The market for spinal cord stimulation (SCS) systems, used for treating chronic debilitating pain, is expanding relentlessly, and companies like Abbott Laboratories, Medtronic, Boston Scientific and Nevro are all vying to gain more market share with their respective technologies. At this year's annual meeting of the North American Neuromodulation Society (NANS) in Las Vegas, physicians were presented with the latest clinical evidence backing these innovations. This article looks at the overall SCS market, discusses study findings presented at NANS and the latest innovations. It also provides insights from two established pain management specialists on factors they think will drive SCS technologies forward.

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%.

This week, the Biden administration announced a new council on supply chain resilience that includes health care goals; an apparent enforcement surge against device fraud continued; Siemens won a $5.5m grant to develop a better sepsis test; and the FDA proposed new classifications for wound care products.