“In like a lion” sums up the last two weeks in neurotech.
Over a fortnight featuring conference spotlights across Texas, over $200m in new funding, a slew of upcoming events, and some well-deserved R&R (regulatory and reimbursement) decisions, the most groundbreaking headline was the emergence of a new collaborative community to guide BCI into the future. I’m geeked - see below.
On that note, Happy Brain Awareness Week.
“We are living in a magical time for neuroscience. Cures are on the horizon, with the opportunity to give people back elements of living that have been stolen by disease. At the same time, it’s essential that we move ahead carefully, listen to what affected individuals and their loved ones think about this research before it begins, and also consider vital but difficult questions about equitable access to such technologies.”
💵Fundraising
Phagenesis raises $42m to take medical device for swallowing disorders to the US (Sifted)
The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation Announces $3.1m spinal cord injury research grants (PR Newswire)
Neurable closes $2M contract from US Army (LinkedIn)
Matter Neuroscience raises $26m from ARCH & Polaris for happiness Biomarker (Business Insider)
Nalu Medical closes $85 million Series E financing round (NeuroNews)
BrainCheck Secures $15 Million for Digital Cognitive Assessment and Care Planning Platform (BrainCheck, Axios)
Forest Neurotech raises an additional $14m from Convergent Reserach, a Focused Research Organization (Business Wire)
NAQI Logix receives $1.1m for neural earbuds from Innovative Solutions Canada Program (Newswire)
Envoy Medical Secures $10 Million for cochlear implant clinical trial (EIN News)
Battelle Collaborates With Spark Biomedical $1.15 Million DoD Grant (MedDevice Online)
Helsinki-based Sooma secures €5 million to brain stimulate yourself out of depression from home (EU Startups)
🗞️Industry News
The Implantable Brain-Computer Interface Collaborative Community (iBCI-CC) launched with a who’s who of participation from foundations, leading startups, patient advocates, and the FDA. (Press Release, Bloomberg News)
To build on last week’s thoughts in Forbes: Patient advocates - the only people who have actually used and experienced BCI - bring the most trusted perspective to the discussion on BCIs future: Optimizing human impact of these technologies for people seeking help.
Their collaboration and leadership, alongside developers and regulators across tech, clinical, business, policy, human, societal, and ethical factors is good news for the whole world.
My hope: As hype inflates and peaks, and after it fades - spoiler alert: hype always fades - this group will be equipped to sidestep optics and market pressures, and maintain a sober, balanced, and inclusive forum to guide the FDA on clinical translation.
The only thing that threw me: The acronym. But also, it’s kinda growing on me? Not that I’ve been practicing saying it out loud or anything.
Neuromod Prize brings new solutions one step closer to patients (Luminary Labs)
Cumulus Neuroscience Announces First Patient Enrolled in AccelADx EEG Study for Early Detection of Alzheimer's Dementia (Cumulus Blog)
First-in-human implant of a 'closed-loop' bioelectronic research system (University of Oxford)
Sensory Stimulation Detoxifies the Alzheimer’s Brain (IEEE)
Beacon Biosignals hires Dr. Sudhir Sivakumaran as Vice President of Translational Medicine (Beacon Blog)
Parasym Targets Long COVID through Neuromodulation (BNN)
ARPA-H announces medical imaging data partnership with FDA, launches stakeholder survey due April 16 (Announcement & Survey Link)
Note: This is not (yet) a “program,” but a potential precursor to one. ARPA-H is seeking specific input from organizations using, building, selling, or informing algorithms based on medical data.
That you? Submit via survey above. Got questions? Hit reply. I’m part of ARPANET-H; One of my roles is facilitating engagement with the agency.
🏛️Regulatory Updates
ONWARD Medical Accepted to New US FDA TAP Program for Development of its ARC-BCI™ System (Biospace)
Note: What are your key questions about TAP? Help me help you.
Helius Medical Technologies, Inc. Secures HCPCS Codes for Portable Neuromodulation Stimulator (Globe Newswire)
Note:☝🏽The “what.” The “so what?”👉🏽 Helius shares price target rose from $5 to $24 following CMS’s decision.
Neurolutions, Inc. Announces CMS HCPCS level 2 coding decision for IpsiHand (Business Wire)
Empatica Reveals Next Generation FDA-Cleared Epilepsy Watch and Launches AI Seizure Forecasting Study (Business Wire)
SetPoint Medical gets FDA breakthrough for nerve stim tech for multiple sclerosis (MassDevice)
Stimwave CEO convicted of fraud (Stat News, Justice.gov)
Note: Maybe not “regulatory” in the usual sense. This isn’t the first DoJ crackdown in neurotech…nor unfortunately will it likely be the last.
💡Articles, Analysis, Resources
BCI: Give it some thought (Stanford Magazine)
Your Next Job: BCI Surgeon (Wired)
BCIs Bridge Technology & Healthcare (UT News)
Virtual reality exposure plus electric brain stimulation offers a promising treatment for PTSD (Brown)
Disparities in the Treatment of Movement Disorders using DBS (LinkedIn)
Prelude to a new era of bionics (MIT)
SXSW Neurotech Recaps: Tanvi Reddy, Afshin Mehin Austin Chronicle
Event Recordings
“Clinical and User impacts on BCI” with Paul Wanda (BlackRock Microsystems), Mijail Serruya (Thomas Jefferson University) and Ian Burkhart (Patient Advocate) (B-Cratos)
Sachs Associates 7th Annual Neuroscience Innovation Forum Investor Roundtable (YouTube)
Brain3 Summit Recordings (Center for Brain Health)
🗓️ Events & Community News
March 19-20: A2’s National Symposium - Empowering Innovation in AI/Tech & Aging (PennAITech)
March 21: Bringing Neuromodulation to the Advocacy Table (Neuromodec & Neurotech Network)
March 27: Dana Dialogue Series - When Brains and Computers Connect (Registration Link)
April 5: Bioelectronic Medicine Forum (Neurotech Reports)
April 17-19: International Neuroethics Forum (INS)
April 30-May 1: Interface Rice (Rice.edu)
May 2: Neuronal Ensembles 2024 (Neurotechnology Center @ Columbia)
May 21 - 22: Foresight Neurotech, BCI and WBE for Safe AI Workshop - Lighthaven, Berkeley (Foresight Institute)
June 17-18: 10th Annual BRAIN Initiative Conference - in Rockville, MD (NIH)
👀 What did I miss? Reply and let me know so I can add it next time.
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