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.

Cognition Medical discusses its next generation neurovascular technologies in an interview with SmartTRAK at SNIS 2019. 

Despite continued weakness and share shifts in Q219, the SCS market is poised to accelerate in H219 on new products/clinical data

In Q219, US and WW spinal cord stimulation (SCS) revenues were down for all the big players against tough YoY comps and ongoing weakness in the market as companies work through a gap in new product introductions, ongoing commercial execution issues and customer destocking. In the US, SCS revenues were down -6.3% vs Q218 according to the SmartTRAK Financial Dashboard. Although revenues were up sequentially per the usual seasonality in Q2, QoQ growth in Q219 was more anemic compared to the previous year. Between Q119-Q219, US SCS revenue was up just over ...

Among the many topics covered in the complete Q219 SCS Market Recap* are:

Intraoperative neuromonitoring could be a game changer in the field of SCS by elucidating the MOA for current and emerging SCS waveforms and stimulation patterns. But will it improve outcomes? To find out more, SmartTRAK interviewed Steven Falowski, MD at NANS 2019.

Steven Falowski, MD, Secretary of the Board for the North American Neuromodulation Society (NANS), discusses the latest research on the use of intraoperative neuromonitoring during spinal cord stimulation (SCS) in an interview with SmartTRAK at the NANS 22nd annual meeting held Jan. 17-20, 2019 in Las Vegas.

Historically, pain specialists have always placed spinal cord stimulators in awake patients for safety reasons and to confirm the therapy is adequately covering painful areas. However, Dr. Falowski says there’s been a paradigm shift where both pain physicians and surgeons alike are now using intraoperative neuromonitoring to place SCS systems for both percutaneous electrodes and paddle leads in asleep patients to more accurately localize the spinal cord midline and to improve intraoperative electrode placement and pain coverage...