1m SEK FORTE grant project to map state of the art digital interventions for dementia begins, helping Brain+ to strengthen patient and caregiver compliance for product development
- PURPOSE: The FORTE project will perform a scoping review of digital interventions for dementia and mild cognitive impairment and engage with live user panels to map out the state-of-the-art in the field. Brain+ focus is to strengthen knowledge on caregiver compliance for product development. Caregiver compliance impacts patient health outcomes and makes the Brain+ digital Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) products scalable.
- Brain+ PRODUCT RELEVANCE: The Brain+ dementia treatment product, Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) – Home Extension, which is the 2nd product in the CST product line. The product relies on a caregiver to interact with the person with dementia when the CST therapy is done at home. This is not an issue when CST is done in a clinic, which is the case for the 1st product CST – Therapist Companion, where the therapy is led by a trained CST professional.
Kim Baden-Kristensen, CEO & Co-founder, Brain+: “This FORTE grant-funded project highlights the collaborative way we prefer to work in Brain+ to develop products that are well researched and therefore products that work for their intended purpose and solve the unmet needs of the patients. Here we are partnering with respected scientists within dementia and particularly scientists who have done extensive research on the use of digital technologies in dementia. Through our partners, we have access to both people with dementia and great knowledge networks and resources. To create the best products, we need to have both the experts and the people with dementia closely involved. ”
The FORTE grant project
Is a 1 year project, funded with 1 million SEK by the Forskningsrädet för hälsa, arbetsliv och välfärd (FORTE). The project will apply a user involvement approach and will use user boards and reference groups connected to “AgeCap”: (www.agecap.gu.se). Similarly, the other partner institutions also have access to both deep expertise on dementia and user groups, including VIA University College's Rikke Gregersen who has close collaboration with municipalities, patient organizations, the Danish Dementia Research Centre, and Brain+, who works with European Brain Council and Alzheimer Europe on several EU projects.
The project concerns a research review focused on i) a scoping review of the forms of digital technology being used for non-pharmacological interventions for persons at different stages of dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), and across different providers internationally and within Scandinavia, which will lead into ii) a comparative case study concerning digital technology used specifically within the Scandinavian context, which will seek to address where gaps lie in relation to use of emerging technology for dementia-based interventions.
The project partners are:
- University of Gothenburg: PI, Robert Lowe (Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Applied Information Technology), and Pierre Gander (Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Information Technology);
- University of York: Ana Vivas (Ph.D., Senior Professor, CITY College, Europe Campus, Greece, Departmental Research Director).
- The Sahlgrenska Academy: Qarin Lood (Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Health and Rehabilitation) and University of Gothenburg and Frail Elderly Support Research group (FRESH, as part of "AgeCap”: www.agecap.gu.se);
- Via University College: Rikke Gregersen (Ph.D., Senior Associate Professor, Aarhus, Denmark). Scientific leader of dementia research ;
- Brain+: Simon Nielsen (Ph.D., Chief Science & Innovation Officer, Copenhagen, Denmark).
Robert Lowe and Pierre Gander also co-lead D.I.C.E (Digitalization, Interaction, Cognition, Emotion) Lab Research at the Department of Applied IT with research focus on learning and memory and interactive technological applications including Human-Robot Interaction.
Caregiver compliance impacts patient health outcomes and makes the Brain+ digital Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) products scalable. Caregiver compliance means that the caregiver is actively engaged in the therapy as much as required, analogically like taking the medication. CST is a form of "talk therapy", a so-called 'psychosocial' therapy first introduced in the UK in 1998 by clinical psychologist Aimee Spector, Ph.D. In the UK, CST became part of NICE guidelines for the treatment of mild and moderate dementia in 2018, which means it is what the health care authorities recommend for the treatment of dementia. CST relies on a group of people or at least two people having a dialogue, based on specific principles and on specific topics, which require deep thinking and are designed to stimulate the brain in various ways.
A great unmet need for a scalable at-home treatment option (and product). The original CST method is done in groups at a clinic guided by a trained CST therapist, but there is a great need to be able to provide CST directly in people's homes and without the necessity of having a trained CST therapist present. This would allow CST to become much more widely available as a treatment for dementia. Human interaction is a key ingredient in CST, in addition to deep thinking. This means that for home-based CST to be scalable, it requires that a regular and available caregiver, usually a family member, can take part in the "CST conversation" with the person with dementia. Pilot data from CST studies, but also found in literature more broadly, indicates that the more engaged and supported this caregiver is the better the effect of the therapy.
In summary; better caregiver compliance to CST therapy is likely to yield better health outcomes for the people with dementia using Cognitive Stimulation Therapy.
‘High caregiver compliance’ is thus a major clinical target for Brain+, because our objective is to make CST available in people’s homes for everyone with mild to moderate dementia. In other words, this approach to CST makes it scalable and thus more readily available without facing the human resource constraints of the health care systems.
Contact Information
CEO, Kim Baden-Kristensen + 45 31393319, E-mail: kim@brain-plus.com, Brain+ A/S, Købmagergade 53, 3.
Certified Advisor: Keswick Global AG, + 43 1 740 408045 , E-mail: info@keswickglobal.com
About BRAIN+ [BRAINP]
PROBLEM:
Dementia is a terrible condition, crippling a person’s independence and putting a heavy burden also on the family. This puts an enormous emotional burden on the patients and their loved ones. As cognitive abilities deteriorate, behaviors change, and independence is lost. The complexity of the underlying pathology of dementia has so far made it hard for traditional pharmaceutical companies to deliver effective treatments, and there is an increasing focus on new non-drug therapies that can pave the way to help relieve the heavy burden of dementia – for people living with the disease, their relatives and healthcare systems. With an aging population, dementia – and in particular Alzheimer's dementia – is a growing problem, threatening to overwhelm the health care systems of the world.
PURPOSE:
Making effective dementia treatments available to everyone, as digital therapeutics (also called 'Software-as-medicine').
MISSION:
To slow cognitive decline, maintain functional abilities, preserve independence, and add more healthy years for people living with dementia; additionally, to prevent progression into dementia for people at risk of dementia, and to do early detection of cognitive decline to enable early interventions.
SOLUTION:
Together with world-leading experts and institutions, we are digitizing the best-in-class, non-drug dementia therapies, making them available on regular digital devices – both in people's homes and at the clinics. A therapy here, simply means a person having to actively do something, interacting with a software program or another person, which is stimulating to the brain, or which results in changes in behavior that brings measurable health benefits. Our digital therapeutic solutions also benefit the patient caregivers in their work and can help ease the pressure on the health care systems.
DIGITAL & DRUGS:
Software-as-medical treatments can be used on their own or be combined with traditional drug treatments. We believe the future will combine the best of both the digital and the pharmacological world for mutually enhancing benefits, including synergies in compliance, patient engagement, and mechanisms of action for better health outcomes.
PERSONALIZED, DATA-DRIVEN MEDICINE:
We believe a key benefit of digital medicine is also to proactively collect and use data to create tailored and more effective personalized therapy experiences, and to help improve clinical and scientific practice, while always adhering to strict ethical standards of personal data protection.
OUR DNA:
We are a digital biotech company. Our technologies and products are being built on a deep understanding of the challenges and needs associated with dementia, rigorously tested, scientifically and clinically validated, and regulated as software-as-medical-devices (software-as-treatments). These treatments will be prescribed by health care professionals and paid for by health insurance or state health care.
PRODUCTS & TECH:
The company has developed three core technologies, which are undergoing clinical validation and further iterative development. The first core technology is digitalized Cognitive Stimulation Therapy, a dementia therapy that treats the main symptoms of dementia. This technology is the basis of the first dementia treatment product, 'Cognitive Stimulation Therapy – Therapist Companion, which will be launched in Denmark and Germany in 2023. A second product, called 'Cognitive Stimulation Therapy – Home Extension, is planned next. The second core technology is Computerized Cognitive Training, which essentially is like fitness exercises for the brain. A 2nd generation of this technology is currently being developed for use in the pre-stages of dementia, like mild cognitive impairment, or in people who are in high-risk groups for developing dementia. The third core technology is a special memory test, which was originally developed by Professor Masud Husain at Oxford University, and then further co-developed, gamified, and made scalable with Brain+, with the aim of doing early detection of Alzheimer's disease and monitoring of disease progression.
POTENTIAL:
Currently, 50 million people are diagnosed with dementia globally, and this number is expected to triple to more than 150 million people by 2050. In the US, 1 in 3 seniors dies with or of dementia.
In 2030, the global costs of dementia are expected to be $2 trillion (or equal to 2/3rds of the entire health care budget of the USA), prospectively 1 in 3 people will die from dementia and the estimated market potential for digital dementia treatments approximately $2-5 billion. Tapping into this market with effective digital solutions has the potential to generate revenue of hundreds of millions $. Brain+ aims to commercialize its products based on licensing deals with strategic commercial partners for faster market penetration and global scaling.
CLINICAL PIPELINE:
Brain+ is expecting results from 5 Pilot and Proof of Concept (PoC) studies in H2 2022 on the 3 core technologies, and 1 additional study in 2023. 4 trials (1 Pilot, 3 PoC) have been successfully concluded as of February 2022, with positive results for all three technologies.
TEAM:
We have built our knowledge base, know-how, and network of global expert collaborators over 10 years, and our technology portfolio is the results of R&D investments of over €10 million, which puts us in a unique position to become a global market leader in digital therapeutic solutions for dementia and Alzheimer's. We have a senior management team with a combined 100 years of industry-relevant track record, with backgrounds from companies such as Coloplast, Lundbeck, Novartis, and GN Hearing. This provides us the solid backbone needed, to change the way we treat and deal with dementia on a global scale.
PARTNERS & COLLABORATORS:
We believe collaborations give the best outcomes, and so we partner with the best minds and hearts in our eco-system; pharmaceutical leaders in Alzheimer's, such as Biogen and Rox Health, a subsidiary of Roche Germany; academic & clinical partners, such as universities of Oxford, Nottingham, Aarhus, Gothenburg; patient organizations and NGOs, such as Alzheimer Europe, Alzheimer's disease international, and the European Brain Council.
In summary, Brain+ is in a unique position to become a Digital Therapeutics market leader in dementia and Alzheimer’s disease given our cutting-edge technologies, our partnerships with thought leaders and key players in the dementia space, and a highly competent team to execute.
