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| Jamie Tyler |
As the med tech industry casts its eye toward wearable, non-invasive devices to elevate mood, startup Thync is developing a smartphone-connected product that boosts users' mood by stimulating nerves in the head.
Thync's device comprises a set of electrodes connected to a phone, and uses transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS) to produce a short-term energizing effect equivalent to drinking a can of Red Bull, and a calming effect equivalent to drinking a couple beers or taking Benadryl, cofounder Jamie Tyler told the MIT Technology Review. To achieve the "Red Bull" effect, the device sends barely noticeable electrical currents to the skin just behind the ear, and for the relaxing sensation, the product sends currents to the temple and back of the neck.
Most TDCS research concentrates on sending electrical currents directly to the outer part of the brain, rather than stimulating specific nerves. Thync found that it could create the same effects by targeting nerves and muscles just beneath the skin, and is ramping up R&D efforts with a fresh infusion of funding. In October, the company announced that it had secured $13 million from funders including Khosla Ventures, helping Thync grab a bigger piece of a market estimated to exceed $7 billion by 2015.
Meanwhile, the company is building some positive momentum for the product through device studies. Marom Bikson, a professor of biomedical engineering at City College of New York, recently used a prototype of Thync's device in a 100-person study funded by the company that looked at the product's calming effects. While the device showed varied results, the effect is "really profound" for some people, Bikson told the MIT Technology Review.
"Within minutes, they're feeling significantly different in a way that is as powerful as anything else I could imagine short of a narcotic," Bikson said.
But Thync is not the only med tech outfit rolling out wearable, noninvasive devices to boost mood. Boston-based Tal Medical is working on a fast-acting, widely effective product that uses low field magnetic stimulation (LFMS) to treat depression. The company is pushing for FDA approval for its device by mid-2015, and expects to launch its product between 2016 and 2018.
Not to be outdone, Israeli devicemaker Brainsway is also hard at work on its FDA-approved device to treat drug-resistant depression. In June 2013, the company announced that it had signed on with an undisclosed U.S. distributer to expand the adoption of its Deep TMS system, allowing the partner to lease about 200 of the devices for up to 3 years.
- read the MIT Technology Review story
Special Report: FierceMedicalDevices' 2014 Fierce 15 - Tal Medical - 2014 Fierce 15