Brain Computer Interface Enables Thought-Controlled Walking After Spinal Cord Injury

ONWARD Medical N.V. is sharing study results that show a wireless brain-computer interface (BCI) can use thought to modulate the company’s ARC Therapy. When paired with ARC Therapy, an implanted BCI allows an individual to gain augmented control over the timing and ways in which paralyzed legs are moved, researchers report.
 
“This [study] shows the potential of ARC Therapy to be enhanced with the introduction of a BCI, facilitating more natural movement based on the thoughts of a person living with paralysis,” ONWARD CEO Dave Marver said. “We have positioned ONWARD as a leader in the BCI field with our understanding of spinal cord stimulation for people with SCI [spinal cord injury].”

The data published in Nature are part of an ongoing clinical feasibility study investigating the safety and preliminary effectiveness of brain-controlled spinal cord stimulation after SCI. The study is being coordinated by .NeuroRestore Co-Directors Grégoire Courtine and Jocelyne Bloch, a neurosurgeon at Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), as well as Guillaume Charvet, head of the Medical Device Development Lab at CEA-Leti/Clinatec.
 
“The BCI establishes a continuous link between movement intentions and spinal cord stimulation, allowing for more natural restoration of mobility,” stated Courtine, professor at EPFL and co-author of the Nature paper. “I look forward to working with the ONWARD team to advance this important new technology.”

ONWARD ARC Therapy, which can be delivered by external ARC-EX or implantable ARC-IM systems, is designed to deliver targeted, programmed spinal cord stimulation. Positive results were presented earlier this year from the company’s pivotal study, called Up-LIFT, evaluating the ability for transcutaneous ARC Therapy to improve upper extremity strength and function. The company is now preparing regulatory approval submissions for ARC-EX for the United States and Europe. In parallel, ONWARD is conducting studies with its implantable ARC-IM platform, which demonstrated positive interim clinical outcomes for improved blood pressure regulation following SCI in 2022. These studies include combination use of ARC-IM with a brain-computer interface (BCI).
 
ONWARD’s devices and therapies, including but not limited to ARC-IM, ARC-EX, and ARC Therapy, are investigational and not available for commercial use.
 
ONWARD is developing therapies to restore movement, function, and independence in people with spinal cord injury and movement disabilities. Building on more than a decade of science and preclinical research conducted at neuroscience laboratories, the company has received nine Breakthrough Device Designations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its ARC Therapy platform. Headquartered in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, ONWARD operates a Science and Engineering Center in Lausanne, Switzerland, and a U.S. office in Boston. The Company also has an academic partnership with .NeuroRestore, a collaboration between EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, and Lausanne University Hospital.