Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Bioelectronic medicines: a research roadmap

  • Comment
  • Published:

From Nature Reviews Drug Discovery

View current issue Sign up to alerts

Realizing the vision of a new class of medicines based on modulating the electrical signalling patterns of the peripheral nervous system needs a firm research foundation. Here, an interdisciplinary community puts forward a research roadmap for the next 5 years.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Famm, K. et al. A jump start for electroceuticals. Nature 496, 159–161 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Gassler, J. P. & Bisognano, J. D. Baroreflex activation therapy in hypertension. J. Hum. Hypertens. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2013.139 (2014).

  3. Strollo, P. J. Jr et al. Upper-airway stimulation for obstructive sleep apnea. N. Engl. J. Med. 370, 139–149 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Alivisatos, A. P. et al. Nanotools for neuroscience and brain activity mapping. ACS Nano. 7, 1850–1866 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Marblestone, A. H. et al. Physical principles for scalable neural recording. Front. Comput. Neurosci. 7, 137 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The views and opinions contained in this article are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official views or policies, either expressed or implied, of the US National Institutes of Health. Douglas Weber, Ph.D., is a Program Manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Biological Technologies Office (BTO). DARPA has approved this article for public release, and distribution is unlimited. The views, opinions, and/or findings contained in this article/presentation are those of the author(s)/presenter(s) and should not be interpreted as representing the official views or policies, either expressed or implied, of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or the US Department of Defense.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bioelectronics R&D, GlaxoSmithKline, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, SG1 2NY, UK

    Karen Birmingham & Kristoffer Famm

  2. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, 91125, California, USA

    Viviana Gradinaru

  3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts, USA

    Polina Anikeeva

  4. Duke University, Durham, 27708-0281, North Carolina, USA

    Warren M. Grill

  5. Huntington Medical Research Institutes, Pasadena, 91105, California, USA

    Victor Pikov

  6. The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts, USA

    Bryan McLaughlin

  7. Johns Hopkins Center for Neurogastroenterology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Ross 958, Baltimore, 21205, Maryland, USA

    Pankaj Pasricha

  8. Biological Technology Office, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, 22203, Virginia, USA

    Douglas Weber

  9. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, North Bethesda, 20852, Maryland, USA

    Kip Ludwig

Authors
  1. Karen Birmingham
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Viviana Gradinaru
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Polina Anikeeva
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Warren M. Grill
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Victor Pikov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Bryan McLaughlin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Pankaj Pasricha
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Douglas Weber
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Kip Ludwig
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Kristoffer Famm
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kristoffer Famm.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

K.B. and K.F. are presently employees of GlaxoSmithKline, as indicated in the affiliations.

V.G. is a co-founder of Circuit Therapeutics and holds related intellectual property and stock (less than 5%). At the time of writing, V.G. receives no research funding, royalties, or consultant fees from any for-profit organization.

P.A. is sponsored by Charles Stark Draper Laboratory.

W.M.G. receives funding through GlaxoSmithKline's Bioelectronics R&D programme and research support from Medtronic, Stryker and Ethicon. He holds equity positions in NDI Medical, SPR Therapeutics and Deep Brain Innovations, and is a paid consultant for Autonomic Technologies, Circuit Therapeutics, NeuroAccess Technologies, NeuroTronik, NDI Medical, SetPoint Medical and St. Jude Medical.

V.P. is a paid Consultant to GlaxoSmithKline, Bioelectronics R&D and receives funding through GlaxoSmithKline's Bioelectronics R&D programme.

B.M. is a paid consultant to GlaxoSmithKline.

P.P. receives funding through GlaxoSmithKline's Bioelectronics R&D programme and is a co-founder of Enterowave, Enterx, gIQ. He has several patents in the field of electrical stimulation in various stages of being licensed to different companies.

Supplementary information

Supplementary information S1 (box)

Bioelectronic medicines: the detailed research roadmap (PDF 305 kb)

Related links

Related links

FURTHER INFORMATION

Bioelectronics R&D — Million Dollar Innovation Challenge (GlaxoSmithKline)

NIH BRAIN Working Group (interim report; 16 Sep 2013)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Birmingham, K., Gradinaru, V., Anikeeva, P. et al. Bioelectronic medicines: a research roadmap. Nat Rev Drug Discov 13, 399–400 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd4351

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd4351

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation