuromodulation Therapies Progress for the Treatment of Drug-Resistant Epilepsy
Over the past two decades, neuromodulation for drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) has evolved from a single approved therapy—vagus nerve stimulation—into a broader field that includes responsive neurostimulation, deep brain stimulation, less-invasive cortical stimulation and emerging optical, thermal, and sensing-enabled systems. Antiseizure medications remain the first-line treatment, but approximately one-third of people with epilepsy continue to experience seizures despite pharmacologic therapy, creating a substantial unmet clinical need.
Computer Vision is Becoming Neurotech’s Situational Understanding Layer and Distribution Channel
Machine Medicine’s FDA breakthrough designation for their video assessment platform, hiring at Metamorphic and Epia Neuro, and a leaked Apple AirPods demo all point to the same patterns: computer vision can give better situational understanding and standardization in a world where human raters find challenges with consistency. Because cameras, LiDAR, and other types of spatial sensor systems are becoming inexpensive and ubiquitous, computer vision systems are increasingly easier to implement both in research settings and in everyday life.
Reach Neuro Reaches New Heights
Reach Neuro’s job board is empty for the moment. That is not an indication of the growth stage of the company. In fact, one could argue that the recent hiring of Jennifer Ernst as the firm’s new chief executive officer and engaging Jordi Parramon as the chairman of the board of directors is a signal that this is the calm before the storm. In fact, one of the stated goals in their current $1.5 million seed-round funding pitch calls for building a “Series A Fundable Team.”
