News

Nearly 3,000 clinicians, neural engineers, and neurotech researchers attended the 20th Annual Meeting of the North American Neuromodulation Society, held in Las Vegas, NV earlier this month. The meeting moved to January from its previous time slot in December to accommodate physicians’ busy schedule at the end of the year. As in previous years, the meeting started with a forum devoted to invention,…

When internet entrepreneur Bryan Johnson launched Kernel last year, he decided on a different approach from other neurotech firms. Rather than target a specific device for a specific disease, the company is more interested in building a broad technology platform that may prove useful in a number of applications down the road. “A multi-product approach staged over multiple years optimizes for expertise accumulation and technological and scientific breakthroughs,” Johnson said.

Advances in our understanding of the neural mechanisms involved with movement disorders—and in normal movement—promise to enhance DBS therapies for neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, essential termor, dystonia, and Tourette’s syndrome. In the initial stage of PD, patients’ movements are stiff and slow. This can be remedied with the drug L-dopa, but after a few years of treatment, patients usually develop uncontrolled jerking motions known as dyskinesias.

Research institutions and commercial firms pursuing new deep brain stimulation therapies for neuropsychiatric disorders have faced a number of hurdles, including clinical trial design, regulatory approval, device development, and obtaining funding. At least one more set of challenges awaits them, and that is ethical concerns raised by clinicians, advocacy groups, and the general public. In a recent…

As 2016 comes to a close, it’s worth reflecting on some of the key events in the neurotechnology industry during the year. In most respects, 2016 continued the string of positive financial and funding developments from the previous two years. Probably the biggest financial story of the year was Abbott’s purchase of St. Jude Medical for $25 billion. When that deal becomes final next year, the compet…

Deep-brain stimulation has proven to be one of the most successful technologies for treating neurological diseases and disorders. As we report on page 1 of this issue, there are several efforts underway to develop alternatives to DBS that would minimize surgical risks or eliminate the implantation process required for today’s devices. This goal is laudable, in our view, but it should not interfere…

Neurotech Reports, the publisher of this newsletter, announced the winners of the 2016 Gold Electrode Awards. The awards were presented at the 2016 Neurotech Leaders Forum in San Francisco. The award for best new product went to St. Jude Medical Inc. for the Infinity DBS system. The award for most promising startup went to NeuSpera Medical Inc. The award for most useful financial professional went to Yossi Gross from Rainbow Medical.

Recognizing that rehabilitation can “help people with disabilities reach their full potential,” the NIH recently published a plan for rehabilitation research to spearhead future efforts. The five-year plan was led Medical Rehabilitation Research, an entity of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The plan sets a roadmap to guide funding and research thrusts and gain a better comprehension of the body’s repair mechanisms.

The first ever competition combining technology and human sport took place on October 8 at the SWISS Arena in Zurich, Switzerland. With 66 teams representing 25 countries, this competition broke new ground in the next generation of athletic competition. In recent years the organizers of the Paralympic Games have struggled with technology advances in prosthetic limbs and stimulation for muscle conditioning and how they fit into the current competitive environment.

One of the themes that emerged during the 2016 Neurotech Leaders Forum earlier this month [see Conference Report, p7] was the critical importance of clinical trials for novel neuromodulation therapies. As we have witnessed repeatedly in recent years, the success or failure of a clinical trial in a new therapeutic area can have a dramatic effect on the entire industry, and not just the trial sponsors.