A blog about what is new (and old) in the world of active implantable medical devices

Category Archives: Nalu

What happened to the BION®?

Posted on by Posted in Advanced Bionics, Alfred E. Mann, Axonics, Bluewind Medical, Boston Scientific, Electrode Materials, General Stim, Incontinence, Muscular Stimulation, Nalu, Neural Stimulation, Neuspera, Paralysis, University of Southern California, Valencia Technologies
RF-powered Bion stimulator

First-generation RF-powered BION (RFB1) microstimulator. Image Credit: Alfred Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering

In 1991, Dr. Gerald Loeb, at the time a Professor of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering at Queen’s University (Kingston, Canada), first proposed a miniature, injectable, RF-powered device for the stimulation of tissue or motor neurons. The BION® device was developed based on this concept as a joint project between Queens University (Kingston, ON, Canada), IIT (Chicago, IL), and the Alfred E. Mann Foundation (Valencia, CA) with funding from the NIH Neural Prosthesis Program. The RF BION 1 (RFB1) was then manufactured by the Alfred Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering at USC.

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Nalu Externally-Powered Neurostimulation System for SCS and PNS Indications

Posted on by Posted in Nalu, Pain, PNS, Spinal Cord Stimulation

Image Credit: Nalu

Nalu Medical, Inc. is a privately held, early-stage start-up based in Carlsbad, California.  They developed the Nalu micro-Implantable Pulse Generator (mIPG), which was was named the Implant and Tissue-Replacement device Gold Winner at the 2021 Medical Design Excellence Awards (MDEA).

The Nalu system consists of a fully-featured, battery-free, miniaturized IPG, which is powered by an externally worn Therapy Disc and controlled through a smartphone based remote control app. The Nalu Neurostimulation System is currently FDA-cleared for Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) and Peripheral Nerve Stimulation (PNS) indications.

Nalu’s website is at: nalumed.com