Fifteen Subjects Recruited to Bilateral Focused Ultrasound Study for Essential Tremor Pivotal Clinical Trial Sponsored by Insightec
MIAMI and HAIFA, Israel, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Insightec, a global healthcare company focused on creating the next generation of patient care, today announced that it has received FDA IDE approval to conduct a pivotal study to evaluate staged, bilateral Focused Ultrasound treatment of patients with medication-refractory Essential Tremor. Fifteen subjects have been recruited to the study to date.
Focused Ultrasound guided by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allows treating a target deep in the brain with no incisions. Insightec's Exablate Neuro Focused Ultrasound device received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval in 2016 to treat medication-refractory Essential Tremor in one hand, or unilaterally. The current clinical trial is evaluating the safety and efficacy of bilateral (both sides of the body) treatment in subjects 22 years or older with a diagnosis of medication-refractory Essential Tremor and who had unilateral Focused Ultrasound treatment at least nine months earlier.
"When Essential Tremor patients have significant tremor on both sides of their body, a staged, bilateral Focused Ultrasound procedure may offer clinical benefit. This is an important study to evaluate a second Focused Ultrasound treatment performed at least 9 months after the first arm was treated," commented Howard Eisenberg, MD, the Raymond K. Thompson, MD Chair in Neurosurgery, Professor, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Maryland School of Medicine, and neurosurgeon at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
Currently, the clinical trial (NCT04112381) is being conducted at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Virginia with additional centers planned.
"Incisionless surgery is helping people living with debilitating tremor return to a life of independence," said Maurice R. Ferré MD, Insightec CEO and Chair of the Board of Directors. "We will continue to collaborate with leading medical centers around the globe and support clinical research to expand treatment options for improved quality of life and quality of care."
Media Contact:
Lyndsay Isaksen
G&S Business Communications for Insightec
Tel.: +1 917 595 3032
E-mail: lisaksen@gscommunications.com
