NightBalance announced that the Dutch National Health Care Institute (ZIN) issued a positive recommendation to include its sleep apnea therapy for reimbursement. The Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport will formally approve inclusion of the company’s Sleep Position Trainer (SPT) following ZIN’s recommendation.

NightBalance’s SPT prompts patients not to sleep on their back (supine), preventing positional obstructive sleep apnea. Worn in a strap around the chest, the patent-protected SPT constantly measures the patients’ sleep position, and gently prompts users to change position without affecting their sleep. The SPT allows patients to fall asleep in any desired position, and its smart hardware uses individually adjusted feedback to assure sustained effectiveness.

The approval is based on the company’s data demonstrating clinical efficacy, which allowed NightBalance to successfully fulfill the standards set by the reimbursement approval process in the Netherlands for new medical devices and therapeutics. The government’s decision allows health care insurers in the Netherlands to offer all Dutch citizens suffering from positional obstructive sleep apnea the SPT device as part of the basic insurance plan.

“We are delighted with ZIN’s recommendation that the Dutch Ministry of Health approve the reimbursement of our sleep apnea therapy, SPT. This marks an important milestone for our company,” says Eline Vrijland-van Beest, co-founder and CEO of NightBalance, in a release. “This approval is the recognition of our groundbreaking work in building a solid clinical data set of more than 80,000 nights in peer reviewed published research, demonstrating the ease of use, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness of our therapy and the SPT device. We thank the team of the ZIN institute for their cooperation and support in getting to this milestone and look forward to building on this achievement by accelerating access to the SPT for POSA [positional obstructive sleep apnea] patients and clinicians in the Netherlands and other countries.”

Nico De Vries, an ear, nose, and throat doctor at Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis, says, “The inclusion of SPT in the basic insurance plan is great news for all Dutch patients suffering from POSA. The user-friendly SPT offers an excellent alternative to current treatments with more convenience and comfort for the patient and less cost for our system.”

The SPT is prescribed by sleep specialists, ear, nose and throat specialists and pulmonologists.