In the News: Bionics Institute Crohn’s Disease Breakthrough

Image credit: Bionics Institute

In case you missed it: an article in The Age last month has featured the Bionic Institute’s pioneering research into vagus nerve stimulation for treating Crohn’s disease.

It continues to be exciting times for the Bionics Institute team, with an American charitable trust recently granting $4.8 million ($USD3.2 million) to advance their vagus nerve stimulation device – currently in clinical trials – and transform it into an “intelligent device that monitors inflammation and adjusts therapeutic stimulation in real time”.

The work will be led by Bionics Institute’s Professor James Fallon and Associate Professor Sophie Payne, and gives hope to the estimated 10 million people worldwide thought to have inflammatory bowel disease.

“The current version of this device is programmed to give three hours of electrical stimulation per day with the intention of keeping patients with Crohn’s disease in remission,” said Professor Fallon in a story with the Bionics Institute.

“We aim to design a new version of the device that stimulates the nerve only when inflammation is detected – essentially delivering personalised therapy.”

The news will come as an especially promising update for the 70 percent of patients with Crohn’s disease who will still experience a flare in symptoms after remission, despite advances in drug therapies.

Associate Professor Payne added: “We hope our drug-free device leads to a day when people with Crohn’s disease have better quality of life and won’t have to depend on medication or need invasive bowel surgery.”

Refer to The Age for the recent story, or check out the Bionics Institute for more details about this exciting breakthrough.