by Marci E. Hersh

Case Western Reserve University will head a partnership of the world's leading centers of research dedicated to the commercialization of neurostimulation technologies that address critical neurological disorders.

The Ohio Neurostimulation and Neuromodulation Partnership (ONNP) is an alliance between the university, MetroHealth Medical Center, the Cleveland VA Medical Center, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, University Hospitals of Cleveland, and industrial partners led by NDI Medical, an early stage, Cleveland-based neurological medical device start-up company. ONNP aims to commercialize Ohio's extraordinary findings and technologies in neurostimulation for the global market.

P. Hunter Peckham

"There is a worldwide revolution in electronic medicine and this group has identified significant market opportunities for specific clinical applications of neurostimulation," said P. Hunter Peckham, CWRU professor of biomedical engineering and orthopedics at Case Western Reserve University, director and research scientist of the Cleveland Functional Electrical Stimulation Center of Excellence (FES) at the Cleveland VA Medical Center, and director of the Orthopaedic Research and Rehabilitation Engineering Center at MetroHealth Medical Center.

"ONNP will leverage the research activities at our collaborating academic and clinical institutions to develop products to meet these and future needs," he added.

Peckham is known throughout the world for his research in the utilization of functional electrical stimulation (FES) to restore hand/arm control technique to individuals of high-level spinal cord injury (quadriplegia). Investigators at CWRU and affiliates also pioneered the use of electrical stimulation for walking. The innovative device that is enabling actor Christopher Reeve, paralyzed in a horseback riding accident eight years ago, to breathe periodically on his own was recently developed at the Cleveland VA Medical Center, CWRU, and University Hospitals of Cleveland.

"Mr. Reeve is just one example of how this new electronic medical technology can be life-altering when it is successfully implanted into a patient who depends on a ventilator to breathe. The partnership is poised to bring solutions of that magnitude to a broad population of patients in great need and we are honored to receive this generous funding from the State of Ohio."

"ONNP will create a substantial business sector in Ohio centered on the development, manufacturing, and sales of implantable medical devices," he said. "These products will have direct health care benefits to people all over the world suffering from neurological disorders, diseases, and injuries such as urinary incontinence, pain, obstructive sleep apnea, and paralysis, and will bring new cutting-edge neurostimulation applications," he added.

Internationally, the market for neurological and neurostimulation products are growing.

"The ONNP collaborating institutions are at the forefront of the basic and applied research in this high tech field and support from the state of Ohio will enable this world-renown team to develop commercial neurostimulation technologies in Ohio, enhance existing industrial partnerships in the state, and carry welcomed new technology to a community of patients around the globe," Peckham said. "This kind of cutting-edge, new technology holds enormous potential for commercialization and for bettering patients' lives."

 

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