Neurotech Notables #25: Feb 2025

💌Neurotech Valentine: Big 🧠+ Big 🫀= Big Impact

Hello Readers: Happy Valentine’s Day and Happy Friday.

The bioelectronic heart-brain connection is one of the many exciting corners of neurotech and human health.

Did you know the heart has its own mini-brain called the intracardiac nervous system? Last year, the American Heart Association launched a $75m heart-brain fund, an accelerator, and an innovation network.

This week features promising data from carotid baroreflex activation therapy, advances in consumer heart monitoring, and yes, heartbreak over NIH cuts.

This edition of notables brings you the last two weeks of commercial headlines from all corners of the neurotech field, including but not limited to:

• More BCI Funding, with two major global deals. To understand BCI valuation in the US market, see my chat with Precision Neuroscience’s CEO Michael Mager, published yesterday.

• A roundup of new commercial appointments and announced partnerships featuring consumer products, services, clinical delivery, network access, platform development, and more.

• FDA greenlights in DBS, Stroke, neuroimaging. Positive clinical news from Alto, CVRx, Bluewind, Cognito, Cortechs.ai, Abbott, and others.

• Industry news and views from Neuralink, Apple, Meta, Oura. Industry experts share thoughts on hardware vs. software innovation, non-invasive tech’s promise, clinical strategy, economic evidence.

• Multiple research papers on novel materials and methods in sleep-tracking. Plus: Fresh Pods. New Grants. Crypto Things. BCI Memecoin.

Hit Reply and connect with me to share what you’re working on, send me news, ask questions, talk shop, or best of all, discuss partnership opportunities to curate and develop content.

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Have a great weekend! Share a Valentine’s hug (& forward a Notable 🫶🏽)

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NANS

• Registration Opens Next Week for Neural Interfaces 2025

• NANS 2026 Call For Proposals Open through March 11

TTP

• Engineering Commercial Success: The Five Stages of Medical Device Design and Development

• Learn about TTP’s recent collaboration with Remedius that used advanced computational modeling to improve electrode design

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Funding

• NEOM Investment Fund partners with Paradromics to drive innovation in neurotechnology healthcare (NEOM)

• Report: Chinese BCI startup StairMed brings in $48M (MassDevice)

• Grey Matter Neurosciences secures $14M for Alzheimer's Disease (MobiHealthNews)

• Newronika closes $14.1M Series B to support adaptive DBS (MassDevice)

• Bearcat Ventures invests $100,000 in Sense Neuro (LinkedIn)

• Nyakern NexusNyakern announces investment in Cognixion (LinkedIn)

• Neuronetics prices $18M offering (MassDevice)

  • Neuronetics’ 2024 Greenbrook TMS acquisition last year may be driving their forecast. Also, “Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.59% of the company's stock.”

• SBRI Healthcare awards £3m to accelerate innovations that support children and young people who have asthma, epilepsy, and/or diabetes (SBRI)

• Kessler Foundation in partnership with Overlook Medical Center is first in NJ to implant novel spinal stimulator (PR Newswire)

• Brain & AI Team at Meta announce $2.2m in funding for language decoding and AI research and publish two papers on cognitive decoding for text and action (LinkedIn)

• Corundum Convergence Institute Funds MIT Project to Research Algorithmic Solutions Addressing Causes of Neurodegeneration in Aging Humans (PR Newswire)

• Branchout Foundation announces Special Purpose Grant: Transform Neurological Health Research with Sex and Gender Data (Branch Out | LinkedIn)

  • Award is up to $27,000 CAD of research costs, including costs of My Normative platform plus up to $30,000 CAD in in-kind contributions from My Normative.

Commercial

• NHS NICE announces major changes to economic evidence requirements for health technology assessment (LinkedIn | NICE)

  • Is this related to the NHS’s (new?) Early Value Assessments?

• MYndspan and BIOS Health Partner to Make Consumer-Scale Precision Neuroscience a Reality (PR Newswire)

• Wyss Center Partners with BrainScape Medical to License Groundbreaking Epios® Technology (BusinessWire)

• Neuro Wellness TMS Centers of America Expands its Center of Excellence with the Addition of SAINT® TMS Therapy (EIN Presswire)

• NXR Partners with Emotiv to Launch Revolutionary Emotional Heat-mapping Technology (Malaysian Reserve)

• Tivic Health Acquires Exclusive Worldwide Rights to Phase III TLR5 Agonist from Statera Biopharma (Businesswire)

• JOGO partners with Ramaiah Memorial Hospital in Bangalore to provide digital pelvic floor treatments (LinkedIn)

• Synchron hires Omid Fourozan as VP of Clinical (LinkedIn)

• Nikhil George joins Precision Neuroscience as Head of Software & AI (LinkedIn)

• MedRhythms Hires Joel Behnke as Chief Commercial Officer; Announces New Publications in Support of InTandem® (PR Newswire)

• Epitel appoints former Dexcom, Inc. Executive Steven Pacelli as CEO (LinkedIn)

• Beacon Biosignals appoints Leticia Soto as Vice President of Quality (LinkedIn)

• Rune Labs hires Chief Revenue Officer Zach Henderson (LinkedIn)

• CoMind appoints Simon Morling as Chief Operating Officer (LinkedIn)

• Neurolief Appoints Dr. Owen Muir as Chief Medical Officer to Drive Innovation in Depression Treatment (PR Newswire)

• Cutting Edge Health to improve neuromodulation therapies with new partnership (GlobaData)

• Cognito Therapeutics Strengthens Executive Team with 4 C-Suite Appointments (CityBiz)

• Medtronic, Boston Scientific settle Axonics IP dispute (MassDevice)

• electroCore Expands Intellectual Property Portfolio (ElectroCore)

• Neuros Medical and Veterans Healthcare Supply Solutions Partner to Provide Revolutionary Treatment for Chronic Post-Amputation Pain to Veteran and Active-Duty Military Amputees at VA Healthcare and Military Treatment Facilities (PR Newswire)

• SynchNeuro emerges from stealth with focus on brain-guided, non-invasive continuous glucose monitor for people with pre-diabetes (LinkedIn)

• Apple brings heart rate monitoring to Powerbeats Pro 2 (TechCrunch)

• CVRx: Real-world analysis of healthcare utilization with baroreflex activation therapy for heart failure (Journal of Cardiac Failure)

• CVRx stock dips on Q4 EPS miss (MassDevice)

• Globus Medical to Acquire Nevro Corp. to Expand Treatment Options for Patients (Globe Newswire)

  • Analysis from Tom Salemi and others in the comments.

• Spine surgeons predict 'business as usual' after Stryker sale of spinal implants business to PE Firm (Becker’s Spine)

  • “So you have a company that was slow to innovate, but had about 10% market share in the U.S. spine market that decided spine was not worth the effort.” - Dr. Lali Sekhon, who added, “Most of us don't drive Hyundai for a lot of reasons. Most of us did not use Stryker spine for similar reasons.”

  • LSI’s analysis: Over 50% of the $11.5B Spine Devices Market is dominated by three companies: Globus Medical, Medtronic, and Johnson & Johnson.

Regulatory

• RFK Jr. confirmed as HHS secretary (MedTech Dive)

  • Giddy Up. The FDA and other agencies face seemingly guaranteed change. What are your predictions, and top concerns?

• NIH Funding Cuts would lower Indirect Costs to 15%

  • Commentary on the impact of these cuts here, here, here, and here.

• Neuvotion Receives FDA Clearance for NeuStim™ Providing Non-Invasive, High-Resolution Stimulation for the Hand After Stroke or Spinal Cord Injury (News Journal)

• Newronika Receives Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) from FDA to Initiate U.S. Clinical Trial of Adaptive DBS System (PR Newswire)

• PathMaker Neurosystems Announces IRB Approval for DoD-funded Clinical Trial of the MyoRegulator Device in ALS (Globe Newswire)

• FDA clears AI 3D head, neck imaging tech from RapidAI (MassDevice)

• Mobile Stroke Units—Time for Legislation and Remuneration (Jama Neurology)

• The Evolution of Digital Health Policy: A 2024 Retrospective and 2025 Outlook (Eversana)

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Industry

• A Year of Telepathy (Neuralink)

  • There is a lot here. Did you know they had a registered clinical trial called Control of Assistive Devices Via Brain-Computer Interface Technology (CONVOY)? Does anybody more about the strategy of running interlinked/sub-population clinical trials in neurotech? I would love to see other examples, especially in BCI.

• $3.6 Bn Wearable Bioelectronic Skin Patches Industry Analysis 2025-2030 (Globe Newswire)

• Meta Invests $100 Billion into Augmented Reality Smart Glasses, Virtual Reality Headsets, Mixed Reality Quest, Metaverse Portfolio (XR Today)

• Neurogen Biomarking Announces Collaboration with Linus Health Bringing Easy Access to Cutting-Edge Technology to Support Early Detection of Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia due to Alzheimer's Disease (BusinessWire)

• Neurotech landscape: the gap between application diversity and modality uniformity (Peter Zhegin)

  • Good analysis and forecast from Peter here.

• MicroTransponder Vivistim nerve stim tech delivers positive stroke outcomes (MassDevice)

• New epilepsy tool could cut misdiagnoses by nearly 70% using routine EEGs (JHU)

  • EpiScalp is being commercialized by Neurologic Solutions

• BlueWind data highlights durability, safety of Revi neuromod (MassDevice)

• Alto Neuroscience Announces Favorable Outcome from Interim Analysis of ALTO-300 Phase 2b Major Depressive Disorder Trial (Alto)

• Cognito Therapeutics Announces Spectris™ Treatment Demonstrates Myelin and Synaptic Biomarker Changes in Alzheimer’s Disease (BusinessWire)

• Cortechs.ai, EDAP highlight HIFU procedure for prostate cancer (AuntMinnie)

• NANS25: Abbott touts sustained pain relief with spinal cord stimulator (First Word Health Tech)

• Vielight Unveils Neuro Pro 2: The Most Advanced Transcranial Photobiomodulation Device to Date (MorningStar)

• Canaery: A Nose-Computer Interface Could Turn Dogs Into Super Detectors (Wired)

• Mint Neuro: Inspiration turns into application for Imperial’s neural implant research (Imperial)

• E11: Barcoding Brains (Asimov Press)

• Elementa Labs 2025 Winter Cohort includes OBELAB’s advancing portable brain imaging tech (LinkedIn)

• Cognixion joins IUCRC Brain Center as Industry Partner (LinkedIn)

• Neuroscientist Turns iPhone Into a Stress-Relief Tool with Scientifically-Backed Vibration Technology (BusinessWire)

• Top 5 Do’s and Don’ts for TMS & Ketamine Clinics (MyKohi)

• Oura’s Ovulation Detection Algorithm Outperforms Calendar Tracking Method in New Validation Study (Oura JMIR)

• Firefly Neuroscience Accepted into NVIDIA Connect Program (BioSpace)

Neurotech.TV

• He Helped Legally Blind People Read Again | Max Hodak, Science Corp (First Principles)

• Podcast: Breakthrough Revolutionary Depression Treatment- BCI Neuro-modulator | Nick Halper I Motif Neurotech (1CW)

• Brain implant helps man with paralysis regain movement (NBC News)

  • I met Kevin and wrote about Northwell’s neural bypass work last fall.

• "Neurotechnologies from a Multidisciplinary Perspective Conference December 16,2024” Part_1 (Kadir Has University)

• Temporal Interference: The Future of Brain Stimulation with Nir Grossman (Psymed Ventures)

• A Sensory Stimulation Headset for Alzheimer’s? A Neuropsychologist on the Clinical Trial (Being Patient)

• Pod: A New Low-Profile Intracranial Device Platform for Neurosurgery with Jesse Christopher, CEO, Longeviti Neuro Solutions (State of Medtech)

Society

• BCI Pioneer Nathan Copeland just launched a memecoin to try to pay for his assistive care and transportation.

• Enhanced Games announces Series B funding (Enhanced Games)

• The Brain Advantage for a Thriving Economy: A Global Call to Action (CSPC)

• brAIn drAIn: The enhancement and atrophy of human cognition go hand in hand (Intrinsic Perspective)

• $XNRV Token Launch Empowers Global Well Being Through Decentralized Neurotechnology And AI Driven Healthcare (The Crypto Basic)

• Foundational guidelines for enhancing neurotechnology research and development through end-user involvement (Journal of Neural Engineering | Medical XPress)

• Towards device technologies non-invasive to our daily lives (Nature Communications)

• How Willing are Consumers to share their health data? (Rock Health)

Research

• Identifying new therapeutics for focused ultrasound-enhanced drug delivery in the management of glioblastoma (Frontiers in Oncology)

• Auricular bioelectronic devices for health, medicine, and human-computer interfaces (Frontiers in Electronics)

  

  A) taVNS devices from Soterix Medical, Neuvana’s Xen, Cerbomed GmbH’s Nemos, Salustim’s TInnoff. In row B: IST, LLC’s BRAIN Buds

• Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) For Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) (Frontier Psychiatrists)

• Intracranial substrates of meditation-induced neuromodulation in the amygdala and hippocampus (PNAS)

• UK-France Mental Health Biomarkers Consortium launches (LinkedIn)

• Accelerated Intermittent Theta-Burst Stimulation for Treatment-Resistant Bipolar Depression: A Randomized Clinical Trial (Jama)

• Recommendations for the Safe Application of Temporal Interference Stimulation in the Human Brain Part I: Principles of Electrical Neuromodulation and Adverse Effects (Bioelectromagnetics)

• The Use of Magnetoencephalography in the Diagnosis and Monitoring of Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries and Post-Concussion Syndrome (MPDI)

• A novel single-lead percutaneous approach for multi-nerve peripheral stimulation in upper extremity pain: A case report (Interventional Pain Medicine)

• Next generation bioelectronic medicine: making the case for non-invasive closed-loop autonomic neuromodulation (Bioelectronic Medicine)

• Using Passive BCI for Personalization of Assistive Wearable Devices: A Proof-of-Concept Study (IEEE)

• Adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation: From Experimental Evidence Toward Practical Implementation (Movement Disorders)

• Researchers Identify a Brain Circuit for Creativity (Mass General | Jama)

• Can Boosting Cerebrospinal Fluid During Sleep Prevent Neurodegeneration (SleepReviewMag)

• Comparing self reported and physiological sleep quality from consumer devices to depression and neurocognitive performance (NPJ Digital Medicine | Blog Post)

• Wearable sleep tracker could help guide GLP-1 treatment of obesity-related sleep apnoea (First Word Health Tech)

• A deep learning–enabled smart garment for accurate and versatile monitoring of sleep conditions in daily life (PNAS)

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🗞️ In case you missed it: Recent Editions and Newsletters

Neurotech Insider #2: Precision Neuroscience's CEO Michael Mager on BCI Valuations (and more)

Neurotech Notables #24: Jan 2025

Neurotech Notables #23: Jan 2025

Welcome to Neurotech Insider!

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