Most of the 88 ARC-EX systems ONWARD Medical sold or supplied on paid evaluation in the third quarter were intended for people with spinal cord injuries to use at home, with electrodes that stimulate the spinal cord through the skin to improve hand strength and sensation. That number, up 120 per cent on a year earlier and almost exactly the same as the quarter before, is now the main commercial test for one of the few listed companies with a brain-computer interface in human trials.
The quarter
ONWARD reported total revenue of EUR 2.5 million for the three months to 30 September 2026, up from EUR 1.7 million a year earlier. Sales and supply of ARC-EX systems brought in EUR 2.0 million. The company sold or supplied 88 systems, against 40 a year earlier. Based on ONWARD’s first-quarter and first-half figures, second-quarter ARC-EX revenue was roughly EUR 2.0 to 2.2 million on 89 units, so product sales were flat from one quarter to the next. ARC-EX is now available in more than 170 clinics worldwide.
On the results call, chief executive Dave Marver said two timing factors would weigh on fourth-quarter revenue and push some sales into 2027: patients who would otherwise pay for the device themselves trying insurance first, and the US Department of Veterans Affairs lengthening its paid evaluations from two months to three. He said the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services had confirmed ARC-EX as durable medical equipment and assigned it a miscellaneous billing code, which allows claims case by case. ONWARD does not give revenue guidance.
Cash stood at EUR 73.4 million on 30 September, down from EUR 81.5 million three months earlier, and the chief financial officer put cash burn in the quarter at EUR 8.1 million, a figure that includes the effect of refinancing its debt. In the quarter ONWARD closed a debt facility of up to EUR 50 million with BlackRock, drawing EUR 20 million at closing, which repaid its loan from Runway Growth Capital and added cash to the balance sheet. ONWARD did not update its cash runway. In May it said its cash would last into the first quarter of 2028 without drawing on its debt facility.
The market reaction
ONWARD’s shares closed about 11.5 per cent lower in Brussels on 3 November, at EUR 1.89, below the bottom of their range over the previous year. KBC Securities cut its rating to hold from buy and lowered its price target to EUR 5.40 from EUR 6.00, Belgian investor site Trivano reported.
The implant pipeline
The implanted programmes moved forward. The Empower BP pivotal trial of the ARC-IM implanted stimulator for blood pressure instability after spinal cord injury has enrolled 31 participants, with 16 sites recruiting in the US, Canada and Germany. ONWARD expects an interim analysis in spring 2027 to decide whether the trial can stop at 60 participants or needs the full 112. ONWARD reported the first implants in both groups of its EIGER mobility study, a first-in-human use of ARC-IM for bladder control at Lausanne University Hospital and two more participants in its Parkinson’s disease study.
ONWARD reported no new implants of ARC-BCI with its results, though Marver said on the call it would publish news on the programme. ARC-BCI pairs the implanted stimulator with the WIMAGINE brain implant licensed from France’s CEA so that a person’s intention to move, read from the brain, triggers stimulation of the spinal cord. ONWARD said in September that seven people had received it. The programme remains investigational, with grant support from the European Innovation Council, the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation.
Why it matters
ONWARD is one of the few brain-computer interface developers with a listed share price and a product on sale, so its ARC-EX revenue is one of the clearest public tests of how quickly a neurotechnology company can build sales before its implants reach the market. A flat quarter and a share price at a one-year low raise the cost of the equity that, alongside grants and debt, pays for the implant trials.
Not disclosed
ONWARD did not disclose its third-quarter operating loss, an updated cash runway, the breakdown of the EUR 0.5 million of revenue outside ARC-EX sales, or any new ARC-BCI implants.
What to watch
Whether ARC-EX unit sales resume growth in the fourth quarter.
Whether ONWARD restates its cash runway with its full-year results.
Whether Medicare claims for ARC-EX are paid at scale.
Whether the Empower BP interim analysis in spring 2027 lets the trial stop at 60 participants.
Whether ONWARD reports new ARC-BCI implants or a US regulatory filing for the programme.
Sources
Primary:
- ONWARD Medical: Q3 2026 revenue of EUR 2.5M (GlobeNewswire), 3 November 2026
- ONWARD Medical: First half 2026 results (GlobeNewswire), 9 September 2026
- ONWARD Medical: First quarter 2026 results (via BioSpace), 26 May 2026
Coverage:
- RTTNews: ONWARD Medical reports EUR 2.5M in Q3 revenue, 3 November 2026
- Investing.com: Earnings call transcript, ONWARD Medical Q3 2026, 3 November 2026
- Trivano: KBC Securities cuts Onward Medical to hold, target EUR 5.40, 3 November 2026
Cross-reference to prior InsideBCI coverage: