MindMaze Therapeutics Holding SA, a global leader in scalable, precision neurotherapeutics, announced that its technology is being used in a University of Pittsburgh study evaluating a combination approach to post-stroke arm recovery, pairing cervical epidural spinal cord stimulation (SCS) with the Company's precision neurotherapeutics. The University of Pittsburgh is now enrolling participants.
The study builds on independent research from the University of Pittsburgh, recently published in Nature Medicine, which showed cervical spinal cord stimulation can improve arm and hand movement in people with chronic stroke after only a few hours of training. Those gains were largely assistive, present while stimulation was active. The new study turns to what comes next: how much lasting recovery is possible when the same stimulation is delivered alongside intensive therapy.
The rationale draws on a basic feature of how the nervous system relearns movement. Activity created in the spinal cord by stimulation, paired with the patient's own intent to move, strengthens the weakened connections that drive the muscles. The study is designed to test whether the combination can carry recovery beyond what the stimulation achieves on its own. Stimulation makes the movement possible; the patient's intent drives it, and a high volume of neurotherapy is what the study is testing as the way to make it last.
The Company's precision neurotherapeutics deliver the volume and intensity of active, intent-driven practice without adding to the clinical staffing burden, giving the nervous system many more chances to pair intent with stimulation.
For MindMaze Therapeutics, supporting studies like this reflects its strategy of positioning its precision neurotherapeutics platform at the frontier of combination neurotherapy, with the potential to amplify recovery for patients who reach a plateau with monotherapy.
"Recovery after stroke depends on dose, and our precision neurotherapeutics have been proven to deliver the intensity of practice that recovery requires, at scale and without adding to the burden on clinicians. This study is in line with our strategy of pairing the MindMaze Therapeutics platform with medical device and pharmaceutical products to deliver more efficacious combination therapies," said Zach Henderson, CEO of MindMaze Therapeutics.
