In this month’s Digital Health roundup, Medtech Insight’s Marion Webb discusses her deep-dive article on menopause with leading experts in this rising industry and Barnaby Pickering highlights UK-based Proximie, which developed a web-based platform that allows surgeons and other clinical experts to collaborate virtually in the operating suite. The company recently raised $80m in a series C round.

Recent modifications accelerated portion of milestones remaining in firms' agreement over the next 12 months, reduced GSK's aggregate amount payable and forwarded $2m to NeuroMetrix. Firms are co-funding future development of Quell technology and additional TENS products for chronic pain beginning in 2019.

While demand for spinal cord stimulation (SCS) devices used in pain management continues to expand at double-digit rates, a small but growing number of highly innovative companies that develop stimulators to specifically target peripheral nerve pain is creating excitement among pain doctors looking for better options to treat an intractable population that's seen little success with standard therapy. With millions of people worldwide suffering from low back pain, severe headaches and migraines, neck pain and other chronic pain, the demand for safe, effective, percutaneously-placed devices remains high. In this article, we'll highlight emerging companies working on PNS devices and provide insights from pain physicians on the pros and cons of these devices.

A wide variety of devices that could either serve as pain-relief substitutes for opioids, help manage opioid addictions or tackle distribution issues with the overly prescribed medications are facing reimbursement challenges at the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.