NICTA spin-off Saluda Medical snares $10m for back pain relief device

AN Australian spinal cord stimulator designed to reduce chronic back pain has received funding that paves the way for clinical trials.

Dr Robert Gorman Saluda Medical

A PROMISING Australian spinal cord stimulator designed to reduce chronic back pain has received a new round of funding that paves the way for clinical trials.

Saluda Medical, a firm spun off from digital research body National ICT Australia (NICTA), says it has been granted $10m more of private venture capital for its device.

There is nothing new about spinal cord stimulators, they’ve been around since the 1970s. An electrode is inserted into the epidural space and delivers electrical stimulation that blocks out the pain.

Until now, wearers had to manually adjust the signal when they lay down, started to walk, turn right or left, or whenever they changed their posture. Tweaking of the stimulator quickly becomes monotonous.

Saluda Medical’s version however includes an unprecedented ability to automatically adjust the signal strength as the wearer moves.

“The problem with existing systems is that it (the needed signal strength) changes every time they move, so it could be too strong when they lay down and too weak when they start walking,” said Robert Gorman, senior clinical project manager at Saluda Medical.

“Users have a little remote control and they always have to turn it up and turn it down.”

Dr Gorman said patients typically ended up turning down the level of stimulation permanently so that they wouldn’t overstimulate their spinal cord, but they never enjoyed the appropriate pain relief.

The device records the electrical response in the nerves to the signal. This lets it calibrate the signal strength. Mr Gorman said Saluda Medical was the only company to achieve this.

Saluda Medical was spun off from NICTA in 2013 with funding from private investors and medical device funding from the NSW Government.

Dr Gorman said Saluda Medical would use the funds to fulfil regulatory requirements before beginning clinical trials in the US. He said Saluda Medical hoped to bring the stimulator to market in 3 to 4 years time.