BrainScope Receives Investment from the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation for Alzheimer's Prediction Biomarker
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BrainScope Strengthens Board with Notable Appointments
Bethesda, MD (September 19, 2023) – Brain diagnostics innovator BrainScope announced today a new investment from the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) in BrainScope’s current Series B equity financing round. This investment supports the ongoing development of a new Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning derived brain-activity based biomarker to predict future onset of Alzheimer’s. The company is also evaluating whether its trauma related, FDA-cleared brain bleed biomarker might be effective in detecting ARIAs, a serious side effect of the newly FDA approved Alzheimer’s drugs, so that patients might avoid the expensive and time-consuming multiple MRI scans that are currently recommended.
"The global market for Alzheimer’s disease treatments is expected to rise to over $13 billion by 2030. BrainScope is currently pursuing collaboration partnerships with Alzheimer’s-focused drug companies where our biomarkers may provide value in enhancing patient selection for clinical trials, or to leverage as a companion diagnostic for monitoring side effects. We believe our validated technology can bring significant diagnostic and surveillance insights to the pharmaceutical industry as well as to the patients and providers who need them,” said Miles Gilburne, Chairman of the Board of BrainScope.
BrainScope also announced the appointment of three prominent individuals to its Board of Directors: Michael A. Epstein, Richard A. Miller MD, and Ralph Terkowitz. Mr. Epstein is also Chairman Elect, slated to assume the role of Chairman on October 1, 2023.
- Michael Epstein recently completed his term as Chairman of the Board of Northwell Health System, one of the largest and most respected U.S. health systems, having served as Chair for the full four-year term, and where he continues to serve as a Board member. Mr. Epstein was a senior partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges until he retired in 2022. He was the founder and former head of Weil’s Technology & IP Transactions practice and co-head of the firm’s Privacy & Cybersecurity group.
- Richard Miller is the co-founder, CEO and Chairman of Corvus Pharmaceuticals, a publicly traded clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel oncology and immunology therapies. Dr. Miller previously founded Pharmacyclics (developed Imbruvica, acquired by AbbVie), IDEC (developed Rituxan, merged to form Biogen), Principia Biopharma and CellPro. He also serves as adjunct clinical professor of medicine (oncology) at Stanford University Medical Center.
- Ralph Terkowitz is Co-chair of the Board of Governors of the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins. Mr. Terkowitz previously founded WashingtonPost.com and was a General Partner at ABS Capital Partners.
"The brain has been conspicuously absent in non-invasive diagnostics and consumer health. BrainScope’s ambition is to change this with its objective, patent-protected, brain activity-based biomarkers," stated Mr. Gilburne. "We have considerable traction within premier U.S. health systems with our FDA-cleared brain bleed and concussion assessment product, having demonstrated an average 50% reduction in both unnecessary head CT scans and patient length of stay, and enabling informed referrals for patients with concussion. In addition to the Alzheimer’s opportunity, our new Board members will help position the company for future entry into sports concussion assessment and consumer wellness. With our strong value proposition, proven success in brain injury assessment and recent entry into Alzheimer’s biomarker development, the company is well positioned to become the market leader in non-invasive brain health assessment.”
About BrainScope
BrainScope is a medical neurotechnology company that is improving brain health by providing objective, diagnostic insights that enable better patient care. BrainScope is leading the way in the rapid and objective assessment of brain injury and disease, starting with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). The commercially available, FDA-cleared, non-invasive handheld device with integrated brain activity biomarkers helps clinicians quickly and confidently rule out the need for a head CT scan in patients with suspected mTBI while at the same time objectively assessing concussion in 15 minutes or less – demonstrated to save time, reduce radiation, improve patient throughput, and empower clinicians to provide patients the answers they are seeking. BrainScope’s well-validated technology has the potential to revolutionize brain health management, from acute care to drug discovery to consumer health. For more information, please visit www.brainscope.com.
About the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF)
Founded in 1998 by Leonard A. and Ronald S. Lauder, the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation is dedicated to rapidly accelerating the discovery of drugs to prevent, treat and cure Alzheimer's disease. The ADDF is the only public charity solely focused on funding the development of drugs for Alzheimer's, employing a venture philanthropy model to support research in academia and the biotech industry. The ADDF's leadership and contributions to the field have played a pivotal role in bringing the first Alzheimer's PET scan (Amyvid®) and blood test (PrecivityAD®) to market, as well as fueling the current robust and diverse drug pipeline. Through the generosity of its donors, the ADDF has awarded more than $250 million to fund over 720 Alzheimer's drug discovery programs, biomarker programs and clinical trials in 19 countries. To learn more, please visit: http://www.alzdiscovery.org/.
