Ivivi Technologies offers pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) technologies, which, by generating an electrical current in injured soft tissue, stimulates biochemical and physiological healing processes to help repair the injured tissue and reduce related pain and inflammation.
Pulsed electromagnetic fields are a non-invasive means to accelerate and improve the body’s own healing mechanisms. Ivivi has specifically tuned its PEMF signal to target the Calcium/Calmodulin pathway, which lies at the beginning of a growth factor cascade involved in tissue healing.
Research published in a December 2006 issue of The Journal of Hand Surgery demonstrated the effectiveness of Ivivi’s treatment in animals. In the study, the Achilles tendon of 40 rats was surgically transected and repaired. The rats which received PEMF treatments for two 30-minute sessions per day, over a period of three weeks, showed an increase of up to 69% in tensile strength at the repair site.
If a similar effect is seen in humans, rehabilitation could begin earlier and the risk of developing adhesions or rupturing the tendon in the early postoperative period could be diminished. The company’s lead product, SofPulse, has been used in non-invasive treatments for a wide array of conditions, including chronic wounds, pain and edema following plastic and reconstructive surgery and chronic inflammatory disorders.
The company has focused its marketing efforts in the long term acute care hospital setting. Ivivi provides units for a fixed monthly rental with unlimited utilization and applicators for each patient.
Ivivi’s share price has been blasted in the last year.