Carthera SA raised €37.5 million (US$40 million) in a series B funding round that will allow the company to embark on the first pivotal trial of its Sonocloud technology. The Sonocloud-9 is the only implantable ultrasound device that can repeatedly open the blood-brain barrier and deliver effective treatment in patients with recurrent glioblastoma, Frédéric Sottilini, CEO of Carthera, told BioWorld.
IA Medical SAS raised $1.5 million to accelerate the development of its Alix chatbot, designed to support and make life easier for caregivers of patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease. The Klesia GIE investment fund, which depends on Agirc-Arrco GIE, the administrator of the French private-sector pension scheme, and the French sovereign bank BPIFrance SA contributed 46.42% of the financing. More than half of this financing corresponds to an opening of IA Medical SAS's capital to individual partners, including doctors.
Cala Health Inc. expanded availability of its next-generation bioelectronic Kiq device for relief of action tremors to include individuals with Parkinson’s disease as well as essential tremor. The broad commercial launch of the FDA-cleared wrist-worn device will enable more patients to use the transcutaneous afferent patterned stimulation (TAPS) therapy, which studies show reduces tremors and improves performance of activities of daily living.
Aptamer Group plc and Neuro-Bio Ltd. have developed Optimer binders which could enable the creation of a lateral flow test for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. Aim-listed Aptamer saw its share price soar on the news as early detection of Alzheimer could bring substantial benefits to patients, caregivers and health care systems and there is currently a lack of tests available for early stage diagnosis of the disease.
An artificial intelligence (AI) framework developed by researchers in Denmark has outperformed human emergency call handlers in identifying stroke. The AI tool has the potential to play a critical role in helping to address the number of strokes that go unrecognized as the number of strokes are projected to increase as the population ages.
Standing as one of the more prominent among incurable conditions, Parkinson’s disease (PD) still hasn’t met a medicine or surgical intervention that can slow or stop progression, despite efforts of many drug developers testing new strategies.
Wesper Inc., a longitudinal and wireless clinical-grade sleep testing platform, showed ‘exceptional accuracy’ in a head-to-head comparison with polysomnography in a study published in The Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. The wireless, longitudinal sleep testing platform had a breathtaking 95% correlation with the cumbersome gold standard test for sleep apnea.
One of the challenges in designing genetic and cellular strategies is getting the therapy to the right place. This is even more complicated when it comes to the nervous system. The brain is a complex organ that contains the most differentiated and inaccessible cells in human biology. It is an impassable safe, protected by the blood-brain barrier.
Implanting brain organoids into the brains of mice may allow the more realistic study of microglial cells during both healthy and disease states. This is what researchers from the Salk Institute and their collaborators found in a study published on May 11, 2023, in Cell.
Investigators have identified a second individual who remained cognitively normal into his late 60s despite having the PSEN1 E280A mutation, which causes a familial version of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The likely source of protection, a mutation in a gene called Reelin, is distinct from the protective mechanism identified in the first case of an individual who was protected from the effects of PSEN1 E280A. That case was reported in 2019.
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