React Neuro, a startup founded three years ago by veterans of Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), wants to analyze how healthy your brain is.
Rudy Tanzi, a well-known Alzheimer’s disease researcher and professor of neurology at HMS and MGH, started the company in 2017 with Brian Nahed, a neurosurgical oncologist specializing in brain tumors and associate program director of neurosurgery at MGH and HMS. The two had worked with the NFL for years — Tanzi as a brain-health advisor to the New England Patriots, Nahed as a neurotrauma consultant for the league — and wanted to focus on the issue of concussions in football players. Specifically, they wanted to take a scientific approach to figuring out when a player could safely return to the sport following a concussion.
The startup has evolved since then to take a holistic look at brain health through AI software and a VR headset.
“From a consumer health standpoint, the idea is essentially [that by] using software, we can assess people’s brain health and provide feedback on what’s working and what’s not working,” said React Neuro CEO Shahid Azim, who joined the company in early 2019. “What really got me interested was not so much the concussion use case, but the more fundamental question that the team was looking to ask, which was, ‘Is there a better way to measure your brain health?’”
React Neuro answers that question with digital exams administered through a custom VR headset, which is developed by Pico Interactive in San Francisco. Designed based on the tools, techniques and exams traditionally used to assess neurological conditions, the tests return results that the startup’s AI software turns into actionable insights for physicians.
Azim, a 2009 MIT Sloan School of Management grad, calls the brain assessments via headset “digital exams,” or “experiences on screen.” The exams, he said, can last anywhere from two and a half minutes to 10 minutes, depending on the use case. A general cognitive assessment typically lasts seven minutes.
“We’re using eye tracking and voice analysis [for the exams],” Azim said. “In some cases, they’re voice-based, so you’re asked to repeat something that you see on the screen.”
At the moment, the technology provides a regular baseline assessment by measuring neurological circuits and biomarkers in the brain. React Neuro’s ultimate goal is to accurately predict whether a patient is at risk of developing brain disorders like Parkinson’s disease.
Recently, the startup partnered with Boston Children’s Hospital to develop an iPad application that enables test administrators to review test performance, take notes and review test history and trends over time.
Azim envisions a future in which React Neuro’s device makes assessing brain health, broadly speaking, as simple and accessible as managing heart health. With more clinicians and senior living operators seeing value in React Neuro’s technology, he hopes that can become a reality soon. Many clinicians who piloted React Neuro are now paying for the technology on a subscription-based model. The startup is also in talks with NFL teams to fulfill the original concept of assessing the brain after a concussion.
React Neuro is currently expanding its reach to large senior living operators in New England and elsewhere. The team is also planning a suite of new features and improvements to be launched in early 2021.
“The next generation of the product is going to [have] a lot more creative experiences,” Azim said.
Jordan Frias is a contributing writer for BostInno.
