Neurotech Overcoming Human Limits

Image credit: Adam Glanzman/Synchron

Developing neurotech which overcomes the limitations of the human body: such are the audacious goals of Dr Tom Oxley, Australian co-founder of medtech pioneer, Syncron.

In an interview this month with Medical Design & Outsourcing, Dr Oxley shared his thoughts on the rapidly growing field of neurointervention.

“What we’re building is an interventional, blood-vessel-based product that can sense or stimulate in all areas of the brain,” Dr Oxley told Medical Design & Outsourcing about the Stentrode device.

“We think there’s a wide range of ways that can be applied, but our mission right now — the shorter-term mission — is to be the first to commercialize a brain-computer interface for motor impairment to help millions of people who are not able to access any treatment.”

Watching a patient have their Stentrode system activated for the first time, Dr Oxley said the moment was a key motivator for the Syncron team.

“They make a selection on the screen and their faces light up, they smile, they look at their wife… it’s this most incredible moment,” Oxley said.

“They have restored connection with their family. We feel like we’ve just given them back some element of agency.”

The system has been granted breakthrough device designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a first for the FDA’s investigational device exemption for any company assessing a permanently-implanted brain-computer interface.

Check out the full interview via Medical Design & Outsourcing.