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Biotech / Medical : Future Medical Device Companies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: dr.praveen who wrote (1)	6/10/2006 9:39:57 PM
From: dr.praveen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 136

Northstar Neuroscience is a medical device company committed to providing neurostimulation therapies for people who suffer from stroke and other neurological disorders. Our mission is to improve function and quality of life for patients. The company's innovative technology is designed to deliver targeted electrical stimulation to the outermost layer of the brain, called the cortex, in a process referred to as cortical stimulation. The company’s initial product, the Northstar Stroke Recovery System*, is designed to enhance recovery of hand and arm motor function in patients who have suffered a stroke. According to the American Stroke Association, there are over 5.5 million stroke survivors in the United States, of which approximately half suffer from hand or arm motor impairment. Currently there are few, if any, effective therapies for these patients. We believe our cortical stimulation therapy for stroke motor recovery enhances neuroplasticity, a natural process by which existing neurons and alternate neural pathways in remaining healthy brain tissue assume some of the capabilities previously controlled by the parts of the brain damaged by a stroke. Even with the help of traditional rehabilitative therapy, however, gains in motor function generally plateau within approximately three months after a stroke, and many stroke survivors achieve only limited recovery of motor function. Our initial research, including two clinical feasibility studies, has shown that cortical stimulation, in conjunction with intensive rehabilitative therapy, may meaningfully enhance motor function beyond natural recovery, even in stroke survivors who receive our therapy several years after their strokes. Northstar is also studying therapeutic applications for other neurological conditions including stroke-related aphasia (an impaired ability to speak) and tinnitus (a chronic, often intense, ringing in the ears that can be severely disabling). Website: northstarneuro.com