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Medtrode Inc. Wins Award as Most Promising Neurotechnology Startup

London, ON, Oct. 4 - London, ON-based Medtrode Inc. received the 2006 Gold Electrode Award as the most promising start-up firm in the neurotechnology industry at this year’s Neurotech Leaders Forum held in San Francisco on September 28-29, 2006. The conference was attended by leading academics, executives from medical device companies and investors interested in the new and exciting area of neurotechnology called neuromodulation and described plainly as the “re-wiring” of the brain.

At the forum, Dr. Souhile Assaf, president of Medtrode summarized development of a small multi-channel recording and stimulating device expected to aid in the advancement of a procedure called Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS). In Parkinson's, DBS has proven to be effective in treating the debilitating symptoms of tremors, slowness of movement and rigidity. Neuromodulation may also hold the future to improving the lives of people with other neurological disorders such as Tourette's Syndrome, depression, epilepsy and eating disorders.

The development of this neurosurgical device is a joint collaboration between Lawson Health Research Institute (Lawson), National Research Council of Canada's Integrated Manufacturing Technologies Institute (NRC-IMTI) in London, the University of Waterloo Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Medtrode Inc.

Dr. Mandar Jog, co-inventor of the technology who is also an associate professor of Neurology at Lawson and Director of the Movement Disorder Program at the London Health Sciences Centre, was also present at the awards ceremony. According to Dr. Jog, “the proposed device will carry a significantly enhanced functionality and intelligence on a much smaller and less traumatic device. Most importantly, Medtrode’s device will allow an unprecedented configurability of therapies, resulting in increased safety and therapy management, as well as operating room time savings”.

Dr. Raafat Mansour, a world renowned expert in miniaturization and micro-fabrication processes and Director of the Centre for Integrated RF Engineering at the University of Waterloo, stated, “We are happy to collaborate with Medtrode on improving the effectiveness of diagnostics and treatment through technological innovation, and are looking forward to jointly developing new solutions for the patients’ benefit”.

Dr. Souhile Assaf, a neurophysiologist and founder of Medtrode Inc. who accepted the prize commented, “We would like to express our gratitude to all people and organizations whose guidance, encouragement and support have driven the development of our company. London is already known all over the world for its contributions to neurosurgery, imaging and surgical robotics and the University of Waterloo for its outstanding engineering expertise. I am proud to be able to invest and actively participate in this development to transfer this technology from research to the marketplace”.

Peter Bruijns, the President of the Stiller Centre for Technology Commercialization, where Medtrode resides, adds: “We believe this is a great industry recognition that will encourage Medtrode and other companies in London to continue their research and development efforts towards enabling powerful medical therapies and bringing relief to people with highly debilitating medical conditions.”

The development of Medtrode’s device was partially funded by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Ontario Centres of Excellence, and Health Technology Exchange (HTX). Recently approved funding from the National Research Council’s Industrial Research Assistance Program will enable extended testing and further advance the development of the neurosurgical electrode device.

Medtrode Inc., based in London, Ontario, Canada, is a research and development stage medical device company developing products that enable site-specific delivery of electrical stimulation and therapeutic agents used to treat Parkinson’s and other neurological disorders. For more information, please contact Natalya Ioudina, Manager of Business Development at 519.858.5141 or e-mail at natalya@medtrode.com or visit www.medtrode.com.