ONWARD
27.1.2021 17:02:08 CET | Business Wire | Press release
ONWARD today announced the publication of a study in the journal, Nature , which found targeted electrical spinal cord stimulation stabilizes blood pressure in people with spinal cord injury (SCI).
“A serious and underrecognized result of spinal cord injury is unstable blood pressure, which can have devastating consequences that reduce quality of life and are life threatening. Unfortunately, there are no effective therapies for unstable blood pressure after spinal cord injury,” said Dr. Aaron Phillips, PhD, a member of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and Libin Cardiovascular Institute at the Cumming School of Medicine (CSM) and co-lead author of the study. “We created the first platform to understand the mechanisms underlying blood pressure instability after spinal cord injury, which allowed us to develop a new cutting-edge solution.”
Loss of movement and sensation are the most commonly known impacts of spinal cord injury, but SCI is also frequently accompanied by other effects that challenge activities of daily living. Blood pressure instability is one such effect, making it difficult for people with SCI to change body position – moving from lying to sitting to standing. In this study, researchers from University of Calgary, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), and University Hospital Lausanne (CHUV) demonstrated they could quickly and accurately normalize blood pressure with electrical spinal cord stimulation. Stabilization was observed in rodents and non-human primates for extended periods after acute and chronic spinal cord injury, and the approach also showed promise in humans.
This research is a breakthrough in the fundamental understanding of how blood pressure regulatory circuits function in people with SCI and sets the foundation for further studies assessing the use of electrical spinal cord stimulation to regulate blood pressure and other autonomic functions in people with SCI.
“We used similar concepts and technologies to restore walking after paralysis and are now pleased to leverage those advances to address this very common but serious effect of SCI,” said Dr. Grégoire Courtine, PhD, Professor at EPFL, Director of .NeuroRestore, and co-lead author of the study. “We look forward to working with ONWARD to conduct clinical trials in humans so this approach can be translated into a viable therapeutic option for people with SCI.”
This research will be further advanced by a $36 million contract granted by the United States Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) for a five-year project to develop neurotherapeutics that bridge the gap between the spinal cord and the brain after spinal cord injury. The DARPA contract enables an alliance of 12 institutions around the world that includes EPFL, University of Calgary and ONWARD to conduct groundbreaking research in the pursuit of new therapies for spinal cord injury. DARPA has helped develop major technological advancements including the internet, GPS and Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface (SIRI.)
About ONWARD
ONWARD (@onwdempowered ), formerly known as GTX Medical, is a medical technology company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative therapies to facilitate functional recovery of people with spinal cord injury. Driven by a mission to restore movement, independence, and health in people with spinal cord injury, ONWARD’s work builds on more than a decade of basic science and preclinical research conducted at the world’s leading neuroscience laboratories. ONWARD’s ARC Therapy, which can be delivered by implantable (ARCIM ) or external (ARCEX ) systems, is designed to deliver targeted, programmed stimulation of the spinal cord to restore movement and other functions in people with spinal cord injury, ultimately improving their quality of life. Both of ONWARD’s technology platforms have been awarded Breakthrough Device Designation by the FDA.
ONWARD is headquartered at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, the Netherlands and the EPFL Innovation Park in Lausanne, Switzerland, with a growing U.S. presence in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. For additional information about the company, please visit ONWD.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn .
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210127005140/en/
Link:
About Business Wire
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
illumynt Appoints Matt Popieniuck as Vice President of Customer Success & Delivery12.8.2026 14:00:00 CEST | Press release
28-year Dell Technologies veteran, most recently leading services sustainability strategy, joins to own end-to-end program execution as illumynt scales its AI hardware lifecycle business illumynt, a technology-driven leader in AI hardware lifecycle recovery and IT asset disposition (ITAD), today announced that Matt Popieniuck has joined the company as Vice President of Customer Success & Delivery, effective August 2026. He reports to CEO Jörg Herbarth. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260812482293/en/ Matthew Popieniuck, Vice President of Customer Success and Delivery. Popieniuck joins illumynt after 28 years at Dell Technologies, where he progressed from group leadership through senior and principal program management roles before moving into services sustainability strategy. In that most recent chapter, he worked on the question now driving illumynt's market: what happens to enterprise technology after its fi
Ant Group launches AQ for Doctor, bringing an AI-powered workstation to millions of physicians12.8.2026 13:44:00 CEST | Press release
Ant Group today officially upgraded its physician platform, Haodf for Doctor, into AQ for Doctor, an AI-powered workstation designed to support physicians across every stage of clinical practice—from online consultations and patient management to clinical decision support and medical research. The platform is fully integrated with Ant Group's flagship AI health app, AQ, which serves more than 100 million users as of August 2026. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260812917154/en/ Ant Group launches AQ for Doctor, bringing an AI-powered workstation to millions of physicians. Connecting doctors and patients through one AI platform "AI will never replace doctors," said Zhang Junjie, Vice President of Ant Group and Head of the Health Business. "But AI can become a trusted assistant for healthcare professionals. Our goal is to build a reliable and practical AI workstation for China's more than five million physicians—
ITC Infotech Strengthens Strategic Tech Partnership With British American Tobacco (BAT) in New Multi-year Mandate12.8.2026 12:30:00 CEST | Press release
ITC Infotech, a leading global technology services and solutions provider, today announced a landmark multi‑year strategic technology deal with British American Tobacco (BAT). Along with BAT, ITC Infotech will accelerate the transformation of BAT’s technology landscape to drive AI-enabled innovation, strengthen skills, and improve efficiencies. In this expanded partnership, ITC Infotech will provide technology services to BAT across Poland, Romania and India. ITC Infotech will also continue to collaborate with BAT to scale capabilities at the newly launched BAT Future Capabilities Centre in India, while supporting BAT’s existing technology hubs in Malaysia and Mexico. This new strategic deal will deepen an already well-established partnership between ITC Infotech and BAT, streamlining end-to-end technology delivery and improving speed, efficiency, and service quality. As part of the deal, ITC Infotech will strengthen its footprint and onshore capabilities in Europe, which will be strat
Gen Z Spending is Expected to Reach $12 Trillion by 2030. Here's Why That Doesn't Matter as Much as Brands Think12.8.2026 12:00:00 CEST | Press release
New NIQ report reveals consumers across generations are trading up and trading down in the same shopping basket, putting new pressure on middle-market products The biggest shift in consumer spending isn't generational—it's behavioral. New research from NielsenIQ (NYSE: NIQ) finds consumers across every age group are increasingly making the same calculation: where is a premium worth paying, and where can they save money instead? The result is a growing divide between premium and value products, while traditional middle-market offerings face mounting pressure. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260812239453/en/ Every generation is spending differently, but all are weighing value more carefully The findings come from NIQ's latest global report, A Tale of Two Consumers: The Polarized Mindsets Reshaping Global Consumption, developed in collaboration with World Data Lab. While Gen X accounted for $15.2 trillion in sp
Kinguin Renews Ravelin Partnership After Cutting Ecommerce Fraud to “Industry-Leading Low”12.8.2026 11:04:00 CEST | Press release
Leading games marketplace extends AI fraud prevention deal for further three years Ravelin automates real-time fraud defenses and supports growth to over 20 million customers Kinguin, a global digital games marketplace serving more than 20 million registered users, has renewed its partnership with AI-native fraud platform Ravelin. The agreement follows significant reductions in fraud and a shift to automated, scalable fraud detection. Since first partnering in 2018, Ravelin has helped Kinguin transform its approach to payment fraud. Kinguin has eliminated the need for real-time manual reviews, while overall fraud rates have declined by 87.5%. The renewal reflects growing confidence in AI-led fraud prevention at a time when ecommerce merchants face increasingly sophisticated attacks, particularly in the digital goods space where instant delivery also means instant results for fraudsters. Kinguin is where gaming and esports fans around the world can access their favorite games, choosing
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom