LONDON – Three patients with complete spinal cord injury are able to walk independently after having specialized electrodes implanted below their lesions. The details were published in Nature Medicine on Feb. 7. This is a significant new milestone for the researchers at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, who in 2018 delivered proof that electrical stimulation can reactivate spinal neurons, in that case in three patients with partial spinal cord injury. “Here for the first time, we have developed purpose-made technology in order to precisely stimulate the spinal cord to restore movement after paralysis,” said Gregoire Courtine, professor of spinal cord repair at EPFL.
PARIS – Two months after successfully listing on Euronext Brussels and Euronext Amsterdam stock exchanges, raising nearly $100 million, Onward Medical NV reported completion of enrollment in its Up-LIFT study on its noninvasive electrical spinal cord stimulation, called Arc therapy.
Onward NV secured $32 million in a new financing round led by Invest-NL and Olympic Investments. All the company’s existing investors also participated in the round, including medical technology investors LSP, Inkef Capital, Gimv, and Wellington Partners. The new funds will support Eindhoven, Netherlands-based Onward's development and commercialization of its Arc-Im and Arc-Ex spinal cord systems, designed to provide targeted spinal cord stimulation to help people with spinal cord injuries regain movement and independence.
