ADVANCED NEUROMODULATION SYSTEMS INC history

The first practical use of intraoperative electrical stimulation was performed by Sir Victor Horsley, who applied stimulation of tissue within an occipital encephalocele and noted conjugate eye movements in 1884.

Every day since our founding in 1888, we've been discovering new ways to make life better.

When animal stereotaxic techniques were introduced in 1908 by Horsley and Clarke , they simultaneously introduced stereotactically localized stimulation of deep brain structures.

Perhaps the earliest was Pool , who stimulated frontal tracts rather than performing prefrontal lobotomy for psychosurgery as early as 1948.

In 1954, Olds and Milner observed that rats would vigorously seek stimulation of the septal area, presumably because it provided them with great pleasure.

In 1965, they had released the Angiostat, which stimulated the carotid sinus nerve for treatment of angina.

In 1967, Wall and Sweet initiated therapeutic stimulation of peripheral nerve, and Shealy and Mortimer introduced spinal cord stimulation for chronic pain management.

It had been observed in 1969 by Reynolds that stimulation of the periventricular area of rats would produce sufficiently profound analgesia that they could undergo surgery with no apparent pain.

Shortly after, reported in 1972, Bechtereva in Russia reported what may have been the first therapeutic use of stimulation in motor disorders.

In 1973, shortly after the introduction of spinal cord stimulation, Hosobuchi reported the successful use of chronic stimulation of the somatosensory thalamus for the treatment of denervation facial pain, anesthesia dolorosa, and the field of deep brain stimulation (DBS) was born.

Although spinal cord stimulation was used primarily for pain, in 1976, both Cook and Dooley recognized improvement in spasticity in patients with multiple sclerosis who had stimulators implanted for pain of muscle spasm.

Similar stimulation was provided to patients with chronic pain by Richardson and Akil [36,37] in 1977 (Richardson had earlier worked with Heath and was familiar with chronic stimulation techniques). The following year, they documented that the area was related to endorphin release .

ANS was incorporated in May 1979 as Medicor, Inc. by veterans of the medical device field, including its president, Thomas C. Thompson, who had earlier founded a company that made intravenous catheters.

A few months later, in January 1980, Medicor changed its name to Quest Medical, Inc.

The company went public in April 1981 selling shares at $2.

Tasker performed an extensive stimulation study of the computerized map of the human thalamus, which he published as an atlas in 1982.

Quest began selling the infusor in 1983 and appeared poised to enjoy a prosperous future, but changes in the marketplace derailed the company's plans.

The direct intrathecal administration of baclofen was first reported in 1984 and, dose for dose, achieves a concentration in the cerebrospinal fluid approximately 400 times higher.

There was, however, the concern that relief of pain might make it possible for the patient to exert beyond the myocardial circulatory capacity and increase the risk of coronary artery disease. It was observed by Augustinsson in 1985 that patients who had spinal cord stimulation for pain of peripheral vascular disease not only had pain relief but often had improvement in circulation and improvement in signs of ischemia, an observation that harkened back to Dooley's earlier report.

Quest continued to grow sales in 1986 to $13.7 million but posted a loss of $323,000.

Unable to compete against its much larger rivals, Quest decided in September 1987 to sell its IV infusion device business to Colgate Palmolive Co.'s subsidiary Kendall McGaw for $9 million.

Additional payments were contingent upon the favorable outcome of a patent infringement suit brought by Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co. (3M). After a federal district court judge ruled in its favor in April 1989, Quest received another $2.8 million from Kendall McGaw.

Ironically, in August 1990 Quest found itself the object of an unsolicited merger offer from Titan Holdings Inc., a San Antonio-based private insurance holding company that considered Quest, as currently configured, more of an investment company than a medical products company.

Motor cortex stimulation by means of brain surface electrodes was introduced in 1991 and is used to treat the pain suffered by some stroke victims and by people with damage to the trigeminal nerve.

In 1995, Migita used extracranial magnetic stimulation of the motor cortex to achieve that same benefit.

In 1996, Hautvast documented that myocardial perfusion increased with spinal cord stimulation, which consequently provided considerable protection against ischemia.

In March 1997 Quest retained Smith Barney and Rauscher Pierce Refsnes to help it sort out strategic alternatives, whether it be a sale, merger, or joint venture.

Quest kept the Advanced Neuromodulation Systems product and also changed its corporate name to Advanced Neuromodulation Systems, Inc. in June 1998.

After three years of research and development, ANS launched the Renew RF stimulation system in the United States market in June 1999.

ANS completed development of AccuRx, its implantable drug pump, in 2000.

While AccuRx was being launched internationally, ANS was also developing its Genesis IPG SCS system, working closely with a New Jersey company, Hi-tronics Designs, Inc. (HDI), which ANS also acquired in January 2001.

In November 2002 it acquired MicroNet Medical, Inc., adding spinal cord stimulation leads that might prove useful in the treatment of Parkinson's disease and migraines.

In 2003 the company acquired the pain management system of three of its top distributors in the United States: Seattle-based Comedical, Inc.; Clifton, New Jersey-based State of the Art Medical Products; and Arlington, Texas-based Sun Medical, Inc.

ANS received some unwanted publicity in 2005 when it announced that it was the subject of a federal investigation of certain of its sales and marketing practices.