News

Observations from London The 2011 meeting of the International Neuromodulation Society, which took place in London, England last month, featured a large number of oral and poster presentations offering updated technical and clinical information on neuromodulation topics. And as we detail in our conference report in this issue [see p7], there was also a full day of sessions devoted to commercialization, investment, and industry issues affecting neuromodulation startup firms.

NIH Names Kip Ludwig as Program Director in Repair and Plasticity April 2011 The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke recently announced the appointment of Kip Ludwig as program director in repair and plasticity. Ludwig fills a position that has been vacant since Joe Pancrazio left the NIH in 2009. Ludwig received his Ph.D. in Bioengineering at the University of Michigan, followed by post-doctoral work at the same institution.

Upper-Extremity FES Systems Making a Comeback February 2011 The market for upper-extremity functional electrical stimulation systems, which suffered with the demise of NeuroControl Corp.’s Freehand system nearly 10 years ago, is poised for resurgence. Several research institutions and commercial firms have devised new systems that help restore function to individuals with tetraplegia resulting from spinal cord injury.

Carbon Nanotube Synapse Replicates Neural Function ial director April 2011 Engineering researchers at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA are continuing their quest to construct artificial neural devices that mimic the function of the brain. Ted Berger, a professor of biomedical engineering at the university and director of the Center for Neural Engineering, has been developing a prosthetic hippocampus using analog VLSI technology.

Drop in Pharma R&D for CNS Opens Door for Devices , senior technical editor March 2011 Recent reductions in research and development efforts created unprecedented opportunities for neurotech devices to step in to fill the forthcoming void of therapies for neurological disorders. Nervous system diseases and disorders are a large and growing challenge. As technologies have advanced life expectancies, for example , the incidence of brain disease has and will continue to increase.

Neurotech Executives Report Progress at J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference January 2011 More than 8000 investors, financial professionals, and healthcare company executives attended the 2011 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, held in San Francisco earlier this month. Participating in the conference were CEOs of several public and private neurotechnology firms. Medtronic CEO Bill Hawkins, who will be…

Magnetic Stim Attracts a Crowd It wasn’t that long ago that magnetic stimulation was looked at as somewhat suspect industry. But now the number of new entrants in the magnetic neuromodulation space is growing steadily, supplementing existing players using magnetic devices in stimulation, neurodiagnostics, and research. Some of the credit for this upsurge in interest in magnetic stimulation can be attributed to Neuronetics, Inc., the Malvern, PA manufacturer of transcranial magnetic stimulation systems.

Hands on My Medicare The effort to restructure Medicare created an outpouring of contention in recent weeks. The bill, proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) would replace the current defined-benefit model of Medicare with a voucher, averaging $11,000 per year, to be used for buying insurance coverage, starting in 2022. Ryan and the House Republicans are right to call attention to the rising cost of Medicare and its contribution to the nation’s debt problem.

Seeing the Solution The announcement that Second Sight Medical Products’ Argus II retinal implant has been approved for sale in Europe [see article, p5] is exceptionally good news for the neurotech industry and for visually impaired people all over the world. The approval represents the first ever for a device restoring vision to blind people. The Argus II will only be available in four locations i…

Obsessing About DBS Many of us who have observed the growth of the neurotechnology industry over the last 10 years have felt frustrated at times government approval of promising new therapies. It becomes particularly so when technology originally developed by U.S. research institutions and startup firms reaches the market first in Europe, simply because many companies have decided that obtaining CE Mark is a much easier path then getting a PMA approved .