ONWARD Medical and Partners Awarded Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation Grant to Further Study Brain-Computer Interface System

Grant will enable ONWARD Medical, CEA-Clinatec and .NeuroRestore to evaluate the use of the ONWARD ARC-BCI System to restore thought-driven movement of the hands and arms after spinal cord injury (SCI)

EINDHOVEN, the Netherlands, Sept. 03, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ONWARD Medical N.V. (Euronext: ONWD), the medical technology company creating innovative spinal cord stimulation therapies to restore movement, function, and independence in people with spinal cord injury (SCI), today announces a grant from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation to support expansion of an ongoing early clinical feasibility study to explore the use of a brain-computer interface (BCI) to restore thought-driven use of the hands and arms after SCI.

The ongoing early feasibility clinical study is also supported by the European Innovation Council under the Reverse Paralysis project. The first study participant was implanted with the investigational ARC-BCI System in August 2023. The Reeve Foundation’s $1.1 million grant to study sponsor and ONWARD Medical research partner, .NeuroRestore, enables up to four additional participants to be implanted with the ONWARD ARC-BCI System.

.NeuroRestore is a collaboration between the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) and Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and key research partner to ONWARD Medical.

“While other companies are using BCI technology to interface with computers, ONWARD is leading the pursuit of BCI-augmented movement restoration,” said ONWARD Medical CEO Dave Marver. “We are grateful to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation for its support, which enables us to expand this important study.”

“This grant reflects our vision to facilitate rapid scientific advancement to address the unmet needs of individuals living with SCI,” said Marco Baptista, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. “We look forward to working with ONWARD Medical in learning more about the potential for BCI technology to meet those challenges.”

The ARC-BCI System combines the investigational WIMAGINE BCI from CEA-Clinatec with investigational ONWARD ARC-IM Therapy (implanted targeted spinal cord stimulation) to form a DigitalBridge that enables thought-driven movement restoration. The WIMAGINE BCI is an epidural implant with 7 years of human safety data and ONWARD ARC-IM Therapy has been applied in more than 30 study participants. ONWARD Medical is also investigating the use of its ARC-BCI System to address lower limb mobility challenges after SCI in a separate early feasibility clinical study.