St. Jude Medical's Brio Device for Parkinson's

Long dominated by Medtronic, competition is ratcheting up when it comes to using neurostimulation to treat Parkinson's disease.

FDA last year approved St. Jude Medical's Brio neurostimulation system to help reduce the symptoms of Parkinson's disease and essential tremor.  The Brio is slightly smaller than Medtronic's Activa, which the Brio is competing against. The Brio is 1.9-by-2.1-by-0.4 in., while the Activa PC is 1.9-by-2.6-by-0.6 in.

FDA cited two clinical studies, one involving 136 Parkinson's patients and another involving 127 essential tremor patients, that demonstrated statistically significant improvement when the Brio device was turned on. The majority of patients with essential tremor who used the device were even able to control their symptoms without the need for medications.

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