Nesos: therapeutic earbuds to improve immune system

Unfortunately, very often and more and more people are affected by autoimmune diseases that can be kept under control thanks to anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive drugs. But what if in the future it were possible to treat these health problems using electronic devices? It would be a great victory and a huge step forward in the medical field. 

Nesos, San Francisco-based start-up, has created a device, still being studied and developed, that could be able to support and help the immune system and improve the inflammatory status caused by certain diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. 

The US company has produced a pair of innovative earbuds that emit neither sounds nor music, but which use neuromodulation technology to generate electric fields and send impulses to the brain. This new therapeutic approach is called E-mmunotherapy, it could help the brain regulate the state of inflammation and therefore keep the function of the immune system under control. Because, as studies have shown, the brain and the immune system are not two separate “areas”, but they communicate, depend on each other and work together. 

By wearing these devices, the vagus nerve that connects the brain with the most important organs of the body would be stimulated by some electrical impulses that may be able to decrease and improve the symptoms of some diseases. 

Nesos has already carried out a study with about thirty people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. The participants in this three-month research wore the earbuds every day and for only a few minutes and this first phase led to positive results. Half of the patients experienced improvements, whereas more than half of them had 20% improvements, instead one third of the participants improved by 50% and some of them had 70% improvements in symptoms. These devices can offer customized electric fields based on the patient’s health and illness status. 

The US FDA, Food and Drug Administration, which deals with regulating food and pharmaceutical products, has not approved the earphones created by the Nesos company yet. Therefore we will have to wait a few more years to see if these new medical devices can be used and whether they will be really effective in the fight against autoimmune diseases. 

Nesos and its team of researchers and experts are working on the creation of two other medical products that have effect on the brain and which aim to prevent and treat the symptoms of some very common problems such as migraine and postpartum depression. 

The US start-up has created a new and innovative way to change, develop and improve the world of medical therapies that in the future could be based on both advanced technology and limited use of drugs to prevent and treat certain diseases.