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

Category Archives: Neuspera

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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The Bioelectronic Medicine Therapy Landscape

Posted on by Posted in Amber Therapeutics, Axonics, Bluewind Medical, Boomerang Medical, CVRx, Inspire Medical, Medipace Inc., Medtronic, Neuspera, Orchestra Biomedical, Respicardia, SetPoint Medical, Zoll
bioelectronic medicine therapies landscape

Image Credit: Victor Pikov, Ph.D., Medipace Inc.

Victor Pikov, Medipace’s founder and CEO, presented the OpenNerve Project at the First Workshop on Active Implantable Medical Devices last week.  As part of his excellent presentation, he discussed the current commercial landscape of bioelectronic medicine therapies.  A picture (in this case, the graph above) is worth a thousand words.

 

Neuspera Medical Closes $65M Round to Fund Urinary Urgency Incontinence Trial

Posted on by Posted in AIMD Business, Incontinence, Neuspera, Neuspera Mid Field Powering, Sacral Root Stimulation

Image Credit: Neuspera Medical

Neuspera Medical is a startup company located in San Jose, CA.  They are developing miniaturized neuromodulation implants that are externally powered from a wearable device.

In December 2019, Neuspera announced that it had received FDA’s approval to implant their systems under IDE.  Neuspera now announced that they closed a $65M series C equity financing round to fund their trial on the use of their device in patients with Urinary Urgency Incontinence (UUI), a symptom of overactive bladder.  The Series C round was co-led by Vertex Ventures HC and Treo Ventures.

Neuspera’s website: http://neuspera.com

Neuspera Medical Implants first of its Miniature Sacral Stimulators in Clinical Trial for the Treatment of Urinary Urgency Incontinence

Posted on by Posted in Incontinence, Neuspera, Neuspera Mid Field Powering, Sacral Root Stimulation

Image Credit: Neuspera Medical

Neuspera is a startup company located in San Jose, CA.  They are developing miniaturized neuromodulation implants that are externally powered from a wearable device.

According to Neuspera, their “Mid-Field Powering” technology uses evanescent and propagating electromagnetic waves to power implanted medical devices to beyond 10cm of depth. Their technology is claimed to use the body as a natural waveguide to focus power ensuring energy is delivered to where it is needed.

In December 2019, Neuspera announced that it had received FDA’s approval to implant their systems under IDE.  Neuspera now announced that it had performed the first human implants as part of their SANS-UUI two-stage seamless pivotal clinical trial to support FDA approval for patients with Urinary Urgency Incontinence (UUI), a symptom of overactive bladder.

Neuspera’s website: http://neuspera.com

Image Credit: Neuspera Medical

Neuspera Raises $26M Series B for its Miniature Neuromodulation Implants

Posted on by Posted in Neural Stimulation, Neuspera, Neuspera Mid Field Powering, Wireless Power Transmission

Neuspera’s Mid-Field Powering technology. Image credit: Neuspera

Neuspera is a startup company located in San Jose, CA.  They are developing miniaturized neuromodulation implants that are externally powered from a wearable device.

According to Neuspera, their “Mid-Field Powering” technology uses evanescent and propagating electromagnetic waves to power implanted medical devices to beyond 10cm of depth. Their technology is claimed to use the body as a natural waveguide to focus power ensuring energy is delivered to where it is needed.

In addition to coming up with their own neuromodulation system, Neuspera hopes to license its Mid-Field Powering technology to recharge or power other types of implantable devices.  According to their technical publications and patent, they use a phased array microwave transmitter operating at a 1.6GHz local minimum in tissue absorption to maximize power transfer.  Per the patent, if the power coupled into tissue is allowed to meet the maximum permitted level of exposure, up to 2.2 mW can be transferred by their system.

Neuspera Medical announced that it has raised a new total of $26 million in equity financing, following the closing of the second tranche of its series B round, to help fund clinical testing programs for its neuromodulation implants.

A vide explaining Neuspera’s technology is available at:

Neuspera Medical from Tiffany Wise on Vimeo.

Neuspera’s website is: http://neuspera.com