One week ago I returned from a brief visit to India, primarily with my mom’s parents, 94 and 86 years old. After reuniting with various cousins and uncles and aunts, I also visited two paternal uncles living in a dementia care facility.
One of them was doing okay. Aging comes for us all.
Through time and space, across languages and borders, my brain, memories, senses, and self jiggled like jelly inside my skull, into my body and my relationships.
And, home: Recovery. Jet lag. Sick kid. Tired partner. Tight back. Inbox. Taxes.
And, exciting meetings every day. Updates coming soon - watch this space 👀
Neurotech is a lens. What do you see?
New players, people, papers, and public program participants so far in April.
Salute this week to my peeps on the Hill and Charm City for the INS Annual Meeting.
The last two weeks included World Parkinson’s Day, the 2024 Bioelectronic Medicine Forum, Minnesota Neuromodulation Symposium, MARS Conference, and more.
What else? Let’s dive in.
Funding
Syntropic spun out of Austrian tech incubator with 7-figure investment for light-based stimulation device (ISTA)
Neurava raises $2.3M for epilepsy monitoring tech (MassDevice)
Seaport Therapeutics Launches with $100 Million Series A for Novel Neuropsychiatric Medicines (PR Newswire)
Neurovalens wins FDA nod for anxiety-treating neuromod device, raises $2.65M (TechCrunch)
Empath Ventures funds Neurobionics for minimally-invasive neurostimulation (LinkedIn)
Commercial
Synchron prepares for large-scale clinical trial, launches patient registry for ALS, Stroke, MS patients (Reuters)
NeuroOne begins neuroablation system launch in U.S. (MassDevice)
Cognito Therapeutics Announces Spectris™ Demonstrates Durable Effects on Activities of Daily Living in the OVERTURE II Study (Business Wire) (Mass Device)
Precision Neuroscience Names Verily Co-Founder Brian Otis as Chief Technology Officer (Globe Newswire)
Brightmind.AI hires new CEO Tamara Gilbert (LinkedIn) and CSO
Swann Neurotech hires new CEO to commercialize biomaterial-based drug delivery platforms for peripheral nerve injuries (Pitt)
Divergence Neuro hires Kipton Lade as Commercial Leader (LinkedIn)
Saluda Medical gets coverage from Cigna and EviCore Evoke Neuromodulation System (PR Newswire)
Stifel Initiates Research Coverage of ONWARD Medical with a Buy Rating and Target Price of EUR 12.00 (Onward)
Neuraxis files 8-k, 300% increase in covered lives to 16m for their Percutaneous Electrical Nerve Field Stimulation, 8.4% drop in annual revenue to $2.5m in FY 2023 (Neuraxis)
Brainlab and Fujifilm Integrate Precision Ultrasound Technology for Neurosurgeons in the U.S. (Fujifilm)
Rippl partners with the Alzheimer’s Association to build national dementia care platform (Rippl)
Neurovigil, World’s Most Valuable Neurotech Company, Launches in US (EIN Presswire)
Note: This is not a belated April Fools joke. I’m only including this as guidance on how NOT to write a press release. Yikes.
Considering New and Emerging Treatment Strategies for Depression: Beyond STAR*D and the Monoamines (Osmind)
Note: After the buzz around the recent PHTI diabetes report, did you think to yourself, “Great - Now do neurotech?” Me too. Hit reply - let’s chat.
Regulatory
ONWARD Medical Submits De Novo Application to FDA for its ARC-EX® System (Globe Newswire)
ONWARD Medical Accepted into FDA’s TAP Program for Advancement of Spinal Cord Stimulation Technology (Healthcare Technology Report)
FDA Clears first Digital Therapeutic for depression from Otsuka and Click (PharmaPhorum)
FDA clears anti-anxiety device from Belfast-based Neurovalens (Business Post)
Fresh from the biotech pipeline: record-breaking FDA approvals (Nature)
SpineX Closes Recruitment for SCONE™ Clinical Trial (BusinessWire)
h2o Therapeutics' Apple Watch feature for Parkinson's gets FDA medical device listing (mobi health news)
CMS announces vendors for GUIDE dementia care model
Note: I’ve seen announcements from Rippl, Craniometrix, Harmonic Health. Who else was selected for this program?
Bill in Congress Would Force Action on U.S. Troops’ Blast Exposure (NYTimes)
NANS’ Efforts Ensure Coverage for Closed-loop SCS with Cigna and EviCore (NANS)
Articles, Analysis, Resources
ARPA-H announces medical imaging data partnership with FDA, launches stakeholder survey due April 16 - TOMORROW -(Announcement & Survey Link)
New Infographic: Know the Facts About Traumatic Brain Injury (Cohen Veterans’ Biosciences)
Focused Ultrasound Foundation releases 2023 Year in Review report (FUS Foundation)
The Dana Foundation Launches Multi-Million Dollar Initiative to Align Neuroscience to Societal Needs (PR Newswire)
Note: Read more about Dana’s vision here.
UK-based Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA) announces Precision Neurotechnologies for Human Therapeutics thesis + call for feedback (LinkedIn + ARIA)
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BRAIN at 10: A View from NINDS (NIH)
A dementia-focused VC digs past anti-amyloid for neuroscience diamonds in the rough (Pharma Voice)
Ignoring Digital Biomarkers Will Be Your Undoing (Clinical Leader)
The Body (Electric) Keeps the Score: Learning, Memory, and Cognition in Non-Neural Tissues (Trip Report)
Bridging Gaps in Brain Health Research (Duke)
4 ways to make our economy brain healthy (Brookings)
Changes in Caregiver Burden Following Unilateral Magnetic Resonance-Guided Focused Ultrasound Thalamotomy for Essential Tremor (Movement Disorders)
Note: This kind of research makes me so happy. “Does Neurotech Work?” is not just a scientific or clinical question. Brain health is public health.
Brain Computer Interfaces
Attention BCI technology developers: Tess Skyrme is seeking interviewees for a research project. You can email her or connect on LinkedIn.
What Neuralink Is Missing (The Atlantic)
Note: A critical read about the economics shaping the near-term market for BCI technology. My thoughts on why.
Myelin-H unveils Neuro-Chess: A (non-invasive) Brain-Controlled Chess Game (LinkedIn)
Inside Motif Neurotech’s DOT: Miniature battery-free epidural cortical stimulators (Motif Neurotech)
Science Fiction Becomes Reality With AI-Powered Mind Reading; The Consequences of the Data Gold Rush (The Information)
The ‘black sheep’ brain chip start-up backed by Bezos and Gates (Telegraph)
Neurotech start-ups will not give rise to superhumans (Financial Times)
🗓️ Events & Community
Do you live in or near Washington, DC? I’ll be in town for a couple of weeks next month. Hit Reply to let me know if you’d like to meet (and about what).
April 29: 2024 California Neurotech Conference - Virtual (CA Neurotech Conf)
April 30-May 1: Interface Rice (Rice.edu)
May 1: Transition from EFS to Pivotal for Implanted BCI Devices: Patient, Regulatory, and Reimbursement Perspectives - Webinar (MCRA)
May 2: Neurofeedback Intervention Development: Opportunities and Challenges -Virtual Workshop (NIH)
May 2: Neuronal Ensembles 2024 (Neurotechnology Center @ Columbia)
May 6-9: SynBioBeta’s Neurotech track - San Francisco (SynBioBeta)
May 14-Regeneron’s Second Digital Biomarker Summit (Regeneron)
May 21 - 22: Foresight Neurotech, BCI and WBE for Safe AI Workshop - Berkeley (Foresight Institute)
June 3-6: BIO 2024 - San Diego (BIO)
June 17-18: 10th Annual BRAIN Initiative Conference - Rockville, MD (NIH)
Sept 19th: Brainbox Initiative Conference 2024 for Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation - London (BrainBox)
Recaps and more
Recap: Beyond the Brain: Exploring the Potential of Neurotech at SXSW (Corundum Neuroscience)
Recap: Neuro Advances Panel: Highlighting the Main Opportunities -17th Annual European Life Sciences CEO Forum (Sachs)
Recap: Exploring the Bidirectional Relationship Between Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience: A Workshop (NASEM)
More Neurotech Newsletters! Subscribe to Kaleida Capital’s quarterly, by Dr. Ariane Tom, and Dynamic Neurotech’s periodical, by Robert Murcko.
Did you see Institute of Neuroethics’ rebrand?
👀 What did I miss? What’s coming up? Reply so I can add it next time.
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❤️ Please click the heart and share with anyone who’s into the future of brain health!
Thanks for posting, and looking at your post through the Neurotech lens of my company NeuroBright - www.neurobrighttheone.com - we are developing leading edge neuromodulation devices using light and soundwaves that help improve sleep, reduce stress and burnout, whilst improving cognitive function like memory and problem solving. Although we're currently in the HealthTech space, we also have on our roadmap the development of a medtech device to help manage conditions like Alzheimer's and dementia, based on the research from Cognito Therapeutics (MIT spinout). Our vision is to develop a device with brain sensors and AI that learns about the health of the user, and delivers experiences to improve mental wellness and help unlock human potential. Would be interesting to hear your thoughts on what we're building? Thanks, Stephen.