Precisis, a leading med-tech innovation company, has today announced that its ground-breaking world-first minimally invasive brain pacemaker, EASEE, is now available on the NHS for drug-resistant epilepsy patients across the UK.
Over 600,000 people in the UK have focal epilepsy. Although most epilepsy patients take at least one drug to treat the symptoms, around 30% of epilepsy patients are drug resistant – either they continue to suffer from seizures or they experience severe side effects. Whilst resective brain surgery is another option – only 1% of patients are suitable for it, leaving most patients unable to access highly effective, innovative medtech treatment options.
Dr Angela Liedler, CEO of Precisis, said, “Drug-refractory patients wait, on average, 22 years before they are offered further treatment options. With EASEE, the treatment spectrum is expanded in the early phases of the disease, meaning patients are able to access effective treatment earlier in their lives.”
“EASEE is minimally invasive compared to other non-pharmacological treatment methods, and it is available for epilepsy patients over the age of 18 years.”
EASEE – Epicranial Application of Stimulation Electrodes for Epilepsy is a system for individualised brain stimulation that is anatomically precisely positioned over the epileptic focus in the brain and surgically placed just under the scalp.
Based on a dual principle of action, EASEE provides a disruptive, acute effect with high-frequency pulses every two seconds against emerging seizures and direct current-like phases applied every day for 20 minutes, which regulate over-excitable brain areas in the long term to prevent seizures.
Michael Tittelbach, Chief Technology Officer at Precisis said, “Both the proprietary design of the stimulation electrode and the unique stimulation paradigm, with two complementary therapy modes, are building blocks for our novel and innovative offering to patients suffering from drug refractory, focal epilepsy.”
Based in Heidelberg, Germany, Precisis has been developing innovative medical products since 2004 to help patients with epilepsy and other brain diseases. The safety and effectiveness of the EASEE implants has been proven in two European multi-centre studies. Precisis was also awarded the Breakthrough Device Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Innovation Award of Federal State Baden-Baden-Wurttemberg 2023 for its innovative work to help patients with focal epilepsies.