Startups

Akili Interactive Labs CEO wants to see its video game platform prescribed as digital medicine

"We want this to stand alongside Adderall and other drugs as a doctor-prescribed treatment," CEO Eddie Martucci said. "Our goal is to make this a true digital medicine."

eddie martucci akili interactive labsFollowing its recent $30 million fundraise to advance its video game platform for neurological conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and Alzheimer’s disease, Akili Interactive Labs Co-founder and CEO Eddie Martucci took some time to highlight some of the funding milestones it has identified in a phone interview with me.

Project EVO’s Evo Challenge involves navigating a character on a platform around a series of obstacles and collecting different colored tokens and coins. The video game’s underlying platform was developed at the University of California at San Francisco in the labs of Dr. Adam Gazzaley. It combines an algorithm with visual mechanics to generate a baseline for each user. The game is designed to automatically adjust to the player’s functional level, whether they are a 70-year-old with a cognitive impairment or a 10 year-old with ADHD.

Its lead indication is ADHD and the goal of the videogame for this patient population is to prioritize sensory input.

Akili is in the preliminary stages of preparing its platform for FDA clearance for physicians prescribe it as “digital medicine,” and part of that involves setting up a randomized control study. Depending on the results, the lead indication could hit the market by 2017.

“We want this to stand alongside Adderall and other drugs as a doctor-prescribed treatment,” Martucci said. “Our goal is to make this a true digital medicine.”

One aspect of the platform, such as the ADHD indication, is to support cognitive training. The term has become a buzzword that a lot of companies have seized on to describe their technology including Lumosity, which got slapped with the a $50 million fine from the Federal Trade Commission (later pared down to $2 million) over false claims about the benefits of Lumosity.

Martucci said it would use the funding to ramp up studies and patient indications and to begin its commercialization work. It is also interested in pursuing autism (with Autism Speaks), traumatic brain injury, neurodegenerative disorders and pediatric applications.

New product development is another area of interest and Martucci left the door open for acquisitions of small companies to achieve that.

Results from a 100-person study by Pfizer of the platform for Alzheimer’s disease patients are expected later this year, he said. “We would be looking to use this videogame as a biomarker to red-flag the onset of the disease in its early stages,” Martucci said.

Shares0
Shares0