Project description
An implant to treat chronic pain
Following surgery, approximately 1% of patients will experience chronic pain. Current pharma treatments incur significant side effects including nausea and contribute to the opioid epidemic in the US. Chronic pain is the number one cause of long-term disability resulting in significant taxpayer costs of USD 635 billion and EUR 300 billiion to the United States and EU taxpayers respectively. The problem today is that Chronic Pain Patients are only considered for neurostimulation treatment once all other treatments fail at 5-7 years post diagnosis. The EU-funded CAPRI project will enable the universality of bioelectronics and treat the patient earlier in the pathway. The Capri device is performed under local anaesthetic and requires a single injection. Most importantly, the patient is discharged immediately after injection and self-manages at home.
Objective
Persistent postoperative chronic pain (POCP) is defined as pain lasting for two or more months after surgery, when other causes of pain are excluded, such as cancer or chronic infection. The goal of the Capri-Stim project is to develop a product to replace current pain medication and nerve block injectable approaches for chronic pain.
Capri-Stim is the only implant suitable for postoperative pain having an indwell duration of over 5 years with no side effects. Capri-Stim only requires one injection, is a low risk class 2 device, has an average selling price (ASP) of 50% less than current competitors. Capri-Stim enables the patient being discharged from the healthcare system after one visit and self managed from home. The technology is protected by 4 patent filings
Pain medication is addictive and comes with significant side effects. Nerve block injectables need to be repeated at least every 3 months and have their own significant side effects. Other technologies have attempted to replace these approaches but have all failed as they all involve significant invasive surgical procedures, are susceptible to lead migration, are too large for intramuscular placement with inaccurate placement causing reduced efficacy.
Developed in NUI-Galway, Capri-Stim is a new product and the only implant suitable for postoperative pain having an indwell
duration of over 5 years with no side effects. Capri-Stim only requires one injection, is a low risk class 2 device, has an ASP of 50% less than current competitors. Overall the Capri-Stim product means that the patient can be discharged from the healthcare system after one visit and self managed from home.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinator
D04W2K0 BALLSBRIDGE
Ireland
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.