21 FEB 2017: Valley View, OH – Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies (GLNT) has recently received two Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) tuning patents. DBS is used on patients with Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders to help mitigate their symptoms. Tuning is the process in which the electrode choices and currents are evaluated and modified to improve the patient’s symptoms, reduce power consumption to lengthen battery life, and make sure that the DBS system is performing at its best.
GLNT has recently been informed that Patent Application 13/153,063, Method and system for tuning of movement disorder therapy devices, received a Notice of Allowance. The patent application describes the use of a small, light-weight sensor with an accelerometer and/or gyroscope used to quantify and alleviate the motor symptom.
In December, GLNT was awarded Patent 9,522,278 (Movement Disorder Therapy System and Methods of Tuning Remotely, Intelligently and/or Automatically) from the US Patent Office. This was the seventh patent awarded to the company in 2016, concluding an extremely successful year. The issued patent covers methods for using objective quantified symptom data and/or clinician ratings to create visualization maps to assist with adjusting DBS for movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. The visualization maps depict DBS amplitude and other stimulation parameters along with symptom severity scores to provide a straightforward method for a clinician determine optimal DBS settings.
GLNT commercialized Kinesia™ [ https://www.glneurotech.com/kinesia ] technology to provide wearable, objective and automated assessment of movement disorder symptoms. The objective Kinesia™ assessment and DBS visualization tools have been integrated in GLNT’s Kinesia™ ProView™ platform. “As more and more patients receive DBS therapy and DBS platforms permit increasingly complex stimulation options, objective tools to assist in the programming process are necessary,” says Dustin Heldman, PhD, Director of Biomedical Research. “The visualization maps will help clinicians more quickly and reliably identify an optimal set of programming parameters that minimize symptom severities, side-effects, and battery usage.”
GLNT has experienced substantial intellectual property growth in the past few years. “These patents provide additional coverage for GLNT’s mapping software for DBS therapy titration that significantly reduces the symptom severity of the Parkinson’s patient while increasing battery life of the stimulator,” says Brian Kolkowski, PhD, VP and General Counsel. “The mapping software uses either manual symptom measurement or GLNT’s ProView™ product line that includes quick, reproducible and highly accurate sensor based scoring. This, along with GLNT’s other recently issued patents, solidifies the company as the leader in the field of objective movement disorder assessment.”
About Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies
Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies is committed to pioneering innovative biomedical technologies to serve research, education, and medical communities, improving access to medical technology for diverse populations, and positively impacting quality of life for people around the world.
Media Contacts
Robert N. Schmidt, CEO, 216-374-7237 – rschmidt@GLNeuroTech.com