April 2026 issue, BioElectRx Business Report
April 30, 2026 | Since its 2016 inception as a joint venture between GlaxoSmithKline and Verily (an Alphabet company), Galvani Bioelectronics has pioneered splenic nerve stimulation therapy for rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic autoimmune disease. This bioelectronic approach targets a “holy grail” of medicine: suppressing the pro-inflammatory activity of T cells in the spleen to prevent cytokines from attacking joints in the hands and feet. Similar therapies have been pursued by SetPoint Medical with its recently FDA-approved VNS therapy, as well as biologics such as AbbVie’s Humira.
BBR has recently learned that Galvani’s operations have now been frozen, except for ongoing support (until 2030) to the RA patients and clinical investigators monitoring these patients for the pilot study that Galvani started in 2021 across 14 locations in the U.S. and the Netherlands. Unfortunately, after 16 patients were implanted with an average implantation time of two years, recruitment was halted due to insufficient funding. While Galvani has not published interim clinical results from the clinical study, sources close to the company indicate that therapeutic efficacy in these implanted patients was similar to, if not better than, that observed in the pivotal trial by SetPoint Medical.
We attempted to assess a probability of success, if Galvani were to complete the clinical study. To do that, we applied the Neuromodulation Therapy Score, developed by BBR contributing editor Victor Pikov and previously used for assessing 14 failed and six successful startups. The NMT Score evaluates four subcategories: anatomical and physiological complexity of the therapy, robustness of the clinical design, and whether the study measures a direct therapeutic effect. Galvani’s SNS therapy got a poor anatomical score due to its high complexity. Specifically, a laparoscopic placement of the cuff electrode around the splenic artery—at a depth of approximately 10 cm and in close proximity to the pancreas—is challenging, and the cuff must maintain a tight grip without perturbing arterial pulsation. In comparison, placement of the cuff electrode for SetPoint’s VNS therapy is considerably simpler and without long-term risks to arterial blood flow. Galvani’s SNS therapy scored well in other subcategories and its overall NMT Score is a solid 13 out of 20.
Therefore, the main reason for Galvani’s failure appears to be financial. According to financial estimates, Galvani’s burn rate was $400 million between 2016 and 2024, with another $20 to $25 million projected for 2025. Its two parent companies, GlaxoSmithKline and Verily, shifted their corporate strategies away from neuromodulation. Rather than allowing a “down round” of external investment that would have dramatically reduced Galvani’s valuation, the parent companies may have had incentives to realize a capital loss to offset gains elsewhere, potentially saving them millions in taxes.
This marks a somber conclusion to a 13-year journey initiated by GlaxoSmithKline and carried on by Galvani that served as a cornerstone of the bioelectronic medicine field. Their most notable efforts include the $50 million Action Potential VC fund (launched in 2013), the research roadmap published in Nature in 2014, and the $5 million Innovation Challenge Fund, which provided funding to 35 academic teams and startups (launched in 2014). Galvani published 42 U.S. patents for treating various chronic diseases using autonomic neuromodulation. As the Stevenage office turns off the lights, the industry remains hopeful that Galvani’s vision for autonomic neuromodulation will be carried forward by others.
