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# Reach Neuro Wins ‘Breakthrough’ for Stroke Stimulator
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/reach-neuro-wins-breakthrough-for-stroke-stimulator/
- Published: 2023-04-10T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T18:24:37.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Devices, #legacy-id-D5154173

FDA has granted Reach Neuro a breakthrough designation for its Avantis platform, which the company says uses small electrical impulses delivered to the spinal cord to help restore shoulder, arm, and hand movement to patients impaired due to chronic stroke. The designation is based on data showing two study subjects experienced 40% and 108% improvements in grip strength respectively, and up to 124% improvement in joint strength. “Participants were also able to perform functional tasks like lifting objects, eating with a fork, and opening a lock,” the company says. Reach Neuro was founded in 2021 as a spinout company of the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, where the technology is currently being tested in an NIH-funded clinical trial in collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. 

“Current treatments for stroke focus only on the acute phase of recovery and approximately 50% of stroke survivors are left with disabilities that are considered permanent,” Reach Neuro says. “However, early evidence shows that the Avantis system can be effective in chronic stroke patients even up to nine years after their stroke, which is well outside the six-month window in which existing therapies are used.”