Neuroglee Therapeutics Closes Series A Round to Advance Virtual Care and Digital Therapies for Alzheimer’s Disease Treatment in the Home
-$10 million funding round led by Openspace Ventures with participation from EDBI will fuel first-in-class virtual neurology clinics
-Neuroglee and Mayo Clinic to co-develop Neuroglee ConnectTM – a remote care management platform and virtual specialty care clinic for patients with mild cognitive impairment
-Company will move headquarters to Boston in Q4 2021
BOSTON, Sept. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Neuroglee Therapeutics (‘Neuroglee’), which builds personalized evidence-based digital therapeutics (DTx) and virtual care solutions to treat and manage patients with neurodegenerative diseases, announced today that it has closed a $10 million Series A funding round. The funding injection will enable Neuroglee to launch first-of-their-kind virtual neurology clinics for patients diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment related to difficult-to-treat conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, while also advancing the company’s DTx pipeline.
Openspace Ventures led the round with participation from EDBI as well as existing investors who have built transformational healthcare businesses, including Raman Singh, ex-CEO of Mundipharma, Biofourmis co-founders Kuldeep Singh Rajput and Wendou Niu, and a leading pharmaceutical company, Eisai Co., which is a strategic shareholder in the company.
“Neuroglee’s solution has tremendous potential to meaningfully benefit global patients as they and their families bravely combat the progression of neurodegenerative disease”, said Openspace co-founder Shane Chesson. “As signaled by our prior investment in Biofourmis, we recognized at an early point that digital health will be an essential piece of the puzzle for providers and caregivers to fight difficult-to-treat health conditions. Neuroglee’s early leadership role in their space has truly impressed us.”
Neuroglee’s technology includes solutions for both care-at-home and for DTx, in which physicians prescribe the digital therapy the same way as a prescription drug.
Aniket Singh Rajput, founder and CEO of Neuroglee, said: “This funding will be instrumental in facilitating the continued development of Neuroglee’s digital therapeutics and virtual clinical services that combine best-in-class cognitive rehabilitation strategies and remote care management to help delay or slow the worsening of symptoms in patients with mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease.”
Filling a Critical Market Need for a Difficult-to-Treat Condition
Neuroglee’s adaptive learning platform uses machine learning and several novel digital biomarkers to dynamically personalize treatment to each patient’s cognitive and physical needs. Treatment includes both therapeutic interventions and evidence-based lifestyle and cognitive behavior therapies tied to cognitive function, mood and behavior.
Currently, 5.7 million Americans and 50 million people worldwide are living with Alzheimer’s disease. Neuroglee CEO Rajput says that the company’s initial focus on mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s—the most common cause of dementia—fills a huge market need, given that there is no known cure and only a handful of FDA-approved medications to treat the condition. Alzheimer’s disease progressively impacts a person’s memory, judgment, language and independence.
Collaboration with Mayo Clinic
Neuroglee and Mayo Clinic are co-developing Neuroglee ConnectTM, a novel clinical care program that will be based on Mayo Clinic’s Healthy Action to Benefit Independence & Thinking® (HABIT). HABIT is a 10-day in-person program to provide patients and their families with state-of-the-art, evidence-based lifestyle and behavioral treatments for MCI.
Neuroglee ConnectTM will combine the evidence-based HABIT program and Neuroglee’s adaptive learning platform to create personalized, real-time responsiveness and interventions in managing patients in the comfort of their homes. Patients are supported by round-the-clock health navigators and clinical care teams for near real-time assessment and interventions.
“With care expanding outside of the hospital and into the home, Neuroglee is assuring the management of neurodegenerative diseases is a simple, empowering, everyday event for patients,” Rajput said. “Actionable data and virtual clinical support will give more patients access to world-class care, no matter where they are.”
Boston to Become New HQs Due to Area’s Digital Health Innovation
In addition to the funding round, Neuroglee has announced plans to establish its new headquarters in downtown Boston in the fourth quarter of 2021, where the company will focus on building and scaling engineering, clinical operations and commercial teams.
“We knew Boston was the right place for us because it’s one of the largest hubs of digital health innovation and investment in the world, given the leading healthcare provider organizations, research institutions and technology centers in the area,” Rajput said. “This will expand our global footprint, adding to our growing regional management and technology development teams in Singapore and India.
About Neuroglee
Neuroglee Therapeutics discovers, develops and commercializes personalized evidence-based digital therapeutics (DTx) and virtual care solutions to treat and manage patients with neurodegenerative diseases. The company also is breaking new ground by offering first-of-their-kind virtual specialty care clinics for patients diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment related to difficult-to-treat conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. Using several novel digital biomarkers, Neuroglee’s adaptive learning platform leverages machine learning to dynamically and continuously personalize and optimize treatment based on patients’ unique cognitive and physical needs. By combining best-in-class cognitive rehabilitation strategies and remote care management, Neuroglee can be used independently or in conjunction with pharmacotherapy to help delay or slow the worsening of symptoms in patients with mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s or other neurodegenerative conditions.
