Digital News

Cognito Therapeutics has revealed new data showing that a six-month use of its digital therapeutic could potentially reduce the rate of atrophy within the brain’s white matter in patients with Alzheimer’s, according to Fierce Biotech.

The white matter ferries electrical signals around the brain’s large regions of grey matter. Deteriorating white matter is a normal sign of ageing, but the atrophy is more pronounced in Alzheimer’s patients.

Through using a headset that delivers pulsing lights and sounds at fast and specific frequencies, the company aims to stimulate the activity of immune cells inside the brain, known as microglia. The aim is to help the central nervous system clear out certain proteins which can lead to different neurological diseases and dementia.

Cognito said that it plans to launch new, pivotal trials in Alzheimer’s disease this year.

The company delivered the latest findings at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in San Diego. In the Phase II study, named Overture, participants wore the company’s GammaSense headset at home for one hour per day for six months. The analysis compared participants treated in the Overture study, which enrolled 76 people, to historical data collected from a separate, decade-long, global study, conducted by the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Institute. The company said that it saw less white matter shrinkage after half a year – even slightly increasing over baseline readings, by about 0.4%, compared to the start of the Overture trial.

Cognito CEO Brent Vaughan commented: “These results continue to build on our knowledge and understanding of how gamma frequency patterns in the brain are disrupted in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, and how our technology restores the levels of neural activity to improve cognition.”