FAIRFIELD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gold Rabbit Sports, a boutique sports advisory group, and Prothegen, a biotech company developing new treatments for ferroptosis, a specific type of cell death, have announced a strategic partnership designed to aggressively address concussions and other traumatic injuries in sports.
“We want to leverage our collective networks to inspire the sports world to think differently about athlete safety,” said André Schunk, Gold Rabbit CEO and founder. “By investing in transformational medical innovations that measurably improve human health, sports leagues, governing bodies, and teams can position themselves as visionary incubators for a compelling alternative to ‘thoughts and prayers.’”
According to the National Institute of Health, there are 1.7 million documented and 3.8 million estimated Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) in the U.S. annually. About 173,000 are sports-and-recreation-related TBIs among children and adolescents, and roughly 5.3 million men, women, and children are living with a permanent TBI-related disability in the United States.
Prothegen co-founders Davide Zanchi (PhD & MBA, Stanford University), Prof. Scott Dixon (PhD, Stanford University) and Prof. Derek Pratt (PhD, Ottawa University) believe tackling the situation is more attainable than ever. “When a traumatic injury – like a concussion – occurs, a type of cell death called ferroptosis, takes place. Our scientifically proven, peer-reviewed treatment arrests ferroptosis, keeps cells functioning, and significantly diminishes the damage created by the trauma. Essentially, we’ve developed a potentially transformational treatment for concussions, strokes, Parkinson’s, and even Alzheimer’s disease,” said Zanchi.
Michael Chad Hoeppner, Gold Rabbit’s Head of Strategy added, “The reality is that concussions and other traumatic injuries pose a genuine threat to the viability, watchability, and long-term commercial legitimacy of our favorite games.” Hoeppner concluded, “We believe the major purveyors of the sports world are inherently incentivized to seek out and support medical innovations like this and to catalyze the research and development of treatments that could literally prove game-changing for sports and society at large.”
About Gold Rabbit Sports and Entertainment
Founded in 2020 by sports industry veteran André Schunk, Gold Rabbit Sports specializes in imagining and developing unique and unexpected collaborations within the sports ecosystem.
About Prothegen
Prothegen is an early-stage biotech company delivering revolutionary therapies to regulate cell death with exquisite precision. Founded by academics in world leading institutions and pharma veterans, Prothegen develops new therapeutics in the realm of neuroscience and oncology.
