The device that Cortical Metrics is developing looks like a computer mouse but is designed to some day change the way doctors detect and diagnose concussion.
The University of North Carolina spinoff is one of five companies (plus 11 university and medical school-based research groups) just awarded $300,000 in funding from GE and the National Football League. A panel of judges chose the 16 projects as finalists for phase one of GE and the NFL’s $20 million Head Health Challenge, an initiative the duo hopes will speed diagnosis and improve treatment for traumatic brain injury.
Cortical Metrics says its device vibrates a person’s fingertips, activating adjacent places in the brain that typically communicate with each other. When plugged into a computer, the device works with a web-based program to determine how well those places in the brain are communicating, as a way to measure the severity of a brain injury.
Banyan Biomarkers and BrainScope Company are also focusing on point-of-care diagnostic devices. Banyan is working with a University of Florida football team physician on a biomarker blood test that would identify traumatic brain injury within 30 minutes. It secured $6 million from private investors this summer.
Meanwhile, BrainScope is first targeting the military market with a mobile device it’s developing that would use EEG technology to help medics identify and stage traumatic brain injury. The company will work with Purdue Neurotrauma Group to conduct a study in college athletes.
Another company called Quanterix is exploring the use of its singular molecule array technology to develop and validate blood biomarkers that would help physicians make more accurate TBI diagnoses and better predict long-term prognosis. It’s worked with the Swedish Hockey League on a pilot study.
The last company, ImmunArray Inc.‘s research is exploring how the body’s immune response is connected to the progression of brain injury, with the ultimate goal of developing a simple blood test to diagnose TBI quickly and with certainty.
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.
A complete list of finalists is here. As many as five projects could win an additional $500,000 next year.
The second phase of the Head Health Challenge, now under way, also includes Under Armour as a partner and is looking for innovative materials that could protect the brain from injury, as well as new tools for tracking head impacts.
[Image credit: BrainScope]
