Upgrade Your Medicine : Introduction

“Upgrade your medicine.” That could be the tagline for any of the new companies competing in the nascent field of bioelectric medicine. At a high level, bioelectric medicine seems like a concept pulled right from Dr. McCoy’s Star Trek sick bay: the implant can be smaller than a penny, doctors are able to customize the dosage size and frequency to a patient’s needs, and manufacturers can make updates wirelessly to improve and maintain the device’s performance. This article is a technical primer on the subject; stay tuned for the four-part series Upgrade Your Medicine for a deep dive .

Biolelectric medicine centers around two fundamental physiological concepts: all major organs of the body are controlled by nerves, and nerves are activated and controlled by electrical signals. Building from these concepts, scientists are researching ways to use electricity to manage and treat diseases. The use of electricity in medical technology is already well-established, including the well-known application of pacemakers. Pacemakers work because the timing of a heartbeat is directed by an electrical signal originating near the heart. Pacemakers are inserted near this nerve cluster and directly regulate electrical signalling to the heart to adjust the timing of a heartbeat.

The next generation of bioelectric medicine is poised to extend the impact of this approach to a wide range of diseases by leveraging advances in miniaturization and precision of electronic components. One company, Setpoint Medical, is using bioelectric medicine to address autoimmune disorders by interacting with a physiological mechanism called the inflammatory reflex.

The inflammatory reflex is the body’s natural response to injury and infection (think of the redness, swelling, and heat that characterizes a bruise or laceration) and it works by initiating a cascade of molecules that help to contain and repair the problem. In certain diseases, specifically autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis, this pathway is overactive and poorly controlled which results in the body’s immune system attacking itself. Autoimmune disease is in the crosshairs of the next application of bioelectric medicine, and the therapy has been shown to be successful in multiple human trials.

Setpoint Medical’s approach uses a small electronic stimulator implanted directly on the vagus nerve in the neck. This stimulator applies a precise dose of electrical stimulation, similar to the amount of current in a hearing aid, to the vagus nerve. The appropriate dosage, applied a few times each day, has been shown to significantly reduce the body’s inflammatory response.

Bioelectric medicine has the potential to revolutionize how physical health is measured and managed. The four-part series Upgrade Your Medicine will explore

• The technical details and theoretical background of bioelectric medicine

• The companies leading the charge in this new approach and the institutions that are financing them

• The macro environment for the platform including regulatory and commercial atmosphere

• What could go wrong in the market

Stay tuned!