News

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…

The psychiatric disorder market remains, in our view, the last and greatest frontier for the neurotechnology industry. And while there has been significant progress in deep brain stimulation, cortical stimulation, and implanted vagus nerve stimulation as therapies to treat psychiatric disorders, the path to commercialization has proven to be far shorter for noninvasive neuromodulation therapies that treat psychiatric disorders.

Implanted electrodes in the human brain represent one of the most critical components of a neuromodulation device—and one of the most crucial areas of research and development in the neurotechnology industry. As we report in our article on page 1 of this issue, dealing with the response of brain tissue surrounding a neural implant remains a key challenge. But many other challenges confront neural engineers, neurosurgeons, and commercial firms seeking to improve implanted brain stimulation and recording devices.

In the 17 years that we have published this newsletter, one of the greatest therapeutic successes we have witnessed has been deep brain stimulation. The therapy has helped hundreds of thousands of patients with a variety of neurological disorders and much progress has been made in device design and implantation. Still, one major unresolved issue about DBS concerns timing. How soon in the progression of a disease or disorder should a patient begin a DBS regimen?

In recent years, neural engineers and clinicians have begun to investigate closed-loop neuromodulation systems that modify stimulation parameters based upon feedback from neurological signals or neuromuscular response. Saluda Medical has made progress with its closed-loop spinal cord stimulation system for chronic pain. In 2005, a Canadian firm called Medtrode sought to develop a closed-loop DBS platform [NBR Jul06 p6] but commercial progress stalled in subsequent years.

Commercial firms and research institutions developing implanted neurostimulation systems have had years of experience dealing with challenges emanating from within the body, such as tissue encapsulation, lead migration, electrode breakage, and battery failure. But now the industry must be ready to confront two additional threats from the external world: cybersecurity intrusions and environmental influences.