3WIN NV

Article preview from Start-Up - June 1, 2011

Technology originally developed for one of the most sophisticated and advanced active implantable medical devices - cochlear implants - has been key to the development of 3WIN NV's deep brain stimulation device. The Flemish start-up's neurostimulator Synapse is designed to reduce collateral stimulation through the precise delivery of an electrical charge; as well as record the neural response to better target therapy for movement disorders.

3WIN NV

Article preview from Start-Up - June 1, 2011

"Currently, the main indication for DBS is in movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, dystonia and tremor," says CEO Nick van Ruiten, who served as CEO of cochlear-implant maker Antwerp Bionic Systems NV from 1995 to 1999 and as director of European business development for neurostimulation at Advanced Bionics Corp. from 2001 to 2003.

3WIN's target market is patients who no longer can be effectively treated with medication. For movement disorders (of which Parkinson's is the largest share), this currently represents roughly a $100 to $120 million market in Europe alone. The market for DBS is also expected to continue to grow through the adoption of new indications currently in clinical research.

"We have the potential of applying current steering, which tries to control the electrical field to the target in the brain," explains Chief Technology Officer Stefaan Peeters, a professor of medical electronics at the University of Antwerp, who co-founded Antwerp Bionic Systems in 1989 as a natural progression of his research on cochlear implants at the university. (Antwerp Bionic Systems was acquired by Cochlear Corp. in 2000.) Furthermore, the internal recording system of Synapse "allows for recording of several different points, including electrical fields along the electrode and neural responses on the stimulation pattern, which can be transmitted to the clinician for fine-tuning of the desired stimulation patterns. To be able to determine exactly where you are stimulating and how efficiently you are stimulating helps to reduce side effects significantly. By reducing side effects, our technology becomes available for a much larger market like depression."

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