This week, our expert analysts have sifted through the noise to present some of the latest product developments and clinical trials from the Neuromodulation industry. At SmartTRAK,  our analysts constantly monitor the worldwide MedTech industry to present real-time news, analysis and financial data. All of our analysts are experts in their field, having worked in business development, marketing and competitive intelligence roles at leading medical device companies.

The following is a small sampling of Neuromodulation segment updates from the past week that were compiled, reviewed and posted throughout the day by the industry-experienced analysts at SmartTRAK:

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.

Anne Staylor, SmartTRAK's Managing Editor and Director of Advanced Technologies, will be attending the International Stroke Conference 2020, to be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Feb 19-21.

The theme for the conference is A New Era for Stroke Science and Brain Health. According to their website "The International Stroke Conference is the world’s premier meeting dedicated to the science and treatment of cerebrovascular disease. This 2½-day conference features more than 1,700 compelling presentations in 21 categories that emphasize basic, clinical and translational sciences and provides the opportunity to network with thousands of colleagues in the stroke field from around the world with wide-ranging expertise and experience."

Micro-Leads Medical, based in Somerville, MA, showcased HD64, an emerging, high-resolution spinal cord stimulation therapy for treating chronic focal pains of the low-back, trunk, extremities and feet at NANS 2020. Anne Staylor, SmartTRAK's Managing Editor and Sr. Director of Advanced Technologies, attended the NANS 2020 Emerging Technologies Forum and saw this novel technology designed for the spinal cord stimulation market.

Anne Staylor, SmartTRAK's Managing Editor and Director of Advanced Technologies, is in Las Vegas attending NANS 2020, the North American Neurological Society's  23rd annual meeting, and, as you can see from the photo above taken at NANS, she is already thinking about NANS 2021 in Orlando. The theme of the this year's NANS is “Driving Innovation Through Science and Evidence.”  Anne, who covers Neuromodulation for SmartTRAK, will be reporting on the meeting through articles and interviews...

Are you getting ready to head out to Las Vegas to attend NANS 2020 - the North American Neuromodulation Society 23rd Annual Meeting? We sat down with Anne Staylor, SmartTRAK's Managing Editor and Senior Director of Advanced Technologies for our new series, Know Before You Go, to find out what she's looking forward to ahead of NANS 2020.

NANS 2020, billed as the premier meeting in the field of neuromodulation, is being held this year at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, NV, and will showcase the latest scientific research and technical advancements in neuromodulation.

To hear Anne's take on the upcoming meeting, just click on the following video to listen to the full interview. A transcript of the interview is also provided below the video.

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.