The SCS market saw double-digit declines in Q120 as elective procedures fell off a cliff toward the end of the quarter due to COVID-19

After a disappointing slowdown in 2019, the spinal cord stimulation (SCS) market was positioned for growth in Q120 after a successful North American Neuromodulation Society (NANS) Annual Meeting in January 2020. With new data and products providing an early tailwind for all SCS competitors, companies reported positive momentum until approximately the third week of March when COVID-19 led to shelter-in-place orders and a sharp decline in elective procedures. This effectively put a halt to the vast majority of SCS trials and implants in the US and also impacted companies with SCS sales in China during January and February ...

Among the many topics covered in the comprehensive Q120 Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) Market Recap* are:

Although the Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) Market was down YoY in Q419 and FY19, new data and devices are on deck for 2020

Krishnan Chakravarthy, MD, PhD discusses the state of the pandemic and its impact on pain medicine in an interview with SmartTRAK

Krishnan Chakravarthy, MD, PhD discusses the COVID-19 pandemic, current and evolving methods for containing and treating the virus, how it's changing the practice of pain medicine and its impact on industry in an interview with SmartTRAK. Dr. Chakravarthy is Chairman of the COVID-19 Task Force for the American Society of Pain and Neuroscience (ASPN), a virologist, pain management specialist and assistant professor of anesthesiology at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). 

To find out more, including lessons learned from the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, click on the following video to listen to the interview conducted by Anne Staylor, SmartTRAK's Managing Editor and Director of Advanced Technologies, recorded live via Uberconference (47:29 minutes).  Specific interview topics by time code are also outlined below, as is a link to download the transcript.

Mike Daly, VP and GM of Medtronic’s Brain Modulation, discusses the Company’s new Percept DBS System with BrainSense Technology in an interview with SmartTRAK

Although Medtronic has lost share in deep brain stimulation (DBS) over the last several years, the Company upped its game recently with the EU launch of its new Percept PC Neurostimulator with BrainSense technology, which received CE Mark in January 2020. Percept is a primary cell DBS device that can send and record brain signals while delivering therapy to patients for the treatment of symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor, primary dystonic, epilepsy and obsessive-compulsive disorder.  Although Percept is currently available in the EU for open-loop sensing, the device is closed-loop capable, and Medtronic plans to conduct additional research in closed-loop DBS in hopes of eventually gaining regulatory approval for an Adaptive DBS system. 

To find out more about Percept DBS, BrainSense technology and what’s next for Medtronic’s Brain Modulation Business, click on the following video to listen to SmartTRAK’s interview with Mike Daly, Vice President and General Manager of the Brain Modulation Business within Medtronic. A transcript of the interview is also provided below.

Abbott’s Allen Burton, MD, discusses the Company’s new recharge-free Proclaim XR Neurostimulation System in an interview with SmartTRAK

In the market for Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS), companies have been looking at different ways to extend the battery life of an implantable pulse generator (IPG) and minimize the amount of time patients spend recharging a device. One competitor that’s making advances in battery longevity is Abbott Laboratories.

Armed with its own research that showed patients do not like recharging, Abbott launched the recharge-free Proclaim Elite SCS in 2017 with a patient-centric strategy and an eye for capturing share in the US SCS market. Since then, there have been questions about battery life, and whether or not a recharge-free IPG would have to be replaced more frequently than a rechargeable SCS.

The SCS market is still down YoY, but improved sequentially as companies get back on track

In Q319, US and WW spinal cord stimulation (SCS) revenues continued to be down YoY against tough comps, but the rate of decline slowed sequentially for most companies as they address ongoing commercial execution issues, customer destocking and initiate new product launches. In the US, SCS revenue was down -4.7% in Q318 according to SmartTRAK Financial Dashboard, an improved sequential growth rate vs a -6.3% YoY decline in Q219. On a WW basis, the SCS market followed a similar pattern, with Q319 revenue of...

Among the many topics covered in the complete, comprehensive Q319 SCS Market Recap* are:

Julianne Burns, SmartTRAK's Senior Analyst, Spine, just returned from attending the 2019 Cervical Spine Research Society's (CSRS) 47th Annual Meeting in New York City.

Julianne discusses highlights from the meeting, including what’s on the horizon for the cervical spine market and the trend toward moving cervical spine procedures to an ASC setting in an interview with SmartTRAK Managing Editor Anne Staylor.

Click the video below to hear the interview, and scroll down to read the transcript.

Rapid Medical CEO Ronen Eckhouse discusses the Company’s latest innovations, the plan for bringing its novel neurovascular devices to market, and Rapid’s strategy for competing in the market for neurovascular devices in an interview with SmartTRAK. 

To listen to the interview, click on the following video. A transcript of the interview is also provided below, as is a link to download the transcript.

Executives from Corindus Vascular Robotics discuss the Company’s plans and strategies for improving stroke care in an interview with SmartTRAK at SNIS 2019

Although Corindus Vascular Robotics is known more for playing in the cardiovascular space, the Company is now leveraging its expertise in vascular robotics to expand into neurovascular applications and telerobotics with the goal of improving access to comprehensive stroke care. The Company’s CorPath GRX System received FDA clearance for percutaneous coronary interventions in 2016 and for peripheral vascular interventions in 2018. Since then, the CorPath GRX has received ...

Insera Therapeutics takes vacuum aspiration therapy to a new level with a disruptive digital design and cyclical aspiration for mechanical thrombectomy

Insera Therapeutics’ co-founders and brothers Vikram Janardhan and Vallabh Janardhan, MD saw an opportunity in the market for acute ischemic stroke and have developed a next generation, all digital vacuum aspiration system for mechanical thrombectomy designed to take suction aspiration to a new level. Unlike traditional analog electromechanical vacuum aspiration systems, which provide uniform, static aspiration, the Company’s CLEAR Aspiration System allows users to layer cyclical or pulsatile aspiration on top of uniform aspiration. By marrying a computer to a vacuum pump, Insera’s Clear Aspiration System can be finely controlled, and allows users to create their own cyclical wave patterns remotely using an iPad controller.

The Company recently received CE Mark for the Clear Aspiration System with a broad indication beyond stroke, and research to date suggests the technology provides better transmission suction to the tip, improves the first pass effect and decreases emboli in new territory.

To find out more about Insera Therapeutics, the technology and what’s next for the Company, SmartTRAK interviewed CEO Vikram Janardhan and Chief Medical Officer Vallabh Janardhan, MD, at the Society of Neurointerventional Surgery (SNIS) Annual Meeting in Miami Beach, FL held July 22-26, 2019.

Click on the following video to listen to SmartTRAK’s interview with Vikram and Vallabh Janardhan, MD, recorded live at SNIS 2019. To download a transcript of the interview, please click the button at the end of this post.