About the Guest
Murthy Simhambhatla is the CEO of SetPoint Medical, which is commercializing an FDA-approved neuroimmune modulation therapy for rheumatoid arthritis. Previously, he was CEO of Evolus, leading the company through its IPO, and held multiple leadership roles at Abbott, including President of Abbott Medical Optics and head of the company's Ibis Biosciences molecular diagnostics business. Earlier in his career, Murthy led development of Abbott's XIENCE drug-eluting stent platform following Abbott's acquisition of Guidant. Murthy holds a Ph.D. in Polymer Engineering and is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.
Interview Summary
SetPoint is developing neuroimmune modulation therapies for chronic autoimmune diseases. For people living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the company's FDA-approved therapy stimulates the vagus nerve to activate the body's innate anti-inflammatory reflex, offering a device-based alternative for patients who do not respond to or cannot tolerate biologic therapies.
Before developing its own implant, SetPoint first established human proof-of-concept by reprogramming commercially available vagus nerve stimulators and conducting two early feasibility studies in Europe for Crohn's disease and RA. After both produced positive signals, the company selected RA as its first indication because of the large market opportunity, established clinical trial pathway, and relative ease of study enrollment.
More than 24,000 patients completed an eligibility survey for SetPoint's 242-patient pivotal RA study, underscoring the demand for a therapy that now has several thousand additional patients on its waitlist.
As the company prepared for commercialization, SetPoint built what Murthy describes as a "trifecta" of evidence: a pivotal trial published in Nature Medicine, a patient preference study, and a health economics study. Together, they established compelling clinical evidence, showed that patients preferred the SetPoint System over switching to another biologic, and demonstrated that 75% of patients were free of advanced immunosuppressive drugs at one year, allowing payers to break even in roughly 16 months while projecting approximately $350,000 in lifetime savings per patient.
In early 2026, SetPoint brought its FDA-approved RA therapy to market across the United States and is establishing Centers of Excellence as it expands commercial access. Rather than outsourcing reimbursement, the company also built an in-house hub to coordinate referrals, prior authorization, patient support, and data capture across the healthcare journey.
Looking ahead, SetPoint plans to expand into psoriatic arthritis before pursuing broader indications such as Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and multiple sclerosis.
Top Takeaways
Build toward the launch you want. Novel therapies require more than proving the technology works. Before your launch, define what the company needs to look like commercially, then work backward. Build technical conviction through robust science and clinical evidence, market conviction through unmet need and patient demand, and economic conviction through health economics and reimbursement. When it comes time to commercialize, physicians, patients, hospitals, payers, and investors should all have a reason to believe.
Sequence platform indications with commercialization in mind. To pick an initial indication for a platform technology, first demonstrate human feasibility cost-efficiently using off-the-shelf components. Then prioritize indications with the best combination of market opportunity, established clinical pathway, and ease of trial enrollment. From there, expand into adjacent indications that build on the commercial engine you've already created before pursuing broader markets.
Simplify complex workflows before they become commercial bottlenecks. Novel therapies often require coordination across referring physicians, specialists, hospitals, payers, and patients. Consider owning strategic commercialization capabilities — such as a reimbursement hub — when they create higher-quality touchpoints and visibility across the patient funnel. Active handholding reduces leakage throughout the care pathway, while optimal visibility creates the metrics needed to forecast revenue and scale the business.
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