Back Pain Company Raises $30 Million (written by Biloine Young @ OTW)
Spinal Modulation, Inc., a developer of an implantable spinal cord stimulator system has just completed a $30 million Series D financing to fund U.S. and international clinical trials. Spinal Modulation’s product is, essentially, a pacemaker that delivers programmable amounts of electricity to a patient’s spinal cord and, in the process, relieves back pain. The device uses wires connected to an electrode which is implanted into the back or belly of the patient. The electrodes are positioned on the spinal cord, according to company spokesman Dimas Jimenez. Jimenez estimates the world-wide market for pain-modulating devices of this sort could eventually rise to somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.5 billion dollars. Nice neighborhood.The system is presently in clinical trials in Europe and Australia. If all goes as planned, Spinal Modulation’s management hopes to receive permission to sell in Europe this year and to begin a clinical trial in the United States in 2012.
Investors in Spinal Modulation include Medtronic, Inc. DeNovo Ventures, ePlanet /DFJ, InCube Ventures, Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (JJDC), Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, MedVenture Associates, and Raffles Venture Partners.
David Wood, president and CEO of Spinal Modulation, said, “We are encouraged by the early clinical results with our fully implantable system and look forward to providing physicians new options to care for their patients suffering from chronic pain.”
Mir Imran, Spinal Modulation’s founder and chairman, commented, “Spinal Modulation has made significant progress in the development of the company’s technology. I am confident that the company’s commitment to excellence in clinical research will lead to additional tools for the treatment of chronic pain.”
Spinal Modulation, headquartered in Menlo Park, California, is an early stage, privately held medical device company developing the next generation spinal cord stimulator system for the treatment of chronic pain. Spinal Modulation has completed development of its first fully implantable spinal cord stimulation system for the treatment of chronic pain.