A University of Oxford start-up has announced the first in-human use of its intelligent bioelectrical therapy for urge and mixed urinary incontinence (UI).
Amber Therapeutics has developed the first fully implantable closed-loop bioelectrical therapy in clinical development for UI. The technology is designed to access and target the pudendal nerve, which directly controls continence, through a novel and minimally invasive surgical procedure.
The therapy, known as Amber-UI, can both directly regulate the urge to urinate and boost resistance to urine leakage caused by coughing, lifting and other stress-related actions.
So far, three participants in Amber’s clinical trial have been implanted with the therapy. According to the start-up, early indications confirming the safety and feasibility of the surgical procedure and therapy are very promising.
“Reaching this first-in-human milestone in under two years demonstrates our ability to rapidly prototype new bioelectrical therapy concepts,” says Aidan Crawley, CEO of Amber. “But what is most exciting is the potential for our UI therapy to have a radical impact on clinical outcomes not only in patients with urge UI, but also for the first time in the many more patients with mixed UI for whom no single therapy is currently available.”
Source: Cision
