Neuromodulation has been around a long time, but in recent years it’s picking up steam as a haute, beyond-the-pill technology.
The concept of neuromodulation is quite simple: It’s an emerging branch of medicine that treats the nervous system directly with implantable devices that rebalance neural circuitry with spurts of electric or chemical agents.
A lot of the newest promise remains tied to the bench, so who are the entrepreneurial innovators on the bleeding edge of this technology?
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Some of the longest-running work in neuromodulation is being done at the medical device giants – Medtronic, for instance, has had a long-standing neuromodulation program. Boston Scientific and St. Jude Medical are also top contenders.
But startups are also doing interesting work in the following fields:
Depression
Tal Medical has an on-the-spot treatment for severe depression – using neuromodulation, of course. It takes four to 10 weeks for your standard SSRI to kick in and start treating depression – but that’s just not fast enough for many patients. Tal Medical’s approach, based on the electric firings that occur during MRI scans, could more rapidly improve the symptoms of depression and bipolar disorder. It’s thought that the electrical field shifts that occur during MRI help modulate the firings of brain chemicals – and doing this intentionally, with a device, could help improve symptoms of this disease.
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Crohn’s disease and arthritis
SetPoint Medical is using neuromodulation to treat the inflammation that stems from diseases like Crohn’s and rheumatoid arthritis. The platform is based on the natural mechanism by which the central nervous system regulates the immune system. It uses vagus nerve stimulation to activate the inflammatory reflex – which in turn activates a potent systemic anti-inflammatory effect, the company says. The tiny implantable device has a wireless charger and can be controlled with an iPad app.
Pain management
SPR Therapeutics has a “Smartpatch” in development – a percutaneous device that’s meant to manage pain by hitting the percutaneous nerves. The pain relief is meant to given as an interventional therapy – patients aren’t implanted with the pain devices permanently. Rather, nerves are zapped as pain management is needed. It’s being studied in clinical trials, and has received regulatory approval in the EU and Australia. It’s not yet FDA sanctioned.
Heart failure
NeuroTronik is developing a device that treats patients who go to the hospital for worsening symptoms of acute heart failure syndrome. It’s meant to work by stimulating a patient’s heart electrically so it can pump blood more effectively.
Incontinence
Axonics Modulation Technologies is developing a next-gen implantable sacral neuromodulation device that treats conditions like overactive bladder and fecal incontinence.
Medtronic’s already cornered the market in this field, but Axonics claims to last a decade longer, is 60 percent smaller, and has a miniaturized, rechargeable and implantable pulse generator.