Neurostimulation pain-relief device company SPR Therapeutics has been approved for a $900,000 loan from the state of Ohio.

The financing comes after Cleveland-area SPR earlier this year raised a $2.2 million series A round and announced that it was on the hunt for strategic partnerships that could range from licensing deals to outright acquisition.

A representative of SPR declined comment on the state loan, but the Ohio Department of Development said it would finance a project that “involves the acquisition of machinery and equipment, molds and tooling, and intellectual property protection costs in order to commercialize the company’s neurostimulation pain-relief system.”

SPR’s pain-relief system is initially aimed at reducing shoulder pain in patients who’ve suffered strokes, but the company views the device as a platform technology that eventually could treat pain in multiple areas of the body, CEO Maria Bennett has said.

The technology works via a generator that electrically stimulates a peripheral nerve to exercise a muscle and treat a patient’s pain.

Bennett said in January that SPR had already applied for the CE Mark, so the company could be due to receive that designation of European Union regulatory approval soon.

Leading neurotechnology companies include Boston Scientific, Medtronic and Johnson & Johnson.

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