pain-management
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Stratus Medical and the art of hitting a tiny nerve
A small expandable electrode is the centre of Stratus Medical’s chronic-pain business. Its story turns on a larger treatment zone, familiar equipment, and the surprisingly powerful role of an insurance policy.
The 60-Day Nerve Stimulator That Turned a Cleveland Thesis Into a $650 Million Exit
Maria Bennett noticed that an experiment built to restore movement was doing something patients valued more: easing pain. SPR spent the next 16 years turning that side effect into a temporary implant, a reimbursement machine, and a $650 million Medtronic acquisition.
How VYRSA Turned One Tiny Joint Into a $75 Million Bet
VYRSA built a three-product answer to a stubborn source of back pain, won FDA clearance for a stranger kind of implant, and sold to Nevro before its third birthday. The playbook is compact: license hard science, simplify the procedure, and let a bigger sales force carry it.
Presidio Medical, Inc.
Presidio Medical is a clinical-stage medical device company in San Mateo, California, developing a proprietary Ultra Low Frequency (ULF) neuromodulation platform. By delivering very low frequency biphasic electrical currents through leads implanted in the epidural space, Presidio's spinal cord stimulation system reversibly blocks the conduction of pain signals along nerves without damaging tissue. Its first target is chronic nociceptive low back pain, a large and underserved indication with no approved SCS therapy. Backed by Deerfield Management and others, the company raised a $72M Series C in 2023 and received FDA IDE approval in 2025 to run its global pivotal FULFILL trial.
Corganics
Corganics is a Dallas-based life sciences company that makes scientifically formulated, physician-advised clinical CBD therapies sold exclusively through licensed healthcare professionals. Its broad-spectrum, THC-free products use Advanced Lipid Technology (A.L.T.) to improve bioavailability and are manufactured in cGMP-compliant, NSF-certified facilities with third-party testing and IRB-approved data. Founded in 2020 by pharmaceutical executives Chad Collins and Reggie Gatewood, the company aims to make CBD a trusted, clinic-grade therapy rather than a retail gamble.
Novilla Pharmaceuticals
Novilla Pharmaceuticals is a Cambridge, Massachusetts biotech using a proprietary AI drug-delivery platform to redesign how established drugs reach the body. By pairing chemical-thermodynamic machine learning with deep eutectic solvents and ionic liquids, Novilla formulates non-invasive transdermal creams that concentrate a drug at its site of action while minimizing systemic exposure. Its lead candidate, NOV-1776 for gout flares, reported a 212% increase in efficacy over standard of care with under 1% systemic exposure and no GI adverse events in early human trials, positioning the company as a non-addictive alternative in pain care.
Nocion Therapeutics, Inc.
Nocion Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company in the Boston area developing a new class of small-molecule 'charged' sodium channel blockers - nocions - that selectively, locally, and durably silence overactive sensory neurons (nociceptors) without numbing everything else. Its lead candidate, taplucainium, is an inhaled powder aimed at refractory and unexplained chronic cough, with broader potential across itch, pain, and neurogenic inflammation. The science was born in the Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital labs of Bruce Bean and Clifford Woolf.