A smartphone-controlled wearable therapeutic electroceutical device, Nerivio, uses the body’s endogenous pain regulation mechanism to tackle migraine pain. Nerivio, an FDA-cleared product and a drug-free alternative to traditional migraine treatments can be used for the treatment of both episodic and chronic migraine.
Established in 2016, Theranica is made up of high-flying and experienced staff, passionate about advancing digital therapeutics for idiopathic pain disorders, which usually start with migraine.
Theranica developed its flagship product, Nerivio, by combining innovative neuromodulation therapy and wireless technology.
Aside from migraine, Remote Electrical Neuromodulation (REN) can be of immense benefits to other idiopathic pain disorders, including fibromyalgia, post-surgical pain, back pain and TMJ. Theranica has unlocked one of the underlying mechanisms of pain dysregulation, and in the future, the company can expand attention to people living with other pain conditions and subsequently, bring relief just like in the case of migraine sufferers around the world.
Startup motivation
The CEO and co-founder of Theranica, Alon Ironi’s daughter was diagnosed with a migraine after suffering for almost a decade, he saw first-hand how debilitating this disorder could be. The treatments available were exclusively pharmaceutical, many of which were ineffective for her and accompanied by unpleasant side effects. Hence, coupled with his high-tech and engineering background and his experience as the CEO and co-founder of Siano Mobile Silicon, he delved into the field of migraine to try to understand why a disease so prevalent was not receiving the attention it deserved.
Impact On The Health Sector
Migraine is the third most prevalent disorder in the world, affecting roughly 1 billion people globally. Migraine and headache pain are leading causes of outpatient and emergency department visits and remain a critical public health problem, particularly among women during their reproductive years, who are often affected by migraine.
Among the migraine therapies, Nerivio is special as it offers a pharmacological, non-invasive, safe and effective alternative to medication. The therapeutic wearable device is placed on the upper arm, which adopts the REN technology to reduce pain by stimulating the brain’s endogenous pain inhibition mechanism known as Conditioned Pain Modulation (CPM). Proven clinically through numerous clinical studies and six peer-reviewed journals, Nerivio is non-inferior to prescribed medications in the market.
With the Nerivio app, users can personalize each of the treatments according to the intensity of pain. It also enables easy tracking of migraine triggers via its user-friendly migraine diary.
About The Technology at The Centre Of its Product And Service
Nerivio uses the body’s pain inhibition mechanism, the CPM responses via REN. The ‘pain inhibits pain’ means that strong but non-painful stimuli control pain in other regions of the body and have been carefully documented. It shows to be a reliable mechanism for pain reduction.
The product, Nerivio, stimulates specific nociceptors on the upper arm above their depolarization thresholds but below the perceived pain threshold. The noxious information gets to the brainstem and activates the pain inhibitory pathway. This results in the release of serotonin and noradrenalin, which inhibits the incoming messages of pain in the cervical trigeminal complex that occur during a headache of a migraine attack.
The CEO said, “Having worked in this space for about five years now, I am continuously astounded that while migraine is so common, there are many types of migraine that have yet to receive customized, tailored therapies. These patients have gone underserviced for far too long, trying multiple medications only to end up back in bed with the blinds drawn. We want to ensure that people living with all types of migraine can find a non-pharmacological alternative that fits their lifestyle.”
