People who have been paralysed for years could be enabled to stand and walk again through revolutionary technology set to launch within the next four years – and a breakthrough in upper body movement is expected even sooner.
The groundbreaking work of ONWARD is set to deliver the long-awaited advances for people with spinal cord injury in enabling them to regain the ability of movement.
Through the development of its ARC EX and ARC IM technologies, ONWARD is committed to delivering life-changing outcomes for spinal cord injured people.
Trials of its ARC EX device got underway in the UK – at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow – United States, Canada and the Netherlands, in January, with the technology expected to be commercially available in late 2023.
An external, non-invasive platform, the ARC EX is set to deliver movement and strength in the hands and upper body of people with spinal cord injury, compared to rehabilitation training alone.
And in one of the most keenly-awaited health tech breakthroughs of recent years, its ARC IM technology – an implantable pulse generator and lead which stimulates the spinal cord and is controlled by wearable components and a smartwatch – is set to go into trials mid next year, with its commercial launch anticipated in 2024.
Alongside its potential to enable paralysed people to stand and walk again with little or no assistance, other benefits could include improvements in blood pressure regulation, sexual function, bladder and bowel control and reduction in spasticity.
“This is very real and it is happening, and we hope it will bring strength, function and meaningful quality of life to so many people,” Dave Marver, CEO of ONWARD, tells NR Times.
The technology breakthroughs come after many years of groundbreaking pre-clinical research, which led to the formation of ONWARD – formerly known as GTX Medical – in 2014 to take this forward.
Bringing together researchers and surgeons in Switzerland, working together at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) and Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), the company is backed by many of Europe’s leading life science venture capital investors in bringing its solutions to reality.
“A lot of funding has gone into this field of research and we are taking this forward to create the products which can translate into commercial reality globally,” says Dave.
“We have put together a great team to build this company, raise the capital needed to fund the trials and the R&D, and this is a very fulfilling challenge and responsibility for all of us.
“We are well on the way towards ARC EX and we have started pivotal trials at 15 sites worldwide, and we hope to launch this in late 2023.
“We know that the movement and function of the upper extremities is what people with spinal cord injury value the highest, so we are targeting that first. In the near future, that should be a reality.
“Following that will be our implant, which will help unlock more autonomous benefits. We expect the pivotal trials to begin in mid 2022 with commercialisation most likely in 2024.”
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the many challenges it has presented to global businesses, ONWARD has managed to continue with its work as planned.
“We’ve been affected like everyone else in having to work from home and close our offices, we also have a growing team and have had to bring people into the business with limited interactions, but the pandemic has not impeded us,” says Dave.
“Our vision of helping people with spinal cord injury is very unifying and we are all dedicated to trying to achieve that. We’re all highly motivated in the team, as are our research partners, and we’re working towards delivering our platforms in the very near future.”
