Drug-free pain relief solution Quell has hit Indiegogo, promising to eradicate chronic pain using electrodes that stimulate sensory nerves.

The FDA-cleared device blocks pain signals via a lightweight sports band that fits onto the upper calf. It is calibrated when the user first puts the band on and can automatically adjust to their body to give optimal pain relief. Electrodes are available for $29.99 (£20.30) a month, which will provide 30 days of pain relief.

The company says: “Chronic pain is more than just pain. When you suffer from chronic pain, it can interfere with your daily activities, impact your mood, or prevent you from sleeping soundly.

“Quell is a doctor recommended, 100% drug-free solution for alleviating chronic pain, including conditions such as painful diabetic neuropathy, fibromyalgia, sciatica, and osteoarthritis among others.”

However, the device is only available in the US and Canada because of regulatory requirements and is currently only available on iOS, although an Android app is in development. Quell is seeking European regulatory clearance, which it is hoping to gain later this year and distribution in the UK will be able to start.

Quell has passed its target of $100,000 on Indiegogo. At the time of writing, it had raised $272,411 (£185,000) with 16 days of its campaign left.

The featured offer includes a Quell device and 1 month’s worth of electrodes for $199 (£135) with delivery in June this year. You can also pick up an extra sports band for $20 (£13.55), or get two packages for $350 (£237).

The company says: “As we have cleared a major hurdle with FDA clearance, our remaining challenge is fine tuning the technology and app. With the iOS app available and the Android version close behind, we are seeking help from the Indiegogo community to help us better understand the needs and wants of technology consumers.

“We will leverage this learning to optimize our design and deliver 100% drug free pain relief to the millions of Americans who suffer from chronic pain.”

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Greg Simon is CEO of health-focused crowdfunding service, Poliwogg. He recently sat down with Equities.com to talk about how the crowd can fund a healthy crowd — and why these investments make so much sense.

Discussing recent US rule changes (the JOBS Act) which enable a wider number of investors to take equity positions in crowdfunding projects, Simon notes that the previous regime posed problems for health-focused firms: they could get early funding but this became harder in the mid-game.

“Well, it’s been very expensive because health care companies need a lot of money and before the JOBS act they could only have a certain number of investors. So it made every investor give them a whole lot of money which kept a whole lot of people out of the game because they couldn’t afford to diversify with those levels for minimum investments,” he said.

Another problem was that in the past you weren’t able to generally announce what you needed investment for, it was necessary to talk to investors one at a time. This meant you only had a limited number of people you could convince.

“So if you’re raising money for a company that’s working on a treatment for Parkinson’s disease, you can’t tell anyone unless you know they’re wealthy enough. That means you have to go to investors one at a time, and that’s a very lousy way to raise money. We wouldn’t be able to sell many cars if we had to sell them that way,” he said.

Simon predicts health-related investments will attract a wide number of investors, and suggests these investments may mean big changes for health care:

“People have the opportunity now to put their money where their heart is in terms of their health interest. They can invest in the companies that are investing in them, that are trying to create new therapies for them but need a lot more money than the venture capital industry is willing to provide.”

He hopes these changes in investment rules as they relate to crowdfunding services will enable “a lot more” health-related startups to bring their idea to light.

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