If you’re like most people living with IBD, you’ve probably felt that familiar weight of uncertainty—wondering if your current treatment will keep working, if you’ll need surgery, or if there’s something better out there beyond the endless cycle of medications and their side effects. It’s exhausting to feel like you’re always choosing between symptoms and side effects, between managing today and worrying about tomorrow.

What if I told you that researchers are exploring a completely different approach—one that doesn’t involve adding more drugs to your routine or facing another surgery? Sometimes the most promising breakthroughs come from thinking entirely outside the box.

Summary of Boomerang Medical Raises $20M for Neuromodulation in IBD

Boomerang Medical, a medical device company led by women in Silicon Valley, has secured $20 million in funding to advance their groundbreaking approach to IBD treatment. Instead of using drugs or surgery, their device works by sending gentle electrical signals to specific nerves that connect your brain, gut, and immune system—particularly the sacral nerves.

This approach, called bioelectronic medicine or neuromodulation, aims to help reduce inflammation from the inside out by working with your body’s own nerve pathways. The company has received FDA approval for a clinical trial called BOOM-IBD2, specifically testing this technology in people with ulcerative colitis. The rapid enrollment in their trial suggests there’s significant interest from patients who are looking for alternatives to traditional treatments.

This post summarizes reporting from Boomerang Medical Raises $20M for Neuromodulation in IBD. Our analysis represents IBD Movement’s perspective and is intended to help patients understand how this news may affect them. Read the original article for complete details.

What This Means for the IBD Community

Let’s be honest—when you’ve been living with IBD for a while, you develop a healthy skepticism about “breakthrough” treatments. We’ve all heard promises before. But what makes this approach particularly intriguing is how fundamentally different it is from everything we currently have available.

Think about your current treatment journey. Maybe you started with 5-ASAs, moved to immunosuppressants, then biologics. Perhaps you’ve dealt with infections from suppressed immunity, or struggled with fatigue from medications. Some of you might have faced surgery, only to find that IBD symptoms returned later. The common thread in all these treatments? They’re either suppressing your immune system broadly or removing diseased tissue—both approaches that come with significant trade-offs.

Neuromodulation represents a completely different philosophy. Instead of suppressing immunity or removing tissue, it’s working with your body’s existing communication systems. Your gut and brain are constantly talking to each other through what scientists call the “gut-brain axis.” This includes not just your thoughts affecting your digestion, but also complex nerve pathways that influence inflammation and immune responses.

What’s particularly exciting is that this approach could potentially help people who have exhausted other options. If you’ve failed multiple biologics, or if you can’t take immunosuppressive drugs due to infections or other health conditions, a device-based treatment that doesn’t suppress your immune system could be a game-changer.

For those managing daily life with IBD, imagine treatment that doesn’t require you to remember daily pills, worry about live vaccines, or schedule regular blood draws to monitor for medication side effects. The device approach could mean fewer doctor visits focused on managing drug side effects and more visits focused on optimizing your overall health and quality of life.

Questions to Consider for Your Healthcare Team

While this technology is still in clinical trials, it’s worth starting conversations with your gastroenterologist about emerging treatments like neuromodulation. Here are some questions you might want to discuss:

• How do device-based treatments fit into current IBD treatment algorithms?
• Would I be a candidate for clinical trials in neuromodulation if they become available?
• How does my current disease activity and treatment history affect my options for future therapies?
• What should I know about the gut-brain connection and how it relates to my IBD?

These conversations can help you and your doctor think proactively about your long-term treatment strategy, rather than just managing your current situation.

The Broader Picture: Where IBD Treatment is Heading

Boomerang Medical’s approach fits into a larger trend we’re seeing in IBD research—moving away from one-size-fits-all treatments toward more personalized, precision approaches. We’re seeing this with genetic testing to predict drug responses, with microbiome research, and now with bioelectronic medicine.

This shift matters because IBD is incredibly individual. What works for one person might not work for another, and what works for you now might not work in five years. Having more diverse treatment options—drugs, devices, biologics, possibly even personalized microbiome treatments—means better chances of finding something that works specifically for your body and your life.

The fact that this research is being led by a women-led team also speaks to the importance of diverse perspectives in medical innovation. Women are more likely to have autoimmune conditions like IBD, yet historically have been underrepresented in both clinical research and medical device development. Having diverse leadership can lead to treatments that better address the real-world experiences of patients.

Managing Expectations While Staying Hopeful

It’s important to remember that clinical trials take time, and not all promising approaches ultimately prove effective. The BOOM-IBD2 trial is still ongoing, and even if successful, it could be several years before this treatment becomes widely available.

But here’s what we can take away right now: the field of IBD research is more active and innovative than ever. Companies are investing serious money into novel approaches. Researchers are thinking creatively about the underlying mechanisms of IBD. And patient voices are increasingly being heard in treatment development.

This doesn’t mean you should wait to address your current symptoms or delay necessary treatments. It means that while you’re managing your IBD today, there are legitimate reasons to be optimistic about additional options in the future.

The rapid enrollment in Boomerang’s clinical trial tells us something important—there are many people with IBD who are actively looking for alternatives to current treatments. You’re not alone in wanting something different, something better. The medical community is listening and responding with real innovation.

Whether or not this specific approach proves successful, it represents the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that moves the field forward. Each innovative approach teaches us something new about IBD and opens doors to even more possibilities.

The bottom line: While we wait to see results from this clinical trial, the very fact that such innovative approaches are being developed and funded gives us legitimate reason for hope. IBD treatment is evolving rapidly, and the future is likely to include options we can barely imagine today. In the meantime, stay engaged with your healthcare team, stay informed about emerging research, and remember that every breakthrough starts with someone willing to think differently about an old problem.

IBD Movement provides information for educational purposes only. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.