From Patent Application Publication: US 2011/0137370 A1
Sorin recently announced a $5 million investment in Israeli startup Enopace Biomedical, which is developing an endovascular neurostimulation system for heart failure. Back in October 2011 Sorin invested $7 million to finance the initial clinical studies of Enopace’s technology as well as ongoing product development.
Very scant details are available besides that it is developing a neuromodulation system to treat patients with congestive heart failure. According to the company, its technology consists of a minimally invasive, implantable neurostimulation device that increases cardiac efficiency by reducing left ventricular workload.
From Enopace’s patent applications, it seems that Enopace’s device consists of a stimulation unit that is placed within the aorta close to the heart, and which is driven wirelessly from a coil that is placed within a vein closeby to the artery. The transmitting coil is in turn driven from an implanted control unit that is implanted subcutaneously.
Israeli business news website “Globes” interviewed Enopace’s CEO Amir Dagan, and reported in February 2013:
Enopace’s neurostimulator is not implanted in the heart, but in the arteries. The heart’s pumping action is controlled by an electrical pulse, which expands the arteries to accept the incoming blood, reducing the effort needed by the heart muscle. Enopace’s device receives and amplifies this signal, further reducing the heart’s muscular effort.
“Enopace is the first company to pace the arteries,” says Dagan. “On the basis of this platform, we will later develop products for other diseases, such as pacemakers for the renal and pulmonary arteries, or for the treatment of hypertension in the lungs.”
Enopace’s neurostimular draws its energy from an external battery-less source, and it can be controlled by wireless to ease or intensify the stimulation. Later, the device could be used to transmit data from the body.
The neurostimulator has undergone animal trials and a Phase I clinical trial. Dagan believes that the company can obtain marketing certification in Europe within 18 months, but cautions, “We still have a lot to prove.”
Company website: www.enopace.com