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- 12/13/2017

Approved a deep brain stimulation system to treat patients with Parkinson’s disease

Pharma Horizon

Boston Scientific Corp. had its share boosting early this week, after it has announced that U.S. regulators have approved its Vercise Deep Brain Stimulation System to treat patients with Parkinson’s disease

The device according to a US clinical trials will  help improve the number of waking hours per day in patients with the disease, while in another study in Europe, it helped patients achieve a 63 percent improvement in motor function over the course of a year, as measured by a common rating system to measure severity of Parkinson’s disease.

Dr. Jerry Vitek, a professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School who was the principal investigator for the U.S. study of the device, in a statement. said “This system provides an ability to sculpt the current field in the DBS target using novel technology that offers flexibility in programming. This flexibility allows us to target different regions of the subthalamic nucleus, which we believe will improve outcomes while reducing side effects.”

Boston Scientific Corp.  is also testing the device for effectiveness in patients recovering from a stroke and those with Alzheimer’s disease. The global market for deep brain stimulation devices is estimated at around $750 million, but could grow to several billion over the next several years.

 

Read further: Boston Business Journal