The Engineer

Funding to help develop deep brain simulation system

News

A German spin-off from Philips Research, called Sapiens Steering Brain Stimulation, has raised €13m (£11.3m) in a funding round led by Wellington Partners and Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners (EdRIP).

Additional funding was provided by Life Sciences Partners (LSP), Philips and NeuroNexus.

The funds will be used to develop Sapiens’s deep brain stimulation system and software, to validate its effectiveness and to gain regulatory approval for the system in Europe.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is applied for the treatment of essential tremor, late-stage Parkinson’s disease, dystonia and obsessive compulsive disorders and, more recently, for the treatment of epilepsy.

It is a treatment that relies on the delivery of mild electrical pulses to specific areas in the brain via implanted probes that are connected to a battery-powered implantable pulse generator.

Olivier Litzka from EdRIP said: ‘Sapiens’s solution has the potential to significantly expand the use of DBS by simplifying the surgical procedure and by greatly improving efficacy and safety. We are excited to back the development of this ambitious project.’