As public-health officials continue to fight the opioid epidemic, a top executive at St. Jude Medical says neuromodulators can play a central role in providing better treatment options.

In the $3.2 billion market for neuromodulation devices, competition is heating up in the spinal cord stimulation (SCS) segment as device manufacturers armed with new clinical trial data and next-generation technologies disrupt the status quo of standard tonic SCS systems and begin to expand the market, shift market share and boost the revenues of companies both large and small. Innovation is fueling healthy growth in this market, particularly in the US, where the market is projected to grow from around $1.13 billion in 2014 to almost $1.62 billion in 2019, a CAGR of 7.5%.

In the market for neuromodulation devices, the largest opportunity is in the treatment of chronic pain, a condition that affects more than 1.5 billion people worldwide. Innovation is driving growth in this sector as companies develop next-generation neuromodulation technologies designed to improve outcomes, and resolve some of the problems with existing devices; these technologies will significantly expand the treatable population, and will allow companies both large and small to capture market share based on device efficacy and the strength of clinical evidence.