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The emerging market for bioelectronic medicine is being driven in large part cardiovascular, circulatory, and inflammatory disorders. But recently, there have been key developments in the market segment for gastrointestinal disorders. More than 60 million people in the U.S. suffer from disorders in the gastrointestinal tract that could be cured , but scientists don’t fully understand the therapy’s effects on a critical organ: the stomach.

About 120 management, investment, and research professionals from the neurotechnology industry came to San Francisco for the 18th annual Neurotech Leaders Forum earlier this month. Two keynote speakers set the tone on each day of the event. Frank Fischer, CEO of Neuropace, shared his experience bringing an implanted closed-loop system from the lab to market. “The brain is a beautiful, complex, and extraordinary system,” he said.

Neurotech Reports, the publisher of this newsletter, announced the winners of the 2018 Gold Electrode Awards. The awards were presented at the 2018 Neurotech Leaders Forum in San Francisco earlier this month. The award for best new product went to Boston Scientific for its Spectra WaveWriter SCS system. The award for most promising startup went to Tivic Health. The award for most valuable financial professional went to Doug Clinton of Loup Ventures.

Attendees at this year’s Neurotech Leaders Forum observed a number of informative sessions that dealt with the changing landscape of the neurotechnology industry [see p7]. Although the industry still faces some challenges, there was general consensus that getting new neurotech products to market has become smoother in recent years. In a session devoted to the regulatory climate in the U.S. and abro…

Research institutions and commercial firms pursuing epidural stimulation as part of a new therapeutic approach for treating spinal cord injury have continued to show progress. In recent weeks, investigators at three institutions in the U.S. published findings that broke new ground. Earlier this month, a team of researchers from the Mayo Clinic and UCLA published results in Nature Medicine showing that neuromodulation of lumbosacral spinal networks enabled independent stepping after complete paraplegia.

Neurotech Reports, the publisher of the Neurotech Business Report, newsletter, announced that Hunter Peckham, a pioneer in the field of neuroprosthetics and founder of the Institute for Functional Restoration at Case Western Reserve University, will keynote the 18th annual Neurotech Leaders Forum. The event will take place October 15-16 in San Francisco, CA. Peckham is a Distinguished University Professor and Donnell Institute Professor of Biomedical Engineering at CWRU.

The ongoing struggle to develop new therapies to treat spinal cord injury and other forms of paralysis took a significant step forward this month. As we report in our article on page 1 of this issue, investigators at three U.S. institutions—Mayo Clinic, UCLA, and University of Louisville—published encouraging findings supporting the viability of epidural stimulation as a key therapeutic component for treating SCI.

The psychiatric disorder market remains one of the most promising, if elusive, segments of the neuromodulation industry. Though potential DBS therapies have captured much attention, noninvasive therapies continue to offer a shorter path to profitability. Last month, TMS pioneer Neuronetics cashed in on an IPO that raised $107 million for the company. And tDCS vendor Soterix Medical this month tweeted positive results from a schizophrenia trial.

More than 600 clinicians, research scientists, and industry representatives gathered in Times Square New York City for the inaugural summer series joint meeting between the North American Neuromodulation Society and the NY Neuromodulation Society. “It is two cultures coming together,” said event co-chair, Marom Bikson. “The merging of the cultures is both on the technical and clinical sides. Our su…

July, 2018 issue One of the major challenges confronting neural engineers who develop new implanted brain stimulation and recording devices is dealing with the response of brain tissue surrounding the implant. The long-term performance of brain implants depends on the degree of inflammatory response and anything researchers can do to mitigate this response will extend the life of the device. A pair…