European Neuromodulation Professionals Join Americans at INS Meeting in Barcelona
by James Cavuoto, editor
About 1500 neuromodulation professionals from all over the world assembled in Barcelona, Spain earlier this month for the 15th World Congress of the International Neuromodulation Society.
The scientific program was preceded by an “Innovations in Neuromodulation” session dealing with commercialization issues. The full-day session, chaired by INS officers Konstantin Slavin from UI Chicago and Marc Russo from the Hunter Pain Clinic in Australia, featured presentations from several startup firms as well as panel discussions on topics related to commercialization.
Neuromodulation entrepreneurs on the agenda included Alejandro Covalin, CTO of Spark Biomedical, Krishnan Chakravarthy, CEO of NXTstim, Emil Hewage, CEO of BIOS Health, Attila Borbath, CEO of Synergia, Emmanual Cuny, CEO of RebrAIn, Stephen Popielarski, CEO of Thermaquil, Ana Maiques, CEO of Neuroelectrics, and Ross O’Neill, CEO of Neuromod Devices.
Covalin said Spark’s second-generation device will be out before the end of the year. He said that while it used to be easier for neurotech startups to get approval in Europe versus the U.S., the situation is now reversed because of changes in medical device regulation in Europe.
Chakravarthy described his firm’s novel commercialization strategy, which includes giving a noninvasive pain neuromodulation device to patients at no charge via wellness centers. The wearable device, called Eco AI, will also collect crowd sourced data from the user that the firm will use to optimize therapy. “Patients need interaction with other patients, they need interaction with physicians,” he said. “All of the patients on our NXTstim app will be part of a global community.”
The company will later market a compact implantable stimulator developed in conjunction with the Texas Biomedical Device Center. The 0.5 cc IPG will be available to end users at a fraction of the cost of other SCS devices, under $1,000 Chakravarty said. The company plans to offer the device to developing markets.
Cuny described his firm’s DBS targeting technology, which uses artificial intelligence and a collaborative health data registry to optimize electrode position. The algorithm relies on the mathematical use of the inverse problem.
The innovations session concluded with two panel discussions, one devoted to startup funding, and another devoted to how we can shorten the commercialization pathway.
The scientific program kicked off with a presentation by Matthew MacDougall from Neuralink, who gave attendees an update on the company’s neurosurgical robot and some of their early primate studies. Itshak Fried from UCLA gave a presentation on neuromodulation of human memory using DBS of the entorhinal hippocampal circuitry. Andres Lozano from the University of Toronto discussed the possibility that DBS can alter the course of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s and offer a form of neuroprotection. “Who’s killing these dopamine neurons?” he asked, “and what can be done to put the brakes on it? He hypothesized that the subthalamic nucleus could be a culprit.
On the second day, Jocelyne Bloch and Gregoire Courtine from EPFL in Switzerland described their work with targeted neurotechnology in patients with spinal cord injury. They showed videos of paraplegic patients with complete SCI who where able to walk using parallel bars.
Exhibitors at the meeting included Abbott, who displayed its NeuroSphere myPath digital health app. It offers enhanced functionality to help doctors more closely track their patients as they trial Abbott neurostimulation devices to address their chronic pain. This upgrade is part of Abbott’s commitment to connected care technology and is intended to put people in control of their health and facilitate better communication with their doctors. The digital health app, which can be used with both Apple and Android devices, provides a doctor, their staff and the patient with a shared view of patient-reported outcome measures through each stage of the treatment journey while trying an SCS or DRG therapy device.
In an interview with NBR, Ryan Lakin, divisional vice president of R&D at Abbott Neuromodulation, said the company is trying to innovate for access and affordability. “NeuroSphere allowed us to increase access by allowing people to get to doctors when they couldn’t physically get there,” he said.
Several investigators affiliated with Nevro, including Erika Petersen from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, gave presentations on the company’s high-frequency stimulation for painful diabetic neuropathy.
Saluda Medical had a major presence at the meeting, including 18 posters, nine of which were awarded oral presentations, and three of which include late breaking data. Results shared at INS highlighted outcomes from the AVALON and EVOKE studies, including holistic composite improvements in pain relief, quality of life, function, and sleep; cost-effectiveness of the Evoke system in comparison to open-loop and high frequency stimulation; and opioid-sparing effects of treatment. Other important data was 12-month real-world results from Europe and important findings around the impact of accurate neural activation on long-term outcomes at 24 months.
“INS is one of the premier international neuromodulation meetings and we are pleased to see the significant scientific presence highlighting the paradigm shift in spinal cord stimulation technology,” said Jim Schuermann, president and CEO of Saluda Medical. “This meeting represents the most posters and podium presentations in our company’s history demonstrating the growing level of scientific interest in the Evoke Closed-Loop evidence and elevation of SCS standard of care.”
Other exhibitors at the meeting included Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Stimwave, Mainstay Medical, LivaNova, Aleva Neurotherapeutics, CorTec, Ripple, Heraeus, and Velentium.
