California-based digital health company Neurotrack has a few very notable announcements out Wednesday.
First, the availability of its cognitive assessment test, the Neurotrack Imprint. The webcam-based test is aimed to help those with diseases like Alzheimer’s track recognition memory in order to detect risks before behavioral symptoms show up — and it only takes five minutes. The test, which uses eye-tracking technology to detect hippocampal impairment, will now be available to be administered by select physicians this year.
As Neurotrack co-founder and CEO Elli Kaplan explained in an interview, as humans we are all born with a preference for novelty for survival reasons, to seek out new things in our environment, whether consciously or subconsciously.
Neurotrack is using this natural preference to track recognition memory. With the test, users will see a duo of carefully developed images, some identical to each other, some clearly not — some abstract and some familiar images. The eye-tracking technology monitors how preference for novelty recognition occurs visually, essentially identifying what stands out as interesting and what doesn’t and how that differs for individuals.
Here are a couple of examples.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Secondly, the company is launching the beta version of its cognitive health program. The digital lifestyle program, which will be used alongside the cognitive test, is designed to slow down the progression of cognitive deterioration. Although there is currently no cure for Alzheimer’s or some other cognitive diseases, lifestyle choices are the most helpful approach to slow down decline.
In addition to these developments, Neurotrack has also shared news of a $6.5 million Series A round of funding led by Khosla Ventures with contribution from Social+ Capital and Founders Fund as well.
This round brings total funding at this point to $9.5 million, and the new financing will be used for research, product development and further recruiting.
Thus far, Neurotrack’s technology has been used in Alzheimer’s studies and pharmaceutical trials at various institutes, including Brown University, Harvard University, Emory University’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Standford University, Weill Cornell Medical Center and NYU Langone Medical Center.
Photo: Flickr user Andrew M. Butler
