Salvia applies ultra-thin technology to fight chronic migraine

Approximately 1-2 percent of the population develops chronic migraine, a neurological disease where patients experience debilitating headaches and hypersensitivity to sound and/or noise. These symptoms stem from nerve pathways running from the forehead and neck to the brain. For one-third of chronic patients, medication or other treatments like Botox injections aren’t effective enough.

The founders of Salvia Bioelectronics – Hubert Martens, Daniël Schobben and Wim Pollet – set out to change that. They developed an implant to battle chronic migraine and recently launched a clinical trial to prove its effectiveness. The Eindhoven-based startup’s technology may be an alternative for people who experience little to no relief from regular approaches. Martens previously co-founded Sapiens Steering Brain Stimulation, a company that developed a ‘pacemaker for the brain’ for Parkinson’s treatment and was acquired by US-based Medtronic in 2014 (link in Dutch).