Brain Tech Specialist MindMaze Acquires Startup to Expand VR Treatment
NOVEMBER 11, 2018
Virtual reality and videogames may become the standard toolkit around the world to treat people with brain diseases and injuries.
That is the goal of MindMaze, a Swiss billion-dollar startup that makes an immersive software platform to help people recover from strokes and other debilitating brain conditions. The company has acquired Johns Hopkins spinout Neuromotor Innovations Corp., or NMI, which has developed videogames for stimulating cognitive and motor functions.
The companies withheld financial terms of the deal but said it significantly expands the clinical and commercial reach of both parties. MindMaze will own all intellectual property developed by NMI, which whose operations will remain independent.
Virtual reality technology has already been tapped for several health-care applications, including pain management, surgical training and physical therapy. Its use in neurological rehabilitation is more limited, and just a few startups like Spain’s Virtualware and North Carolina-based Saebo Inc. are experimenting with it.
MindMaze already has two Food and Drug Administration-approved products on the market that aim to retrain the brain to perform lost or impaired functions. As patients interact with the virtual reality software, the platform captures brain and motor activity in real time and responds accordingly with simulated limb movement on the screen. The company has raised $109 million from Hinduja Group, family offices and individuals including Leonardo di Caprio.
“Therapists will always play a huge role in neuro-rehabilitation, but this can allow them to work with multiple patients at a time while also measuring how the brain is actively engaging and responding to the treatment,” said MindMaze Chief Executive Tej Tadi.
Neuromotor Innovations was launched at Johns Hopkins in 2017 as the culmination of several years’ research headed by neuroscientist John Krakauer. The company’s software is based on neuroscientific understanding that the brain has a certain window of plasticity during which it can relearn how to communicate with the body.
“It’s the right time to hybridize academia and industry,” said Dr. Krakauer. “Up until this point, we have just been researchers, but with MindMaze we can reproduce our work and commercialize it around the world.”