Nevro Announces Positive Coverage Update from Carelon Healthcare for the Treatment of Painful Diabetic Neuropathy

Spinal Cord Stimulation Coverage Policy to Include 43 Million Additional Covered Lives

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Jan. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Nevro Corp. (NYSE: NVRO), a global medical device company that is delivering comprehensive, life-changing solutions for the treatment of chronic pain, today announced that Carelon Healthcare, a healthcare services company dedicated to delivering whole-person care with connected healthcare solutions for better outcomes and experiences, will be publishing a new interventional pain management policy that expands spinal cord stimulation (SCS) coverage for painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN).

The policy, which will go into effect on April 14, represents an increase in PDN patient coverage by nearly 43 million additional lives. Payers that utilize Carelon Healthcare include Anthem Blue Cross in California; Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield in Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri, New Hampshire, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin; AmeriHealth; Empire BCBS; Independence Blue Cross; and various Managed Medicaid plans.

"Carelon's coverage policy expansion is good news for people with painful diabetic neuropathy as it will broaden access to Nevro's 10 kHz Therapy, the only high-frequency parasthesia-free SCS system FDA-approved to treat PDN," said Kevin Thornal, President and CEO of Nevro. "This coverage policy expansion is a further testament to Nevro's approach to expanding payer coverage, combining high-quality clinical trial data and individual case-by-case approvals through patient appeals and external reviews."

"Since the publication of the SENZA-PDN randomized controlled trial (RCT), the largest RCT studying SCS for PDN and the only paresthesia-free RCT demonstrating neurologic improvement, insurance companies have validated the value of major investments in meritorious research by broadening access to PDN patients," said David Caraway, MD, chief medical officer at Nevro. "We are confident that our extensive collection of clinical and real-world data will continue to serve as the foundation for additional coverage expansions by other prominent health plans."

Globally, the number of people with diabetes has quadrupled in the last two decades¹, and PDN is one of its most common complications, affecting up to 25 percent of all people with diabetes. PDN symptoms can have a significant impact on quality of life. These symptoms include numbness, tingling/paresthesia, loss of protective sensation, impaired balance, and reduced response to sensory stimuli.² Patients typically manage this complication with oral pain medications, but the efficacy of these medications is relatively low and can result in intolerable side effects for patients.³ As a result, people with PDN suffer significantly reduced health-related quality of life (HRQoL), impaired functionality, and other comorbidities like sleep disorders, depression, and anxiety.⁴

To learn more about Nevro's 10 kHz Therapy^TM for PDN visit: www.nevro.com.

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About Nevro

Headquartered in Redwood City, California, Nevro is a global medical device company focused on delivering comprehensive, life-changing solutions that continue to set the standard for enduring patient outcomes in chronic pain treatment. The company started with a simple mission to help more patients suffering from debilitating pain and developed its proprietary 10 kHz Therapy™, an evidence-based, non-pharmacologic innovation that has impacted the lives of more than 100,000 patients globally. Nevro's comprehensive HFX™ spinal cord stimulation (SCS) platform includes the Senza^® SCS system and support services for the treatment of chronic pain of the trunk and limb and painful diabetic neuropathy. Nevro recently added a minimally invasive treatment option for patients suffering from chronic sacroiliac joint ("SI joint") pain and now provides the most comprehensive portfolio of products in the SI joint fusion space, designed to meet the preferences of physicians and varying patient needs in order to improve outcomes and quality of life for patients. 

Senza®, Senza II®, Senza Omnia^®, and HFX iQ™ are the only SCS systems that deliver Nevro's proprietary 10 kHz Therapy^TM. Nevro's unique support services provide every patient with HFX Coach™ support throughout their pain relief journey and every physician with HFX Cloud™ insights for enhanced patient and practice management.

SENZA, SENZA II, SENZA OMNIA, OMNIA, HF10, the HF10 logo, 10 kHz Therapy, HFX, the HFX logo, HFX iQ, the HFX iQ logo, HFX Algorithm, HFX CONNECT, the HFX Connect logo, HFX ACCESS, the HFX Access logo, HFX COACH, the HFX Coach logo, HFX CLOUD, the HFX Cloud logo, RELIEF MULTIPLIED, the X logo, NEVRO, and the NEVRO logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nevro Corp. Patents covering Senza HFX iQ and other Nevro products are listed at Nevro.com/patents.

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Forward-Looking Statements

In addition to historical information, this press release contains forward-looking statements reflecting the company's current beliefs and expectations of management made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including our belief regarding the positive impact on our business resulting from increased payor coverage. These forward-looking statements are based upon information that is currently available to us or our current expectations, speak only as of the date hereof, and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including our ability to successfully continue to develop and commercialize our products; our ability to manufacture our products to meet demand; the level and availability of third-party payor reimbursement for our products; our ability to effectively manage our anticipated growth and the costs and expenses of operating our business; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights and proprietary technologies; our ability to operate our business without infringing the intellectual property rights and proprietary technology of third parties; competition in our industry; additional capital and credit availability; and our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel. These factors, together with those that are described in greater detail in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on February 21, 2023, as well as any subsequent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied by our forward-looking statements. We expressly disclaim any obligation, except as required by law, or undertaking to update or revise any such forward-looking statements.

Investors and Media:

Angie McCabe
Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
[email protected]

¹ World Health Organization. (‎2016)‎. Global report on diabetes. World Health Organization. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/204871
² Pop-Busui R, Ang L, Boulton AJM, Feldman EL, Marcus RL, Mizokami-Stout K, et al. Diagnosis and Treatment of Painful Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy. Arlington (VA): American Diabetes Association; 2022.
³ Yang, M., Qian, C., & Liu, Y. (2015). Suboptimal Treatment of Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathic Pain in the United States. Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.), 16(11), 2075–2083.
⁴ Alleman, C. J., Westerhout, K. Y., Hensen, M., Chambers, C., Stoker, M., Long, S., & van Nooten, F. E. (2015). Humanistic and economic burden of painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy in Europe: A review of the literature. Diabetes research and clinical practice, 109(2), 215–225.

SOURCE Nevro Corp.