Mainstay Medical Holdings plc announced the publication of "Effect of Restorative Neurostimulation on Major Drivers of Chronic Low Back Pain Economic Impact", in the journal Neurosurgery. The paper contains a review of patients from the pivotal ReActiv8-B study, and the effect of ReActiv8 restorative neurostimulation on known drivers of direct and indirect long-term health care costs. High impact pain, defined as pain present on most days for six months or more with substantial restrictions to participation in work, social, and self-care activities, has been linked to much higher direct healthcare costs per year than moderate or low impact pain states.

The results of this study showed that patients overwhelmingly converted from a high impact pain state to a low impact pain state after two years of ReActiv8 therapy. In a completer analysis of those patients available at 2 years and having work data (n=146), 103 (70.5%) were high impact pain patients at baseline. After 2 years, 15 (10.3%) patients remained in the high impact pain state, while 124 patients (85%) were in the low impact pain category.

In looking at indirect drivers of economic impact, this study examined presenteeism, the reduced ability to perform occupational tasks because of back pain, as well as absenteeism, the number of days missed from work because of low back pain. At baseline, approximately 50% of patients experienced significant restrictions on work participation resulting in notable presenteeism and/or absenteeism, while less than 50% of patients reported no work problems. After two years, over 80% of patients reported no impact or only minor impact to their work participation due to low back pain. It was especially noteworthy that 88% of patients were not missing any days off work due to low back pain after 2 years.

The pain impact data from this publication suggests the potential for a significant reduction in direct and indirect healthcare utilization levels and costs for patients using ReActiv8. In addition, the durability of the clinically meaningful improvements in pain and function demonstrated in this study are consistent with a restorative mechanism of action, which suggests that over the long term, these improvements in pain impact health states will be maintained.