ONWARD Medical awarded USD 1.1 million by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation

ONWARD Medical has secured a USD 1.1 million grant from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation to further develop its ARC-BCI system, which aims to restore thought-controlled movement to people with spinal cord injuries.

ONWARD Medical, a medical device company focused on spinal cord stimulation therapies, has been awarded a USD 1.1 million grant from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. The funding will support the development and evaluation of the ONWARD ARC-BCI™ System, which is designed to restore movement through brain-computer interface (BCI) technology, with a focus on improving hand and arm function for people with spinal cord injuries (SCI).

This grant will allow ONWARD Medical, in collaboration with CEA-Clinatec and .NeuroRestore, to expand its ongoing clinical trial by implanting the ARC-BCI system in four additional participants. This innovative system combines ONWARD’s ARC-IM therapy with CEA-Clinatec’s investigational WIMAGINE® BCI to form a DigitalBridge™ that enables thought-driven control of movement. Both technologies have shown promising results in previous studies, including the first-in-human use of ARC-IM paired with BCI technology that resulted in an individual regaining control of his paralyzed legs. The results of this study were published in the May 2023 issue of Nature.

“This grant will enable us to further explore the potential of ARC-BCI to restore independence to individuals with spinal cord injuries,” said Dave Marver, CEO of ONWARD Medical. “We are grateful to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation for their support and look forward to continuing our work with CEA-Clinatec and .NeuroRestore to advance this life-changing technology.”

The ARC-BCI system builds on ONWARD’s broader ARC Therapy platform, which uses targeted spinal cord stimulation to improve movement and function. The platform includes both external (ARC-EX®) and implantable (ARC-IM®) systems designed to improve mobility for people with SCI. Earlier this year, ONWARD was accepted into the US FDA’s Total Product Lifecycle Advisory Program (TAP) for its ARC-BCI platform, which has also received Breakthrough Device Designation (BDD) from the FDA.

Headquartered in Eindhoven (Netherlands), ONWARD Medical maintains a Science and Engineering Center in Lausanne (canton of Vaud), where the company collaborates with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) and Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), securing multiple rounds of significant funding, including EUR 20 million earlier in 2024 to expand its spinal cord injury therapies.