Neurotech Notables #16: Sept 2024
💔 Thunderbolts and Ecosystems❤️🔥
Hello Readers.
First, the bad news. We got a shocking but early-stage diagnosis for my dad last week. We’re entering a clinical trial soon. There’s a path to a cure, but it’s stormy seas ahead. I’m doing reasonably well so far. Special thanks to some. You know who you are.
Please pardon any brief delays in correspondence or publication cadence in the coming weeks and months. If you want to help me out, you can forward any notable commercial headlines or resources that cross your radar in the weeks ahead. 💓
And, now back to the regularly scheduled program…
💬 Since last time, two people have asked me about neurotech options for upper limb motor restoration following a stroke. One is a high school friend near Worcester MA inquiring for his father. Another is a reader based in Atlanta who shared the following:
I lost my left side motor function back in 2023 from a TBI and related strokes. I try to keep up with developing neuroscience in hopes that one day there will be a device that will repair what I was not able to recover through regular therapy.
With all that said, do you know of any companies working on devices being developed that are for motor impaired people like myself to recover or restore function? If so, will you pass it on to me in the future or in your response to me?
I hope I’m not the only one hoping for this type of neurotechnology.
📋 I sent a quick list: ipsihand by Neurolutions, Vivistim’s VNS device, and g.tec’s recoveriX. Reach Neuro’s Avantis also crossed my inbox. I know there are more, so I’m asking for your help. If you are aware of a company/leader working on this and interested in talking to patients, or any relevant resources or organizations to contact, especially research centers or trial sites in one of those regions, please let me know.
🎓 Last week I had the privilege to share some reflections about exploring career paths in a virtual breakout room for Dana Foundation’s Career Network series. The energy and ambition of The Youth was palpable. If you need interns, please reach out to me!
As this substack evolves into ecosystem of ideas and exchanges, I’ve got some exciting Q&A’s coming soon. Meanwhile, the commercial ecosystem continues taking shape:
Synchron’s news kicks off a busy week of BCI Futures in DC, wherein the iBCI-CC’s inaugural gathering followed by the FDA-NIH meeting will undoubtedly help shape the agency’s playbook for regulatory decision making, program design, and more.
Meanwhile, low-intensity or transcranial focused ultrasound has officially entered the hype cycle, soon to be followed by vision BCI, see pop-up below.
I am bullish on new industry-led research partnerships powered by novel biomarkers or neuroimaging. I predict Charles River’s deal with Insightec will trigger an neurotech arms race in CRO. And don’t sleep on Apple’s news; their research platform is clinical grade and they don’t mess around.
Lastly: My calendar hates me but I’m keen on talking to experts in Deep Brain Stimulation in the weeks ahead; I am helping someone with Parkinson’s evaluate vendors for a potential implantation this fall and working on my next teardown.
Besides that, the usual: Some modest funding with some cool grants, new hires, lots of partnerships, cool research, key conversations, much more.
Thanks, as always for reading. I really appreciate each and every one of you. 🙏🏽
🧿Vision BCI are Coming
I’ve gathered almost enough background material to start building a teardown here. Hit reply if you’re interested, have data or intel to share, or want to help.
Cortigent files S-1 (SEC)
Pioneering Vision: U-M BME Researchers Get $2.3M grant to Focus on Retinal Prosthesis Technology (UMich)
World’s first whole-eye transplant: the innovations that made it possible (Nature)
A flexible high-precision photoacoustic retinal prosthesis (BioRxiv)
Funding
Discure Technologies Announces $16 Million in Financing Led by BOLD Capital Partners, Supernova Invest and Sanara Capital (PR Newswire)
Spark Biomedical Awarded National Institute on Drug Abuse Funding to Develop AI Algorithm for Opioid Withdrawal and Cravings Detection (Spark Biomedical)
Don’t let the grant size fool you, this is a cool study. Closed loop is in.
Dr. Brandon Fox of Barrow Neurological Institute—recipient of a $100k grant from the Flinn Foundation—leads development of device and methodology for the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) that will not rely on mechanical pain stimulation to examine a patient’s level of consciousness. (LinkedIn)
Center for Innovative NeuroTech Advancement (CINTA) & NeuroTech Harbor (NTH) announce next Funding Opportunity, due Oct 4th (Blueprint Medtech)
NIH issues notice of support for dissemination of BRAIN Initiative tools at resource-limited institutions (NIH BRAIN)
ARPA-H Announces EHI, a new funding opportunity for early career researchers and community health centers (ARPA-H)
Commercial
Synchron Announces First Use of Amazon’s Alexa with a Brain Computer Interface (Business Wire)
Dr. Oxley has announced integrations with Open AI, Apple, and now Amazon. Tesla must be next? ;-) “Synchron aims to expand the possibilities for smart home automation, enabling patients to use their thoughts to interact with a wide range of Alexa-compatible devices, from lights and plugs to thermostats and cameras, without the need for voice or physical interaction with a touch-screen.”
Apple adding sleep apnea feature to smartwatch (Medtech Watch)
See also Apple’s FDA nod for hearing aid airpods 👀
Johnson & Johnson consolidates medtech brands under single banner (Fierce)
Before the end of the decade I’m predicting J&J launches a Thor-in-Wakanda style entry into Neurotech. What do you think?
Spark Biomedical launches Sparrow Link, a research program (Spark)
PhotoPharmics Welcomes Three Renowned Experts to Its Clinical & Scientific Advisory Board (PR Newswire)
Firefly Neuroscience Appoints Dr. Stella Vnook to its Board of Directors (Globe Newswire)
Osmind Increases Access to Breakthrough Mental Health Treatments through Partnerships with Enthea and First Tracks Health (Osmind)
From August: Ceribell files for IPO (SEC)
NEURii - 2 year pilot with U of Edinburgh to scan up to 1.6m images and linked medical records with AI to build prediction tools for people with dementia. This is actually a Pharma R&D JV - “The partnership comprises of LifeArc, the global pharmaceutical company Eisai, Gates Ventures, the University of Edinburgh, and the national health data science organisation Health Data Research UK.”
Charles River and Insightec Announce Strategic Collaboration to Advance Therapeutic Development Utilizing Focused Ultrasound in Neuroscience (PR Newswire)
Signal Alert! Send me your thoughts on this one: “A five-year strategic collaboration to provide Charles River's clients access to a comprehensive global service and technology platform for the application of focused ultrasound (FUS) for drug discovery and preclinical development of therapeutics in neuroscience… Insightec's novel low-frequency ultrasound platform non-invasively disrupts the blood brain barrier, enabling drugs to be delivered to targeted brain areas.”
ICON launches Outcomes Measures to enable endpoints in clinical trials (ICON)
Koneksa Announces Regeneron Joins Data Syndication Program for Parkinson’s Digital Biomarkers Study (Business Wire)
Rune Labs Adds LLM to Parkinson’s App, Personalizes Care Insights (Inside Precision Medicine)
Variscite and Peridio Partner to Accelerate Development of Edge AI Devices (Business Newswire)
MicroVention rebrands to Terumo Neuro (Mass Device)
CVRx has more positive Barostim data (Mass Device)
Neuromod tech developer Neuspera appoints first COO (Mass Device)
Zeto inks partnership with Firefly Neuroscience (Mass Device)
Hinge Health unveils new FDA-cleared wireless pain relief device (Mass Device)
Oura Acquires Metabolic Health Platform Veri for CGM tracking (Fitt Insider)
Neurotechnology releases multimodal biometric authentication development tool (Biometric Update)
Medtronic has a new chief medical officer for robotics, digital tech (Mass Device)
ElectroCore CFO retires, promotes replacement from within (Mass Device)
Brett Wingeier rejoins Neuropace as VP of Research & Development (LinkedIn)
NextSense Appoints Duy Phan as VP of Engineering (Business Wire)
Tivic Health Appoints Lisa Wolf as Interim Chief Financial Officer (Business Wire)
Osmo launches Scientific Advisory Board (Osmo)
Regulatory
FDA approves some Apple AirPods to be used as hearing aids (NPR)
neurocare group Receives FDA Clearance for Its Industry-Leading iTBS Protocol for TMS (neurocare group)
FDA OKs Turing Medical's Precision Brain Mapping for Neuromodulation (MPO)
DeepWell DTx wins FDA clearance of software development kit, with first indications for stress reduction and hypertension (MassDevice)
DeepWell said its software “provides biostimulation in interactive media that activates the user’s vagus nerve while greatly increasing patient engagement, reducing sympathetic nervous system activation, and releasing dopamine for coping that improves resilience to reduce stress and hypertension.”
From July: Soterix Medical Announces FDA 510(k) Clearance of MEGA-IOM Intraoperative Neuromonitoring System (PR Newswire)
Big Health gains Clearance for DaylightRx, first FDA cleared non-drug treatment for generalized anxiety disorder. (Big Health)
iRhythm wins regulatory nod in Japan for Zio ECG (Mass Device)
Industry
Focused Ultrasound for Psychiatric Disorders: Workshop White Paper Now Available (FUS Foundation)
SEMA Lab Launches Crowdfunding Campaign for Ultrasound-Enhanced Meditation Retreat (PR.com)
Transcranial Focused Ultrasound for Mental Health with Jay Sanguinetti of Sanmai (PsyMed)
Eric Topol: Slowing the Pace of Brain Aging (Ground Truths)
From Stephen Hawking to basketball jump clinics: Control Bionics on the promise of EMG technology (Market Screener)
Alto: Bringing Imaging Biomarkers Into Clinical Reality in Psychiatry (Jama | LinkedIn)
🍿 Commercial Interests and EEG Data Collection (Editor)
Building the future of brain health (Sunnybrook)
Wharton Neuroscience and RMT Partner to Help Brands Grow and Advance Science (Business Wire)
Your ZIP Code Could Determine If You Get Diagnosed with Dementia in Time (Being Patient)
PSA: I’m bullish on the integration neurotech data into clinical EHR. Real-world precision neurology at the public health level could be a few chess moves away and a couple years away. “Depending on a person’s ZIP code, they might be as much as 28 percent less likely to get a timely diagnosis, or, if they’re lucky, 36 percent more likely — a more than 60-point span.”
For Patients on Discontinued Aduhelm, What Now? (Being Patient)
The opportunity for neurotech to impact and evolve Alzheimer’s treatment is only going to grow.
BrainPatch.AI: How a British neurotech startup built a working prototype fast, using Arduino Nano 33 IoT (BlogDot)
Convergence Partners: Brain + Invest Sept 2024 (LinkedIn)
New in Human Flourishing: Back to School 2024 (Amy Kruse)
Neurotech monthly. February-June 2024 (Peter Zhegin)
OneMind Accelerator Opens Applications - Due Oct 31 (OneMind)
Events
The full list is now anchored.
🗽Hello, New York! 🎃
I’ll be moderating a panel of brilliant speakers following Dr. Kevin Tracey’s morning remarks at the Biofuture Conference Oct 28-30 in NYC. Details soon; Register today.
I’ll also be at Mount Sinai’s New York BCI Symposium. Reach out to meet up!
Neurotech.TV
One year later, Keith Thomas lifts and drinks from cup (Northwell Health)
How to Protect Your Brain from Aging (BBC)
Neurobionics: 2024 MTI Best Video Competition (Neurobionics)
A Brain Computer Interface (BCI) for detection of stress in individuals with Autism (Wearable Sensing)
Gray Matters: A Biography of Brain Surgery, with Theodore H. Schwartz, MD (Center for Brain Health)
Society & Neuroethics
A ‘Dopamine Fast’ Will Not Save You From Addiction (NYTimes)
National Science Foundation Awards Fordham Researcher $400K to Study Ethics and Neurotechnology (Fordham)
Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (UNESCO)
Always on my mind? A Catholic approach to neurotechnology and mental privacy (National Catholic Reporter)
Do You Have Alzheimer’s? New Diagnostic Criteria Might Change the Answer (Being Patient)
Important discussion here about conflict of interests, industry and agency ties to new blood tests, questions of mass testing and multimodal biomarkers in practice
Research
Electrocore Study Suggests Non-invasive Vagus Nerve Stimulation (nVNS) is effective in accelerating United States Air Force Pilot Training (Globe Newswire)
Battling chronic pain with noninvasive focused ultrasound (CMU)
Effect of repeated sessions of tDCS on subjective and objective measures of recovery and performance in soccer players following a soccer match simulation (Nature Scientific Reports)
rTMS as a Next Step in Antidepressant Nonresponders: A Randomized Comparison With Current Antidepressant Treatment Approaches (Psychiatry Online)
Modality.AI: Multimodal Technologies for Remote Assessment of
Neurological and Mental Health (JSLHR)
Researchers combine the power of AI and the connectome to predict brain cell activity (HHMI)
Noninvasive targeted modulation of pain circuits with focused ultrasonic waves (Pain)
ninjaNIRS: an open hardware solution for wearable whole-head high-density functional near-infrared spectroscopy (Biomedical Optics Express)
Transcranial focused ultrasound precise neuromodulation: a review of focal size regulation, treatment efficiency and mechanisms (Frontiers in Neuroscience)
Tianjin University sets up first brain-computer interface program to cultivate interdisciplinary personnel (Global Times)
👋🏽 Collaborators and Sponsors: I am starting 2025 planning. Let’s brainstorm!
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