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ARC Therapy (ARC-EX / ARC-IM / ARC-BCI)ONWARD Medical—

ARC Therapy (ARC-EX / ARC-IM / ARC-BCI)

by ONWARD MedicalNLCH

ScalingStage 5 of 5

ARC-EX sold in the US after FDA authorization; implant and brain-linked versions in trials.

Updated 17 Oct 2025Checked 25 Sep0 updates this week

Milestones

Next · ARC-IM main-trial development
  1. Walking via brain-spine link (Nature)May 2023Complete.
  2. FDA authorizes ARC-EXDec 2024Complete.
  3. ARC-EX US launch2025Complete.
  4. ARC-IM main-trial developmentNowCurrent milestone.

Most important updates

  • 17 Oct 2025
  • 19 Dec 2024
  • 20 May 2024
  • 24 May 2023
  • 31 Oct 2018

Upcoming

  1. Nov 2026Empower BP pivotal study of ARC-IM for blood pressure (NCT07147296) primary completion, per trial registryin about 3 weeks (next)

Current obstacles

  • Results vary a lotBenefit depends on how many spinal connections survive and on hard rehab, so results differ widely.

Physics limits

  • It needs surviving nerve fibresStimulation amplifies connections that cross the injury. Where no fibres survive, the brain's commands have no path through, however the cord is stimulated.
  • Skin pads can't aim preciselyCurrent from skin electrodes spreads widely through tissue before reaching the cord, so it can't target individual nerve roots as finely as an implant.
  • Without a brain link, it can't know intentStimulation alone doesn't know when the person wants to move; precise, natural timing needs a decoder, which adds brain surgery.

How it works

3 parts
X-ray of a paddle of stimulating electrodes lying on the spinal cord (a pain-therapy device): ARC-IM places a similar paddle
X-ray of a paddle of stimulating electrodes lying on the spinal cord (a pain-therapy device): ARC-IM places a similar paddlePhoto: Marclackey · CC BY-SA 3.0 (opens commons.wikimedia.org)
Injury

Some wiring survives

Most spinal injuries leave some nerve fibres intact, but the brain's signals arriving through them are too weak to move muscles.

Boost

Pulses raise the cord's readiness

Timed pulses to the cord below the injury, from skin pads (ARC-EX) or an implant (ARC-IM), make spinal circuits respond to those weak signals.

Link

Brain-controlled timing

In ARC-BCI, a brain implant decodes the intent to move and triggers the matching stimulation, a digital bridge across the injury.

Papers & demos

1 item
  1. May 2023paper
    Walking naturally after spinal cord injury using a brain-spine interface (Nature) (opens nature.com)A paralyzed man walked naturally again when a brain implant was linked to spinal stimulation.

Update log

7 updates

Fri 17 Oct 2025

  • Major: RegulatorTest

Thu 19 Dec 2024

  • Major: PressRegulatory

Mon 20 May 2024

  • Major: PaperTest

Mon 6 Nov 2023

  • Minor: PaperResearch

Wed 24 May 2023

  • Major: PaperResearch

Wed 9 Nov 2022

  • Minor: PaperResearch

Wed 31 Oct 2018

  • Major: PaperResearch

About ONWARD Medical

The team behind ARC Therapy (ARC-EX / ARC-IM / ARC-BCI)

ONWARD Medical

Spinal cord stimulation, brain-spine link

Dutch-Swiss company selling spinal cord stimulation to restore movement after spinal injury, based on work by Grégoire Courtine and Jocelyne Bloch. Its skin-electrode ARC-EX was FDA-authorized in Dec 2024; its implant is paired with a brain implant in a brain-spine link.

onwd.com (opens onwd.com)Company profile →

Founded
201412 yrs
Headquarters
NetherlandsSwitzerland
Status
Public
Listed
ONWDEuronext
Valuation
public
Works in
NeurotechStimulation therapies
Coverage
1 program · 7 updateslatest 17 Oct 2025checked 25 Sep
Partners
Clinatec (CEA) (opens fonds-clinatec.fr)
People
Dave MarverCEO
Primer