December 2002 issue
December 31, 2002 | Neurotechnology entrepreneur and philanthropist Alfred Mann, the founder of Advanced Bionics, Second Sight Ltd., and other stimulation device manufacturers, may be looking at functional electrical stimulation as one of his next product development directions. In a recent interview with Neurotech Business Report, Mann voiced his support for building FES systems to treat paralysis caused by spinal cord injury and stroke.
Mann said that although he was initially not a strong believer in FES, recent developments in BION technology at the Alfred Mann Foundation and FES research elsewhere has convinced him that the goal of restoring lost function is achievable. He credited AMF president Joe Schulman for persisting in making the case for FES.
One factor that led to his change of heart was the realization that even early-stage devices such as the first hand-grasp stimulators for quadriplegics, filled a need for these users. “Those of us who have our faculties don’t know what’s important. Having a crude FES device is better than having no hand motion,” he said.
Mann cited another neural prosthesis user, a 74-year-old blind person who was one of the first to be implanted with Second Sight’s retinal electrode array. “He would be happy to have a device that could just help him tell night from day,” Mann said.
Mann said he was not that surprised that FES technology has not received the public attention it merits from clinicians and activists like Christopher Reeve. “People in the entertainment industry don’t tend to be scientifc-minded,” he said. Medical device manufacturers have always had to confront this type of issue, Mann said, relating back to his early experience in the cardio and drug infusion product markets.
Mann did not say which FES application would be targeted first, but any spinoff would undoubtedly make use of the BION as the basis of the system. Although Advanced Bionics currently owns marketing rights to the BION, that firm would most likely license the device to another entity that would pursue the FES market, since Advanced Bionics has its hands full in the cochlear implant and neuromodulation markets.
During the interview, Mann indicated his desire to leave his estate to biomedical research. In 2000, Mann contributed over $100 million to the University of Southern California, to establish the Alfred Mann Institute of Biomedical Engineering. Mann expressed satisfaction with the relationship with the university and credited the institute’s director, Dean Baker, with making it successful.
Mann said he plans to establish institutes at other universities with a major focus on biomedical engineering and a “cooperative, open environment” for technology development and commercialization.
