Medtronic's epilepsy "brain pacemaker" meets early trial:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Medtronic's epilepsy "brain pacemaker" for reducing seizures in patients with a difficult-to-treat form of the condition could become commercially available in the US in 2008, said the company, which noted that its pivotal clinical trial for the device - called Intercept - had met an early milestone. Some 15 sites in the US are participating in the study and over half of all patients needed to complete the trial are already enrolled. Medtronic said that epilepsy has been estimated to affect 2.7 million people in the US and 50 million individuals worldwide. Despite trying a range of treatment options, around one-third of patients continue to experience debilitating, recurring seizures or brief periods of abnormal electrical activity in the brain.