News

Healthy Indicators Sometimes, a new industry like neurotechnology experiences a shot in the arm when new technology developments are unveiled. Other times, less earth-shattering events or combination of events can spur investment and interest in a technology sector. Perhaps this is just one such time in the development of our industry. As we report in our article on page 1 of this issue, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has recently approved a number of new devices for the U.S.

Tinnitus Market Offers New Neurotech Opportunity The market for treating tinnitus, a complex auditory condition often associated with ringing in the ears, may represent one of the newest opportunities for neurotechnology vendors. About 50 million Americans are believed to suffer from some form of the condition, and about 12 million of these are characterized as severe enough to require medical treatment.

Excitation and Suppression Since its inception, the commercial neurostimulation industry has relied primarily on activation of neural signals to achieve the desired result. As Warren Grill points out in his article on page 1 of this issue, suppression of neural signals may prove to be an equally powerful tool for neurotechnology firms. The presence of two opposing and complementary modes of stimula…

Cooking the Books with the Pot and the Kettle As the neurotechnology industry matures, it will continue to attract attention from clinicians, investors, the media, and the public. For good or for bad, we can also expect that more neurotech firms will draw the attention of the government. As we report in our article on page 1 of this issue, Advanced Neuromodulation Systems is the latest neurotech vendor to draw scrutiny from the Federal government.

Epic Biosonics Inc. Makes Progress in Electrode, Animal Implant Studies Epic Biosonics, Inc., the Victoria, BC manufacturer of neurostimulation electrodes, announced that the company has expanded its patented EpicCircuit technology to include production of fluoropolymer encapsulated electrode arrays that use gold as the conductive element. The ability to generate gold EpicCircuits complements the f…

Executives and Financial Professionals Discuss Issues at SoCalBio Conference Close to 400 biomedical industry professionals from Southern California attended the 7th SoCalBio Investor Conference in Los Angeles, March 23-24. The event, produced Biomedical Council, seeks to promote and grow the life sciences industry in the greater Los Angeles area. During the conference, several neurotechnology prof…

Like-Minded Innovators We’re constantly amazed at the large number of new and innovative technologies we come across in the course of publishing this newsletter. This month is no exception, as proved on the oscillating field stimulator developed at Purdue University and recent advances in optical stimulation. Both these approaches to affecting the nervous system are radical departures from the products and technologies currently in use.

Brain Stimulators Move Toward Closed Loop Function In a twofold effort to improve the performance of implanted neuro­stimulation devices such as deep brain stimulation (DBS) systems and also reduce the trauma of the implantation process, several neural engineering researchers and commercial vendors are looking at closed-loop stimulation strategies. The goal here is to provide feedback signals that…

Neurotech Leaders Forum Attendees Discuss “Next Cardio” Market Staff Report Attendees at the 2005 Neurotech Leaders Forum in San Francisco heard from a number of entrepreneurs, researchers, and financial professionals in the neurotechnology field October 20-21, many of whom compared the growth of the neuro device market to that of the cardiac device industry. Total attendance at the two-day event was 78.

Neurotechnology CEOs to Present at 2005 Neurotech Leaders Forum CEOs and founders of several early-stage neurotechnology firms will make presentations during an entrepreneur panel to take place at the fifth annual Neurotech Leaders Forum in San Francisco October 20-21. These include Mark Carney, CEO of Andara Life Science Inc. in Indianapolis, which is commercializing an oscillating field stimulator device that regenerates nerve tissue in people paralyzed .