St Jude Medical to acquire Spinal Modulation

St Jude Medical has announced the acquisition of Spinal Modulation, a move that will expand its range of treatments for chronic pain.

The firm has exercised an exclusive option to acquire Spinal Modulation, the developer of the Axium Neurostimulator System, a dorsal root ganglion (DRG) stimulation solution that received European CE Mark approval in 2011.

This product has been shown to provide meaningful relief for patients battling chronic pain, particularly in the case of focal pain areas that are often challenging to treat using traditional spinal cord stimulation.

St Jude Medical will become the only medical device manufacturer to offer radiofrequency ablation, spinal cord stimulation and DRG stimulation therapy solutions for the treatment of chronic pain.

Michael Rousseau, chief operating officer of St Jude Medical, said: "Physicians need a range of options to effectively treat chronic pain, and our acquisition of Spinal Modulation is part of our ongoing commitment to providing physicians new and innovative therapy options."

This is the company's first acquisition since the takeover of NeuroTherm in August last year.