Company raises $10 million in funding to expand clinical, research and cognitive health offerings targeting U.S. clinicians, employers, researchers and consumers
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Brain Resource (OTCBB:BRRZY) (ASX:BRC), developer of innovative cognitive development tools used by clinicians, employers and consumers to improve brain function, announced today that it has opened its U.S. corporate headquarters in San Francisco and its stock is now also quoted on the Over-the-Counter (OTC) bulletin board.
"Increasing our U.S. presence and growing our clinical, marketing and sales teams will enable us to better leverage the significant opportunity that exists in the brain health market"
"We chose San Francisco because it is the global center of technology and innovation, which enables us to attract high-profile talent and continue to expand our scalable web-based brain products," said Evian Gordon, Ph.D., MBBCh., chairman and chief executive of Brain Resource. "Because brain health products have gone mainstream, establishing our presence and visibility in the U.S. allows us to better compete in the brain training and behavior change markets."
The move to the U.S. was accompanied by a $10 million investment from Och-Ziff Capital Management Group, one of the world's largest institutional asset management firms with $29.9 billion under management. Other investors include Blue Square Capital Management, LLC.
"Brain Resource is leveraging its deep understanding of the brain and brain function, and their relationship to diseases such as ADHD and depression," said Jonathan Bulkeley, former chief executive at Barnes & Noble.com and founder of Blue Square Capital Management. "They are primed to take advantage of the personalized medicine trend, giving them a real opportunity to make a difference in the health care industry, as well as in people's lives."
Currently, the company offers a variety of tools for clinicians, employers and consumers, including:
* MyBrainSolutions: A web-based brain assessment tool that identifies an individual's brain profile and recommends training games/exercises and interactive videos to help optimize their brain wellness, reduce stress and increase productivity. MyBrainSolutions is offered to consumers and through employers, including Cisco, AstraZeneca, Accenture and Nationwide who have provided MyBrainSolutions to more than 100,000 U.S. employees. For more information, please visit www.mybrainsolutions.com.
* WebNeuro: A web-based clinical decision support tool that uses a standardized methodology to help healthcare professionals objectively determine a patient's brain strengths and deficits. Modules are added to help diagnose and determine the appropriate treatment for patients with ADHD, depression and other mental health disorders.
* BrainNet: Brain Resource's 501(c)(3) not-for-profit foundation that grants free access to its world's largest brain database to more than 350 academic researchers worldwide.. The database includes comprehensive data on thousands of ‘normal' subjects and people with 10 different brain ‘disorders' to help further fundamental insights in neuroscience, including depression, anxiety, ADHD, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia and traumatic brain injury, among others. An average of one academic paper per week is published based on BrainNet.
* Treatment Prediction Research: Brain Resource also sponsors major studies for researchers to discover treatment prediction markers. Currently, the running study is the International Study to Predict Optimized Treatment (iSPOT), which the largest "personalized medicine" study in mental health. Its goal is to predict, based on genetics or brain biomarkers, which patients may respond positively to the most commonly used medications for depression and ADHD. The first 1,200 patients are currently being analyzed.
Brain Resource is comprised of an international consortium of scientists and clinicians. This consortium is responsible for compiling data on all aspects of the brain, typically assessed independently, and translating the findings into products for consumers and clinicians. Since establishing its U.S. headquarters, the company has made a number of notable hires, including:
* Tom Clements, Vice President of Sales
Clements leads the Brain Resource sales team, targeting employers, consumers, clinicians and channel partners. With more than 20 years in sales experience in leading sales teams at web-based companies, his expertise lies in taking companies from the first sale to million-dollar revenue streams.
* Savannah DeVarney, Vice President of Product Marketing
DeVarney leads the team of Brain Resource designers, game engineers, web developers, mobile phone developers, information technology experts and statisticians to apply the latest insights from integrative neuroscience in designing applications that help people change their brains and lead better lives. She holds B.S. degrees in microbiology & immunology as well as business from McGill University.
* Phil Dixon, Vice President of Learning and Development Solutions
Former director of IT worldwide and head of leadership development and management at Apple, Dixon specializes in the areas of leadership and management development, organizational change and development and executive coaching, which he will focus on at Brain Resource.
* Russell Phillips, Ph.D., Discovery Science Manager
Phillips focuses on finding new funding opportunities for future iSPOT studies and working with top-tier academic institutions. After completing his postdoctoral work at Stanford University in Neuro-Genomics, Phillips spent the past decade in biotech and pharmaceutical development.
* William Rekshan, Lead Biostatistician
Rekshan was carefully selected to help mine the Brain Resource database and discover new brain and behavior markers that can support differential diagnoses, treatment results (drug and non-drug) and real-world functional predictions. He is an expert in analyzing large, interconnected data sets and reporting results in a meaningful way.
* Joakim Vinberg, M.A., Product Manager
Vinberg spent the past eight years developing computational tools for neurotechnology research and clinical settings. He is a graduate of Stanford University with a focus on neuroscience, human biology and computer science.
"Increasing our U.S. presence and growing our clinical, marketing and sales teams will enable us to better leverage the significant opportunity that exists in the brain health market," continued Gordon. "The scientific arm of Brain Resource translates new brain findings from our international database into scalable products for assessing, training and improving brain function. As interest in simplifying the most useful insights about the complexity of the brain and its fitness continues to grow, our focus on the whole brain will empower people to learn and improve their brain health. It is gratifying to know we are helping people while growing our company."
About Brain Resource
Brain Resource (BRRZY: OTC US, BRC: ASX) translates new findings about the brain into engaging products for consumers, employers and clinicians to improve cognition and brain function. With offices in San Francisco and Australia, and agents in Europe and Israel, the company is underpinned by an international consortium of scientists and clinicians that bring together all aspects about the brain that are usually assessed independently. For more information, please visit www.brainresource.com.
Contacts
Brain Resource
Savannah DeVarney, 415-399-7990
[email protected]
or
Edelman
Jennifer Chan, 415-229-7650
[email protected]