BOSTON & SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Akili Interactive (“Akili” or “Company"), a leading prescription digital medicine company developing novel treatments for cognitive dysfunction, and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), today announced the issuance of multiple patents broadly covering Akili’s proprietary platform technology that adaptively delivers a range of stimuli designed to target specific networks in the brain. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued U.S. Patent No. 9,940,844 and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) has issued Patent Nos. 6177131 and 6297096. The patents will provide protection in the United States and Japan until 2032 and 2031, respectively.
“These new patents, along with several other patent applications currently under review worldwide, recognize the strength of Akili’s innovation and our novel approach to assessing and treating cognitive dysfunction present across a number of medical conditions,” said Eddie Martucci, Ph.D., Akili’s President and CEO. “Equally important, these patents demonstrate that the active technology components of a new digital medicine can be protected just as you would a novel pharmaceutical, which we believe is essential for the advancement of the field toward becoming mainstream medicine.”
The patents were issued to the Regents of the University of California. The inventor is Adam Gazzaley, M.D., Ph.D., Founding Director of Neuroscape at UCSF and Akili's Chief Science Advisor. Akili has exclusive worldwide rights to the technology. This licensing deal was negotiated in 2013 with the Office of Technology Management, now within UCSF Innovation Ventures, which leads licensing and business development efforts on behalf of the university.
The patents are part of an expanding and comprehensive portfolio of patent applications and other intellectual property covering Akili’s platform technology which clinical studies show can result in the targeted activation of specific neural systems in the brain to treat diseases with associated cognitive dysfunction. The U.S. and Japan patents broadly cover the unique mechanism of presenting a range of specific stimuli that engage targeted neural networks in the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain known to play a key role in cognitive control, to assess and improve cognitive abilities. The digital mechanism also implements algorithms that adapt in both real-time and between treatment sessions in a closed-loop system to automatically adjust the level – or dose – for a personalized treatment experience that is adapted to the needs of each individual patient.
This technology platform forms the foundation of Akili’s digital treatments that target the prefrontal cortex, including the Company’s products designed to treat Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Major Depressive Disorder. Akili recently announced positive results from its randomized-controlled pivotal study of AKL-T01, the Company’s flagship product designed to treat pediatric ADHD, and plans to file with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for clearance in the first half of 2018. Results from Akili’s Phase 2 study in Major Depressive Disorder are expected by the end of 2018.
In addition to those powered by this technology platform, Akili has a number of other digital treatments in development across neurology and psychiatry, including in multiple sclerosis and various other inflammatory diseases. Results of the Company’s pilot study in multiple sclerosis are expect by the end of 2018. All of Akili’s digital treatments are delivered through a high-quality action video game experience.
About Cognitive Control
Cognitive control enables us to continuously filter distractions and make real-time decisions essential to our successful navigation of daily life. It gives us the ability to pay attention and stay focused, control our impulses and process and prioritize short-term memories (our working memory) while being bombarded by constant interruptions from many different stimuli. Individuals with psychiatric and medical conditions affecting cognitive function may experience pervasive and persistent challenges with attention, impulsivity and working memory that can have a devastating effect on their daily lives, school and relationships.
Clinical studies have shown that we can engage and activate the prefrontal cortex of the brain associated with cognitive control and therapeutically treat cognitive dysfunction with specific presentation of a range of sensory stimuli. With the right stimuli, we can produce physiological changes in the brain, resulting in the improvement of symptoms.
About Akili
Akili Interactive Labs, Inc. is a prescription digital medicine company combining scientific and clinical rigor with the ingenuity of the tech industry to reinvent medicine. Akili is pioneering the development of digital treatments with direct therapeutic activity, delivered not through a pill but through a high-quality action video game experience. Akili is advancing a broad pipeline of programs to treat cognitive deficiency and improve symptoms associated with medical conditions across neurology and psychiatry, including attention-deficit hyperactivity/ disorder (ADHD), major depressive disorder (MDD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and various inflammatory diseases. Akili is also developing complementary and integrated clinical monitors and measurement-based care applications. The company was founded by and is an affiliate of PureTech Health (PRTC.L). For more information visit: www.akiliinteractive.com.
Akili is a founding member of the Digital Therapeutics Alliance.
Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains statements that are or may be forward-looking statements, including statements that relate to the company's future prospects, developments and strategies. The forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance and achievements to differ materially from current expectations, including, but not limited to, those risks and uncertainties described in the risk factors included in the regulatory filings for parent company PureTech Health plc. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and undue reliance should not be placed on them. These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions regarding the present and future business strategies of the company and the environment in which it will operate in the future. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as at the date of this press release. Except as required by law and regulatory requirements, neither the company nor any other party intends to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
