Soterix Medical Begins Trial Enrollment for Neurostim to Treat Depression

Soterix Medical (SMI), a company focused on non-invasive stimulation and synergistic brain monitoring technologies, has begun patient recruitment for its treatment-resistant depression clinical trial funded by the National Institute of Health in New York City.
 
SMI is recruiting patients who received but didn’t adequately respond to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS).
 
Together with technology licensed from Columbia University, SMI is building a cloud-based targeting software based on parcel-guided rTMS (pg-rTMS). The approach uses anatomical MRI, machine learning, and data from the Human Connectome Project (HCP) atlas to design optimized, personalized rTMS therapy.
 
Dr. Abhishek Datta, CEO and CTO of Soterix told the press, “Parcel-guided rTMS represents a major technical advance in rTMS therapy by combining three unique SMI technologies. One, Soterix Medical provides the unique FDA-cleared navigation system, not interrupted by line-of-site issues. Two, Soterix Medical has developed seamless cloud-based systems for neuromodulation optimization. And three, the TMS targeting approach developed by Columbia University provides the key to delivering rTMS therapy optimized to each patient’s brain-circuit.”
 
Conventional rTMS over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is currently an FDA-approved treatment for treatment-refractory depression, but it is only partially effective with response and remission rates of ~41% and ~35%, respectively. In a prior pilot study, pg-rTMS targeting a specific HCP atlas parcel led to a 100% treatment response in those resistant to conventional rTMS therapy.
 
Dr. Dennis Truong, scientist at Soterix and principal investigator of the project said, “We are excited for this next stage in the validation of parcel-guided rTMS therapy for depression. This trial is intended to confirm that personalized TMS delivery is crucial to deliver the fullest therapeutic value of TMS, to all patients, even those that did not respond adequately to conventional rTMS.”