Eindhoven, the Netherlands–based Onward designed ARC-BCI to restore lower limb mobility after spinal cord injury (SCI). The BCI offering combines the ARC-IM stimulator implant with the WImagine BCI from CEA-Clinatec. Onward reported the first human implant of the BCI offering nearly a year ago.
Since that first implant, the company has made significant progress with its BCI. The company won FDA breakthrough device designation for the technology in February. Then, in March, the FDA accepted the BCI into its new Total Product Lifecycle Advisory Program (TAP). Earlier this month, Onward received a grant from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation to support an ongoing BCI study.
This latest implant — performed by Dr. Jocelyne Bloch in Lausanne, Switzerland — took place on Sept. 12. Bloch performed the first two procedures as well.
“The procedure went smoothly, and early signs are encouraging,” said Bloch, head of functional neurosurgery at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) in Lausanne. “We look forward to sharing more information in the coming months as the participant progresses in their rehabilitation and we publish observations from the study.”
The implant took place as part of an ongoing clinical feasibility study coordinated by NeuroRestore. Researchers are also exploring the use of the BCI to address upper limb movement challenges with the Reeve grant.
“While other companies race to develop BCIs to communicate with and control computers, Onward Medical stands alone in our commitment to exploring the potential for this promising technology to restore movement of the human body after paralysis,” said Dave Marver, CEO of Onward Medical. “We salute our brilliant partners at CEA-Clinatec and NeuroRestore for their important contributions to this research.
BCI is an exciting space with a number of entrants vying for the top spot. (MassDevice has published lists of some of the top companies to look out for in the space in 2022, 2023 and 2024.)
