Neurotech Notables #19: Oct 2024
Neurotech Notables #19: Oct 2024
🎃Neurotech Halloween in Gotham🗽
Greetings from Manhattan!
This one’s coming to you between two conferences.
Biofuture: I just had the privilege of following Dr. Kevin Tracey’s morning keynote about the future of bioelectronics (tl;dr - vagus nerve modulation might let us live to 120) with a panel of leaders from Neuroelectrics, Noctrix Health, Neuronoff, and SetPoint Medical. There were plenty of other highlights and notes; stay tuned for my writeup soon.
Mt. Sinai’s BCI Summit: I’m feeling the Halloween chills in anticipation of being in this room for the next couple of days. I’m pregaming with Peter Z’s syllabus and a morning workout. If you’re around, please say hi!
Onto your Roundup: What happened in Neurotech over the last two weeks?
How about a cool $100m in new BCI funding for Onward and InBrain, to lead off a new host of funding opportunities for neurotech startups and researchers around the world?
While Regulatory News was a bit light, there were more commercial partnerships than I could keep up with, including multiple from JOGO, Darmiyan, Flow. Many others + new products that just hit the market, or are ready for pre-order.
Congrats to the Startups who just dropped Big Study Results, including positive signals from Sinaptica, Cognito, Science Corp, Flow, SAINT/Magnus, and about a dozen other companies….and, some not so promising results from Alto.
The Research section is loaded this week with interesting BCI papers and the usual cornucopia of modalities from magnetics to mixed reality, vision to prosthetics, and more.
Several headlines feature women’s health, from newly funded startups, to a newly launched dedicated fund, and a new research center. Some dude at Biofuture called this a “niche market” in passing and I audibly snorted. Half the world, guy.
What else? Trick or Treat: Bioelectronic Bandaids. A real life back-from-braindeath Zombie! Short Fiction. A new workshop from PsyMed. AI Market Reports. BCI Thought Leadership. Brain Capital. And some fresh Neurotech TV for any too-tired-to-read Halloween Hangovers over the weekend.
As always: Hit reply with feedback, tips, ideas, or anything at all.
To quote Wyclef, I’ll be gone till November…🍂
Funding
INBRAIN Neuroelectronics Raises $50M Series B to Advance Graphene-Based Brain-Computer Interface Technology (BusinessWire)
ONWARD Medical locks in on another 50+ Million Euro ($54M USD) investment to continue trials and development (LinkedIn | ClinicalTrials Arena)
Virtual dementia care platform Rippl scores $23M (MobiHealth News)
ARPA-H’s Sprint for Women’s Health funds several brain health innovators, including $3.3m for the Near-Infrared Glymphatic Health Tracker (NIGHT) Study for "monitoring of the glymphatic system (GS) function at home with a wireless NIRS-EEG device during sleep" (ARPA-H)
See ‘Research’ for more about Glymphatics.
DoD, SBA Launch First Approved Funds for SBIC Tech Initiative (DefenseScoop)
13 funds have been greenlit, and others can apply by Nov 15 for consideration of up to $175m in specialized debt financing vehicles for investment in private companies across 14 Critical Technology areas, including Human-Machine Interfaces.
NIH Reissues PAR-24-151: Translational Neural Devices (R61/R33 - Clinical Trial Optional) (NIH)
WVU Institute gets $2m grant for focused ultrasound as a treatment for “food addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other conditions” (WVU Medicine)
Venture capital firm KdT raises $100M fund to back biology and technology startups (FirstWord Pharma)
American Heart Association Launches $75M Fund to Transform Women’s Heart and Brain Health (FemTech Insider)
New £20m Dementia Trials Accelerator will increase number of dementia trial participants to “tens of thousands”(UKDRI)
Corundum Convergence Institute (CCI), a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to advancing high-impact research at the intersection of neuroscience, systems biology, and artificial intelligence (LinkedIn)
Don’t sleep on Canadian Neurotech! CABHI, powered by Baycrest, launches Ignite program, awarding $50k-$150k for “early-stage innovations that will enhance the lives of older persons, people living with dementia, and their care partners.” (CABHI)
Regulatory & Reimbursement
Epitel Expands AI Portfolio With A Fourth FDA 510(k) Clearance for REMI (BusinessWire)
Michelle Tarver named new director of FDA’s device center (MedTech Dive)
CVRx announces new CPT® Category I codes for Barostim (CVRx)
U.S. FDA Approves VYALEV™ (foscarbidopa and foslevodopa) for Adults Living with Advanced Parkinson's Disease (Abbvie)
Anecdote: During a discussion with a group of Parkinson’s Disease patient advocates last weekend, two people implanted with a deep brain stimulator both said they would have opted to try this subcutaneous “pump” system over DBS if they’d had the option.
DARPA’s “INSPIRE” Program Seeks to Revolutionize Our Understanding of How the Brain Constructs Reality (The Debrief)
CDC’s NIOSH highlights Business Collaborative for Brain Health, a collaboration with Mercer (CDC)
Commercial
Flow: Home-based transcranial direct current stimulation treatment for major depressive disorder: a fully remote phase 2 randomized sham-controlled trial (Nature Medicine | The Guardian)
Flow partners with Doctify to include tDCS as a depression treatment option (LinkedIn) and partners with Healistic on digital prescription model (LinkedIn)
Flow. Is. Crushing. It. Clinical and commercial success are supposed to go hand-in-hand, but it’s rare to see such consistent execution. These wins will lift the tide for others. Their US market entry will be fun to watch.
Science Corp’s PRIMA Implant Restores Vision in Preliminary Clinical Trial Results (BusinessWire | Science Blog)
Incredible. Check out the video in NeurotechTV 👇🏽
What’s impressive to me is that a single company can be advancing such a lifechanging medical device, while building a whole BCI research platform. Will the next decade be theirs? Science Sells a Brain Computer Toolkit (Bloomberg)
Kaizen Brain Center Is Hosting a Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony Commemorating the Availability of the FDA-Approved SAINT® Neuromodulation System for Treatment-Resistant Major Depression in the Greater San Diego Area (BusinessWire)
Speaking of SAINT: Early differences in lassitude predicts outcomes in Stanford Neuromodulation Therapy for difficult to treat depression (Nature NPJ Mental Health Research)
“Lassitude, as defined in the MADRS, is “a difficulty getting started, or slowness initiating and performing everyday activities”. As such, it is related to, but also distinct from, other commonly reported symptoms of MDD such as poor sleep, psychomotor retardation, low energy or anhedonia, all of which may also affect the ability to carry out tasks. Indeed, in related work authors have argued that perceived energy and fatigue are related but clinically and neurobiologically distinct states, supporting a fine-grained approach to symptom interpretation when considering the mechanistic meaning of changes in specific symptoms.”
UHS now offers incision-less, focused ultrasound treatment for patients with essential tremor (WBNG)
GrayMatters Health Expands FDA-Cleared PTSD Treatment Expands to US Clinics (HIT Consultant)
Product Launch: Modius Sleep FDA-Cleared Non-Invasive Device that Treats Chronic Insomnia is Now Available for Purchase (Cision PR)
Ezra partners with Bryan Johnson on MRI-based Full Body Scan (Ezra)
OpenWater opens orders and publishes study on their “Wearable, Steerable, Transcranial Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound System” (JUM | Mary Lou Jepsen)
This device just looks so cool. Seems like LIFU will have a big 2025.
Blackrock Neurotech announces partnership with Noldus Information Technology for researchers (LinkedIn)
Happy Health partners with EnsoData to simplify at-home diagnosis and treatment monitoring of patients with sleep apnea (PR Newswire)
JOGO Launches Digital Neurology Solution for Employers at HLTH (LinkedIn) and partners with Fortis Hospitals for chronic constipation and pelvic floor disorders in North India (LinkedIn)
JOGO is one of those companies that inexplicably covers more ground than dozens of other startups combined. I hope investors are paying attention.
Signify Health Enhances In-Home Cognitive Testing for Early Detection of MCI and Related Dementias, Which Affects Tens of Millions of Seniors Nationwide (Signify)
Signify is an innovative MA model; they were acquired by CVS last year, but seem to have retained their operational independence so far. This move follows similar ones this summer by Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic, and other care delivery systems. Watch this space! And speaking of better diagnostic aids….
Darmiyan partnership brings BrainSee to UAE (LinkedIn) and Turkey through Partnership with D2 Tech (Darmiyan)
Philips, Medtronic ink stroke advocacy partnership (MassDevice)
ONWARD® Medical Announces Changes to Board of Directors, Including Addition of Medtech Leader Rob ten Hoedt as Incoming Chairman (ONWARD Medical)
Q'Apel Medical Appoints former Stryker VP Jay Hallinan as Chief Commercial Officer (PR Newswire)
Altoida Announces Global Experts in Neuroscience Join its Scientific Advisory Board to Advance Innovation in Cognitive Health Diagnostics (BusinessWeek)
PsyMed Appoints Brooks Leitner, PhD as Partner (PsyMed) and launches Future Neuro Founders Workshop with KDT - Applications due Nov 10 (PsyMed)
This is a terrific, important initiative from our friends at PsyMed. Check it out below and spread the word.
Industry
Personalized Neuromodulation Treatment Significantly Slowed Alzheimer’s Progression in 12-month Phase 2 Study, Meeting Primary and Key Secondary Endpoints (Sinaptica)
Cognito Therapeutics Publishes Study Demonstrating Structural Brain Preservation in Alzheimer’s Disease in Frontiers in Neurology (BusinessWire)
Cognito Therapeutics Announces Spectris™ Treatment Demonstrates 56.4% Reduction in Alzheimer’s Disease Dependence Score with Strong Safety Profile (BusinessWire)
Two-Year Revi Therapy Data Reinforce Sustained Efficacy and Safety of Implantable Tibial NeuroModulation in Managing Urgency Urinary Incontinence (BlueWind Medical | BusinessWire)
Alto's midphase depression trial falls flat, raising doubts about pitch to disrupt neuropsychiatry R&D (Fierce)
Umm…Did I publish that deep dive too soon? Nah - I’m still bullish on Alto’s model. Unfortunately this data readout and their stock’s nosedive is not going to help attract funding in the short term.
New Clinical Evidence Links Ceribell Point-of-Care EEG to Shorter Hospital Stays and Better Functional Outcomes Compared to Conventional EEG (Yahoo)
Neurotech moonshot: Approach for making the general-purpose brain-machine interface happen (Peter Zhegin for e184)
Northwell Health’s Feinstein Institutes lands two TIME's Best Inventions of 2024 (BusinessWire)
IDUN: Design and Validation of EEG Biomarkers for Transcranial Photobiomodulation (LinkedIn)
First Subject Enrolled in Tivic Health’s Optimization Study for its Non-Invasive Vagus Nerve Stimulation Device (Tivic)
Teledyne: A randomized study on the effect of a wearable device using 0.75 Hz transcranial electrical stimulation on sleep onset insomnia (Frontiers in Neuroscience)
The 'Enormous' Promise of Focused Ultrasound Now Coming True (MedScape)
Decoding the ultimate computer (Digital Frontier)
NeuroEM Uses Radio Frequencies to Reverse Cognitive Decline from Alzheimer’s (Startup Health)
Opto: Bioelectronics and Brain Cancer (Medium)
How Brain Health Is Shaping the Future of Healthcare Investment (Dallas Magazine)
NeuroBionics selected as MedTech Innovator Grand Prize Finalists at The MedTech Conference in Toronto (LinkedIn)
Rice University creates new company in TMC's Helix Park campus to launch startups (Biz Journal)
Brain scans begin for nationwide Alzheimer’s disease study (U of Wisconsin)
“The five-year study, which launched participant brain scanning in August 2024, involves 37 National Institutes of Health-funded Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers across the United States.”
Lenovo Unveils a Photorealistic A.I. Avatar Designed to Help Dementia Patients (Observer)
Report: The Future of AI in Senior Living and Care (AgingInPlace)
New Milken Institute Report Details Roadmap to Guide AI for Research on Neurodegenerative Diseases (Business Wire)
Omniscient Neurotechnology: Her Job Was Talking on the Radio. Then Suddenly, Words Wouldn’t Come. (NYTimes)
Precision: Designing Brain-Computer Interfaces That Connect Neurons to the Digital World (Harvard Medicine)
Artinis launches mobile app for NIRS recording in the field (Artinis)
Platform Wars: The future of the US therapy platform market (Hemingway Report)
ACQUANDAS Expansion plan (LinkedIn)
Note: Synchron acquired an equity stake in the manufacturer of their Stentrode earlier this year.
We Wanted to Find the Best Red Light Therapy Device to Help With Pain. Here’s Why We Can’t Recommend Any (NYT Wirecutter)
Banking on brain capital is a smart investment (Innovation AUS)
Neuralink’s Top Surgeon Is the Even-Handed Counterbalance to Musk (Bloomberg)
“Viewed one way, the surgeries were highly successful, with more than 1,000 electrodes implanted into each patient’s brain tissue…Viewed another, the procedures fell short, because in both cases most of the electrodes ultimately moved out of place. For Arbaugh, some 15% of the 1,024 electrodes remained in place, according to an interview Arbaugh gave to the Wall Street Journal. In the second patient, who was anonymous at press time, about 400, or 40%, of the electrodes provided signals…While Neuralink has been able to compensate with software fixes, the results are not ideal for the company, which has raised more than $500 million.”
Neurotech TV
Inside the Impact Board with Meryl Comer: Alzheimer's Policy Needs to Catch Up to Innovation (Startup Health)
EmTech 2024: The Rise of Neurotechnology and the New Autonomy ft. Synchron's CTO Riki Banerjee (MIT Tech Review)
Wearables, Neurotech, Productivity, and Pitching Jason Calacanis w/ LifeStack Founder Nao Yukawa (Dynamic Neurotech)
Your Gateway to Neurotech: The NeuroTech Micro-Credential Program with Susan Boehnke, PhD (Neurocareers)
Reading your mind: The future of brain privacy (Thomson Reuters Foundation)
Preserving the Brain: A Call to Action | conference day 2 (YouTube)
Podcast: Lucia Huang of Osmind: Innovative Solutions in Neuropsychiatry (Trip Report)
New treatment can help those with OCD (CTV)
Ethics & Society
Caregivers in implantable brain-computer interface research: a scoping review (Frontiers)
tldr: If you’re publishing about BCI, please try harder to include caregivers’ perspectives. And add to that, patients’ perspectives, too 👇🏽
Recovery Insights Following Spinal Cord Injury: A Consumer's Perspective (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America)
Hastings on the Hill: New Initiative funded by Greenwall Foundation will focus on Informing Policy on AI and Health (Hastings)
‘Horrifying’ mistake to take organs from a living “brain dead” person was averted, witnesses say (NPR)
Fiction: Rest In Virtual by Tommy Blanchard (Cognitive Wonderland)
Tommy is one of a kind. Equally thoughtful as a neuroscientist, a writer, and a parent. He’s inspiring me to write neurotech fiction. Would you read this?
From Vision To Reality: Promises & Risks of BCI (European Union)
Sex, Gender, and the Brain: The Women’s Brain Foundation and Medscape Education Announce Groundbreaking Learning Center (BusinessWire)
Building the American Brain Economy (Psychiatric Times)
Brain health is essential for smooth economic transitions: towards socio-economic sustainability, productivity and well-being (Brain Communications)
The legacy of Dr. Nick Hopkins by Adnan H. Siddiqui, MD, PhD (LINNC)
Neuroscience research to benefit society (Nature - Sponsored by Dana Foundation)
Shaping Neuroscience for Societal Good: SfN Reflections (Dana Foundation)
NewsWeek’s Top Hospitals for Neurosurgery (Newsweek)
….Hold on. There are patients and families out there relying on Newsweek to pick their brain surgeon??
Research
Bioelectronic Device Offers New Hope in the Fight Against Bacterial Infections (UCSD)
Neurotech Hub at Washington University St. Louis launches HubLink (WashU)
Do not lose sleep over it: Implanted BCI functionality during nighttime in late stage ALS (MedRxiv)
Harnessing the sensing and stimulation function of deep brain-machine interfaces: a new dawn for overcoming substance use disorders (Nature)
A review of temporal interference, nanoparticles, ultrasound, gene therapy, and designer receptors for Parkinson disease (Nature PD)
TouchInsight: Uncertainty-aware Rapid Touch and Text Input for Mixed Reality from Egocentric Vision (Arxiv | Video)
Can individual differences explain brain plasticity in blindness? (Trends in Cognitive Science | Author Thread on X)
New treatment for dementia opens up and focused ultrasound proves for the first time improvement in circulation of cerebrospinal fluid (Sports Chosun)
Non-invasive brain-machine interface control with artificial intelligence copilots (BioRxiv)
Magnetoelectrics for Implantable Bioelectronics: Progress to Date (Accounts of Chemical Research)
Great Leaps Forward in Brain-Computer Interfaces for ALS Communication (Neurology Today)
First surgery scheduled for graphene chip designed for next-gen brain implants — non-metallic chip could used for brain stimulation in the future (Microsoft Start)
A click-based electrocorticographic brain-computer interface enables long-term high-performance switch scan spelling (Nature)
If you are following the commercial BCI competition, this is a good technical read to understand what will become a key competitive dynamic (source) Vagus nerve stimulation in Parkinson’s disease: a scoping review of animal studies and human subjects research (Nature PD)
Brain waste-clearance system shown in people for first time (NIH)
Sensory-substitution based sound perception using a spinal computer–brain interface (Nature Scientific Reports)
The future of transcranial ultrasound as a precision brain interface (PLOS Biology)
A human brain network linked to restoration of consciousness after deep brain stimulation (MedRxiv)
New Tech Boosts Precision in Hand Neuroprostheses (Neuroscience News)
Oxygen imaging of hypoxic pockets in the mouse cerebral cortex (Science)
Are implantable, living pharmacies within reach? (Science)
“The next frontier in biohybrid systems is to refine and better integrate cell and electronic systems so that production of a biologic in vivo can last long term and can occur on demand.”
Implanted cortical neuroprosthetics for speech and movement restoration (Journal of Neurology)
To end this edition, I’ll refer you to this wonderful post by Dr. Kip Ludwig about reading neurotech papers. I wish I’d seen it a year ago! Excerpt below, but the full commentary (and responses) are worth checking out.
“It’s easy to think that for every paper you read, you need to understand at least the majority of the details, and that is a mistake early on. I’m a former English major, and most of the papers in the field are terribly written from that standpoint. They don’t write from a perspective of making it accessible to a naïve reader; they don’t even think about the naïve reader, just ‘getting through a review of experts’. The papers aren’t written with enough information/context for someone new to understand all or even most the details from reading that paper alone. The results don’t flow in a logical order, where information needed to understand a result is given before the result is given. Their results sections are often just a list of results without context like ‘what does this analysis mean, why is this analysis/technique appropriate, and how does it pertain to the main goals of the paper’. ”
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