While demand for spinal cord stimulation (SCS) devices used in pain management continues to expand at double-digit rates, a small but growing number of highly innovative companies that develop stimulators to specifically target peripheral nerve pain is creating excitement among pain doctors looking for better options to treat an intractable population that's seen little success with standard therapy. With millions of people worldwide suffering from low back pain, severe headaches and migraines, neck pain and other chronic pain, the demand for safe, effective, percutaneously-placed devices remains high. In this article, we'll highlight emerging companies working on PNS devices and provide insights from pain physicians on the pros and cons of these devices.

Mainstay Medical has sold its first ReActiv8 neurostimulator implant in Germany. The implant was performed by an orthopedic surgeon at the Catholic Hospital Koblenz-Montabaur in Koblenz, Germany.

A start-up developing a neurostimulation system that could help restore movement over paralyzed limbs has bagged €26m ($29.4m) in a venture financing round, the largest device-related series A of 2016 so far.