NDI Medical's Spin-Off Model for Neurostimulation

The neurostimulation market is becoming electric for many large companies looking for major growth opportunities. Worth $1.3 billion in the US in 2009, the neurostimulation market is expected to enjoy a 16% compound annual growth rate over the next five years, reaching $2.7 billion by the year 2014, according to "US Markets for Neurostimulation Products," a report recently issued by the Medtech Insight division of Elsevier Business Intelligence. ( See Exhibit 1.) Those robust figures take into account some 14 different clinical product categories, some of the largest being Alzheimer's disease, chronic pain, depression, epilepsy, obstructive sleep apnea, obesity, and stroke. In fact, that's the beauty of neurostimulation for medical device companies: it offers a single platform technology that can be leveraged over multiple, large product areas. But what model most efficiently helps a company with core expertise in neurostimulation – the knowledge of impulse generators and leads and their interface with nerves, power sources, and controllers – leverage that knowledge over numerous product areas?

NDI Medical LLC, a privately held company founded in 2002 in Cleveland, OH, has its own strategy. NDI Medical...