News

Neurotech Reports Collaborates with International Neuromodulation Society on Online Database Neurotech Reports, the publisher of this newsletter, announced that it has reached agreement with the International Neuromodulation Society to distribute its online database of neuromodulation products and companies to members of the INS. The database is now available on the INS website, www.neuromodulation.com.

Neuromodulation Returns Press reports that Boston Scientific Corp. is contemplating the sale of its neuromodulation business sent shock waves through the industry earlier this month. As one of the three major players in the neuromodulation device space, along with Medtronic and St. Jude Medical, BSX has contributed to the perception of growth and maturity for the industry since it purchased Advanced Bionics in 2004.

Epilepsy Market Poised for New Device Competition , senior technical editor and James Cavuoto, editor For well over a decade, Cyberonics has enjoyed a monopoly on device-based approaches to treat epilepsy. The company’s VNS therapy system stimulates the vagus nerve to reduce the frequency or intensity of seizures in people with medically-refractory epilepsy. A long-term clinical study presented at the American Epilepsy Society’s 63rd Annual Meeting, held earlier this month in Boston, supported the efficacy of VNS.

Imaging Advances Promote Growth of DBS , senior technical editor One of the primary challenges to continued successful growth of deep brain stimulation is the complexity of the surgical implant procedure. The anatomical targets are small and difficult to visualize, and when the burr hole is made through the skull, the brain moves. Microelectrode recording is used at most centers to refine the locat…

Learning and Relearning Advances in robotics technology have created some new opportunities in neurorehabilitation, as we discuss in our article on page 1 of this issue. Several commercial ventures have already emerged that offer robotic systems that help restore lower-extremity or upper-extremity function following stroke and other neurological disorders. We expect that there will be new market opportunities in this field for neurorehabilitation firms.

Focus on Epilepsy Localization of the focus of seizures is a critical task in the treatment of epilepsy, as NBR senior technical editor Warren Grill points out in his article on page 1 of this issue. As such, this task represents a significant market opportunity for vendors of neurosensing systems and neurosurgical tools. Whether the information obtained in the localization task is used for presurg…

Controls Out of Control The report that an unanticipated therapeutic effect in the control arm of that company’s recent Empower study may have been the reason the trial failed to reach its efficacy endpoints [see article, p5] is just the latest example of how failure to fully consider the control arm of a clinical trial has led to serious financial harm. In our view, the technology behind EnteroMed…

A Decade of Progress and Challenges As we begin our tenth year of publishing Neurotech Business Report, we can’t help but look back on the previous decade as a time of amazing progress yet some frustrating challenges for the neurotechnology industry. As the decade—and the twenty-first century—began, there was one major competitor, Medtronic Inc., and a number of smaller upstarts competing in just a handful of application areas.

Making Paralysis Count One of the most important tasks in developing a market for medical products is to start with a reasonable estimate of the number of individuals who are candidates for your product. As Jennifer French points out in her article on page 1 of this issue, many neurotechnology firms have been relying on U.S. prevalence figures for paralysis that grossly underestimate the actual number of people living with paralysis.

Neurotech Reports Announces Winners of Gold Electrode Awards The editors of Neurotech Reports selected recipients of the 2009 Gold Electrode Awards in five categories. The awards were presented at the 2009 Neurotech Leaders Forum in Newport Beach, CA earlier this month. The award for Most Promising Startup went to Ardian Inc., a hypertension neuromodulation firm in Palo Alto, CA. St. Jude Medical Neuromodulation won the award for Best New Product for its Brio DBS system.