Cambridge, UK & Montreal, CA – 13 July 2022 – BIOS, a pioneer in the development of AI-driven neural therapeutics, has received a $100,000 award from phase 1 of the Neuromod Prize. The prize is a SPARC (Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions) initiative from the US NIH (National Institutes of Health) Common Fund. The competition seeks to reward and spur the development of neuromodulation solutions that can independently regulate two or more desired autonomic functions without unintended effects. In early 2021, SPARC awarded BIOS a $1.4 million grant to efficiently explore neuromodulation parameters to help accelerate the development of neural treatments for chronic disease, using BIOS’ unique neural biomarker technology. This independent competition win further validates BIOS' Autonomic Therapy Initiative (ATI) and its position as leaders in the development of Neural Digital Therapies – a new class of therapeutics for the treatment of chronic diseases.

To win the Phase 1 prize, participants had to submit concept papers describing the proposed therapeutic approach and plans for conducting proof-of-concept studies. Phase 1 winners are selected as quarterfinalists and will exclusively be eligible to participate in the planned Phase 2 of the competition, for a total prize pool of up to $4 million. The BIOS submission titled “BIOS Autonomic Therapy Initiative: data-driven optimization of vagal nerve stimulation” describes existing results about selectivity of stimulation effects where neural and physiological data were used to guide stimulation. Also described, was the expected development of ATI over the next 2-3 years.

BIOS Chief Scientific Officer Oliver Armitage explained “The therapeutic approach involves stimulating the vagus nerve while recording from nearby neural and physiological tissues to optimise the stimulations for the patient and their disease. Stimulation patterns can be determined in real time using sophisticated machine learning techniques to interpret biomarkers and guide stimulation. We have shown in a live surgery that this technique can quickly achieve personalised stimulation parameters that maximise therapeutic mechanism engagement and minimise side effects for heart failure. In the past year, over three thousand stimulation combinations have been tested, recorded and analysed for different subjects, generating a sizeable database used to establish correlations and causal relationships.” He continues: