Industry Pioneers and Executives Meet at 2014 Neurotech Leaders Forum
Staff report
About 85 neurotechnology industry professionals met in San Francisco earlier this month for the 14th annual Neurotech Leaders Forum, hosted by Neurotech Reports, the publisher of this newsletter.
The conference kicked off with an overview by NBR editor James Cavuoto of recent events in the neurotechnology industry. He cited the spate of neurotechnology industry IPOs as a positive indicator of growth. Other noteworthy trends of the last year include several funding initiatives from DARPA and other federal agencies, the growing interest in funding electroceutical ventures, and the FDA’s recent reversal of its decision to clamp down on cranial electrical stimulation.
Cavuoto mentioned that increasing segmentation and divergence in the spinal cord stimulation market was creating opportunities for new vendors and new competition. Upstarts in the SCS market with unique positioning include Nevro, Spinal Modulation, Saluda Medical, and Mainstay Medical. Meanwhile, the big three in the SCS market, Medtronic, St. Jude, and Boston Scientific, continue to diversify their offerings with technologies such as burst mode stimulation and peripheral nerve stimulation.
Keynote speaker Mir Imran from InCube Labs gave attendees an overview of the history and evolution of the neuromodulation device industry. He highlighted some of the numerous new applications of neuromodulation currently in development, such as hypertension, inflammation, and sleep apnea.
Imran predicted that at least 10 to 15 new therapies currently in clinical development would become standards of care in the next 15 years. He also said that the increased acceptance of web-connected neural implants would greatly enhance patient outcomes in the future.
Still, Imran pointed out several challenges confronting the industry in the years ahead. These include funding, regulatory, reimbursement, and commercialization issues. Noting that clinical trials cost vendors upwards of $30,000 to $50,000 per patient, Imran stressed that neuromodulation firms need to do a better job of addressing clinical endpoints and economic endpoints. He advised attendees to get payors involved early on in the process and to get their input on economic endpoints.
In a session devoted to neurotech funding opportunities, a panel of neurotechnology industry and investment professionals offered their views on the outlook for financing neurotech startups in the years ahead. Jeff Erb, senior director of business development at Medtronic neuromodulation, gave examples of that company’s history of partnering with promising neurotech device firms, including its recent purchase of Sapiens Steering Brain Stimulation for $200 million.
Kevin Wasserstein, a former VC professional at Versant Ventures, gave attendees an overview of his recent activities as head of the Neurotechnology Innovations Translator. Wasserstein has teamed up with Ali Rezai from Ohio State University and secured funding from the State of Ohio and several other partners to help incubate neurotech startups in Ohio. Juan-Pablo Mas from Action Potential Venture Capital gave a background on pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline and their interest in funding startups in the bioelectric medicine space.
Kip Ludwig, the neural engineering program director at the National Institutes of Health, spoke of several recent government funding initiatives, including $46 million in new grants from the president’s BRAIN initiative. Ludwig advised neurotech entrepreneurs to look carefully at existing technology and any off-the-shelf components that they could incorporate into their therapies rather than spend the time and development costs to commercialize unique hardware.
In a session devoted to advances in neural interfaces, Jack Judy from the University of Florida, and a former DARPA program manager in neuroprosthetics, raised the notion of forming a neurotech industry consortium involving investigators, engineers, and manufacturers to streamline development and production of next-generation devices. Judy used as an example the semiconductor industry in recent decades and highlighted several initiatives that helped move that industry toward maturity. Dustin Tyler from Case Western Reserve University gave attendees an overview of his recent work with sensory-enabled neuroprosthetics.
The second day of the conference was devoted to noninvasive, consumer, and neurosensing devices. In an opening session on the consumer market for neurotechnology, Posit Science CEO Henry Mahncke shared data from the ACTIVE clinical trial that showed that the company’s BrainHQ exercises generalize to real-world cognitive functions. This contrasts with more common exercises like performing crossword puzzles, which do not improve cognitive function, Mahncke said.
In a session on decoding user intent, David Jones from Battelle gave attendees an update on the Neurobridge program, which decodes brain activity and interfaces to an upper-extremity FES system.
Chris Berka from Advanced Brain Monitoring gave an update on her firm’s partnership with the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis using a closed-loop EEG/FES neurorehabilitation system. She described her firms’s efforts to develop EEG-based biomarkers for brain states such as distress, engagement, and empathy. Amy Kruse from Intific Inc. announced that her firm, which has developed neurotech games for enhancing performance, was recently acquired by Cubic Corp.
Executives from several new and emerging neurotechnology firms made presentations during the conference. These included Diana Pliura, CEO of a Canadian neurorehabilitation firm called MyndTec Inc., and Greg Plamondon, CFO of Australian upstart Saluda Medical. Other neurotech executives presenting at the event included Dan Brounstein from Spinal Modulation, Shai Gozani from NeuroMetrix, and Steve Stupp from Trigeminal Solutions.
Cirtec Medical was platinum sponsor of the conference. Micro Systems Technologies was gold sponsor and Stellar Technologies was silver sponsor.