Neurent Medical
An Innovative Non-surgical Intervention for Chronic Inflammatory Sino-nasal Diseases

A COVID-19 certainly will not be the last pandemic we face as our lifestyles are the perfect breeding grounds for infectious diseases. COVID-19 has exposed many vulnerabilities in our global healthcare infrastructure. Still, at the same time, it has sparked extraordinary amounts of creativity in almost every industry.

Modern healthcare organizations must take quick action to radically reimagine the environment, the patient experience, interfaces, and partnerships with other healthcare professionals. Med-tech firms must build more agile systems, reducing time to market, and aim for user-centric product design and production. Beyond their immediate crisis response, medtech companies should consider stress-testing their operational models under various scenarios and identifying the most challenging risks and opportunity areas. This will inform significant initiatives to strengthen operations and business resilience.

If there’s one thing companies have learned since the viral outbreak, then it is to expect the unexpected. For the Medtech industry, sourcing and acquiring an adequate supply of critical instruments in a potential pandemic is vital. This is to be considered along with a plan to diversify supplies if demand drops unexpectedly and without notice. Although uncertainties will force businesses to make difficult operational decisions, this is an opportunity for all companies to demonstrate their ideals. Agile firms will respond with innovative technologies, programs, and business models that help healthcare providers and the people they represent today and in the future. It is the best approach businesses should take to prepare a business for future growth.

However, finding the correct data to implement innovative business growth can be extremely difficult. With COVID-19 presenting massive roadblocks, new solutions to pivot towards have never been more critical. At Neurent Medical, the clinical team is dedicated to developing highly innovative non-surgical interventions that treat chronic inflammatory Sino-Nasal diseases.

Approximately one in four Americans can suffer from chronic rhinitis, a common condition that results in persistent symptoms including congestion, rhinorrhea, sneezing, and nasal itching. Chronic rhinitis significantly decreases the quality of life and can harm sleep quality, mood, and regular movements.

The conventional rhinitis patient journey is often full of frustration due to a lack of treatment options. Chronic rhinitis patients are treated with repeated prescribed medications, steroid sprays, decongestant sprays, and oral or nasal antihistamines. In addition to the costly expense, excessive use of the remedies can cause damage to nasal and bodily tissues, can cause medication dependencies and exacerbated symptoms.

Neuromark system is utilized for chronic rhinitis designed to comfortably and safely disrupt hyperactive parasympathetic nerves that drive the underlying inflammation

People using invasive surgical procedures and existing in-office interventions have mixed outcomes, along with the potential for postoperative complications and pain.

“There are two vital components to a successful business: an innovative solution to an unmet need, and a motivated team that is focused on fulfilling that need,” adds Brian Shields, CEO, and co-founder of Neurent Medical. The company targets the two million patients of ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialists in the United States for whom drug therapy to manage the condition is not working. They developed a device that precisely applies low power radiofrequency energy to hyperactive nerves in the nose to halt the inflammatory response that leads to rhinitis or chronic runny nose.

Neurent Medical’s proprietary Rhinitis Neurolysis Therapy is an advanced procedure designed to treat symptoms of chronic rhinitis safely and effectively in the ENT physician’s office with a high degree of patient comfort. NEUROMARK System is utilized for chronic rhinitis designed to comfortably and safely disrupt hyperactive parasympathetic nerves that drive the underlying inflammation. The system is engineered to seamlessly apply controlled low-power Radio Frequency (RF) energy to target nasal cavity regions, disrupt the parasympathetic nerve signals, and halt the inflammatory response, thereby eliminating core symptoms such as congestion and rhinorrhea. By proprietary algorithms and biofeedback monitoring features, the intelligent system precisely delivers energy to the target nerve-dense region while restricting energy, minimizing damage to surrounding tissue, and improving patient comfort.

A company that employs 14 people in Galway recruits almost double that number to more than 25 by end-summer. It expects to employ more than 50 people by 2023. Neurent has managed to secure €2.8 million in grant aid from the Government to use in the latest round to look at the potential of its platform in treating sinusitis, another central condition in the ENT area. The company also raised €9.3 million in 2018 to develop its device and put it through the clinical testing required ahead of regulatory approval.

While the COVID-19 outbreak is an overwhelming humanitarian crisis, it also presents an opportunity for reform in healthcare delivery. It is essential more than ever for forward-looking companies like Neurent Medical to reimagine the system, patient journeys, interfaces, and relationships with healthcare providers. These steps include building more agile organizations, speeding time to market, and aspiring to “absolute benchmarks” for product design and development and manufacturing efficiency. As services, case volumes, and medtech operations stabilize, the industry and its participants will be challenged to fundamentally rethink their business and operating models to adapt to future healthcare needs.