Digital therapeutics pioneer Akili Interactive Labs goes public, raising $150M+; trades down 49% first day
Akili Interactive is the latest company to go public via SPAC deal (Boston Business Journal):
Boston’s Akili Interactive Labs Inc. is the latest Massachusetts-based company to go public after completing a reverse merger — in a year of market turmoil that saw few local firms passing the threshold between private and public status.
Shares of Akili started trading on Monday on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the new ticker symbol “AKLI” after the company completed its previously announced reverse merger with Social Capital Suvretta Holdings Corp. I (Nasdaq: DNAA), a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC.
From t...
Source: SharpBrains - August 23, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation Akili Interactive Labs AKLI cognitive Cognitive-impairment digital medicine digital therapeutics DNAA EndeavorRx neuropsychiatric neuropsychiatric diseases SPAC Source Type: blogs
How much should you trust BetterHelp, Talkspace, Cerebral and other mental health start-ups touted by celebrities?
When Pat Paulson’s son told her he was feeling anxious and depressed at college, Paulson went through her Blue Cross Blue Shield provider directory and started calling mental health therapists. No providers in the Wisconsin city where her son’s university is located had openings. So she bought a monthly subscription to BetterHelp, a Mountain View, California, company that links people to therapists online.
Her son felt uncomfortable with his first BetterHelp therapist. After waiting several weeks, he saw a second therapist, whom he liked. But she wasn’t available the following week.
Despite the switch and the wait, P...
Source: SharpBrains - July 11, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Kaiser Health News Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation 8 billion minds American-Psychological-Association BetterHelp cerebral medication mental health start-ups mental healthcare talk-therapy Talkspace teletherapy Source Type: blogs
Mental Ilness
Among all the ridiculous deflections, excuses, and illogic Republicans use to repel any suggestion that there should be gun safety legislation, one of the most plausible sounding is that a causal factor in firearm violence is mental illness. Of course, they don ' t actually support increasing funding for behavioral health care or addressing social determinants of mental illness, so it ' s just hypocrisy. However, it is also not so plausible after all.A common estimate is that about 20% of the population has a diagnosable mental illness,and it is also estimated that the prevalence in mass shooters is similar. But the concep...
Source: Stayin' Alive - May 28, 2022 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
The Common Drink That Helps Treat ADHD (M)
It may help to increase both attention and retention capacities, but is less useful for hyperactivity. (Source: PsyBlog | Psychology Blog)
Source: PsyBlog | Psychology Blog - May 23, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Jeremy Dean Tags: ADHD subscribers-only Source Type: blogs
A Little-Known Sign Of ADHD (M)
ADHD stands for Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and involves restlessness and problems concentrating. (Source: PsyBlog | Psychology Blog)
Source: PsyBlog | Psychology Blog - April 2, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Jeremy Dean Tags: ADHD subscribers-only Source Type: blogs
6 Signs You May Have Adult ADHD
8.2% of people have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, double the previously reported rate. (Source: PsyBlog | Psychology Blog)
Source: PsyBlog | Psychology Blog - March 30, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Jeremy Dean Tags: ADHD Source Type: blogs
Digital therapeutics pioneer Akili Interactive plans to go public in mid-2022 at a $1B valuation
Palihapitiya-Led SPAC to Merge With Akili in $1 Billion Deal (Bloomberg):
Akili Interactive, a startup that has developed a video game to help treat attention-deficit disorders in kids, has agreed to go public through a merger with one of Chamath Palihapitiya’s blank-check companies.
The deal, which confirms a Bloomberg News report, values the combined entity at about $1 billion, Akili and Social Capital Suvretta Holdings Corp. I said in a statement seen by Bloomberg. It will provide as much as $412 million in gross cash proceeds, the companies said.
Led by Chief Executive Officer Eddie Martucci, Akili has developed the ...
Source: SharpBrains - January 26, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Attention & ADD/ADHD Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation Akili Interactive attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Chamath Palihapitiya cognitive-impairments digital therapeutics EndeavorRx FDA neuropsychiatric neuropsychia Source Type: blogs
Study finds ADHD is associated with dementia
We examined the extent to which attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a neurodevelopmental disorder, is linked with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and any dementia, neurodegenerative diseases, across generations…
Results: Among relatives of 2,132,929 index persons, 3042 parents, 171,732 grandparents, and 1369 uncles/aunts had a diagnosis of AD. Parents of individuals with ADHD had an increased risk of AD (hazard ratio 1.55, 95% confidence interval 1.26–1.89). The associations attenuated but remained elevated in grandparents and uncles/aunts. The association for early-onset AD was stronger than late-onset AD. Sim...
Source: SharpBrains - September 16, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Attention & ADD/ADHD Brain/ Mental Health Alzheimers-disease attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder cognitive cognitive decline cognitive-abilities dementia neurodegenerative-diseases Neurodevelopmental Source Type: blogs
2 Ways To Treat ADHD In 10 Minutes (M)
ADHD, which stands for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, is characterised by excessive activity, impulsive behaviour and inattention. (Source: PsyBlog | Psychology Blog)
Source: PsyBlog | Psychology Blog - August 18, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Jeremy Dean Tags: ADHD subscribers-only Source Type: blogs
On the bias of science: more on methods
Actually I could probably spend the next six months writing a book about this, but this will be my last post on methods, at least for a while, because I want to move on to the remaining sections of the generic research paper. I ' m going to focus specifically on research involving psychiatric diagnoses, but much of what I will say applies more broadly to any sort of question in which people ' s subjective experiences are variables. That ' s a whole lot of published research in psychology, social science, and medicine.The culture of science strongly favors quantification, which means counting, and in order to count phenomen...
Source: Stayin' Alive - July 29, 2021 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Study shows promising results of EEG-based brain training in helping adults with ADHD
Conclusions: A single-session of alpha down-regulation NFB was able to reverse the abnormal neurocognitive signatures of adult ADHD during a Go/NoGo task.
Significance: The study demonstrates for the first time the beneficial neurobehavioral effect of a single NFB session in adult ADHD, and reinforces the notion that ERPs could serve as useful diagnostic/prognostic markers of executive dysfunction.
The Study in Context:
Meta-analysis finds sustained benefits of neurofeedback for kids with ADHD
What are cognitive abilities and how to boost them?
Study shows why children with ADHD should be reevaluated each year: Atte...
Source: SharpBrains - July 8, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Attention & ADD/ADHD Brain/ Mental Health Peak Performance Technology & Innovation adulthood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder brain training brain training for adhd clinical clinical neurophysiology EEG electroencephalogram Source Type: blogs
Akili Interactive Labs raises $160M in equity and debt to transform cognitive healthcare via prescription videogame treatments
Akili raises $110m to build its digital therapeutics pipeline (pharmaforum):
EndeavorRx became the first and so far only approved prescription video game treatment in the US when it was cleared by the FDA last year to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and has also been given a green light in Europe.
It is also being tested for other indications including fuzzy thinking in COVID-19 survivors, a condition sometimes known as ‘brain fog’.
The new funding, which is accompanied by a $50 million loan facility, is earmarked for the continued rollout of the app as well as Akili’s pipeline of prescription ...
Source: SharpBrains - May 26, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Attention & ADD/ADHD Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation Akili Akili Interactive Labs attention deficit hyperactivity disorder cognitive healthcare cognitive--disorders digital therapeutics EndeavorRx FDA Neuberger Berma Source Type: blogs
Normal Toddler Behavior vs ADHD
An official diagnosis of ADHD can be hard to pinpoint as its symptoms can often be indicative of other conditions, but it is especially hard to diagnose in children under the age of four, as most children naturally experience about a year of extreme energy that generally encompasses their third birthday. This realization may be, in turn, both comforting and exhausting as parents learn that their toddler is likely just exhibiting the rampant energy normal for their age group.
What is ADHD?
Children with an official diagnosis of ADHD consistently present symptoms of inattentiveness, over-activity, impulsivity, or some combin...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - May 18, 2021 Category: Child Development Authors: Alan Greene MD Tags: Dr. Greene's Blog ADHD Toddler ADHD Source Type: blogs
Flags And Phrenology: The Week ’s Best Psychology Links
Our weekly round-up of the best psychology coverage from elsewhere on the web
“Grumpy” dogs may be better learners than their more agreeable counterparts, reports James Gorman at The New York Times. Researchers found that grumpier canines were better at learning how to reach an object placed behind a fence by observing a stranger. But other scientists suggest that something more specific than “grumpiness” is responsible for the animals’ superior performance, such as increased aggression, reduced inhibition, or hyperactivity.
Adults are more compassionate when children are around. That’s according...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - May 7, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Weekly links Source Type: blogs
Hoarders and Collectors
Andy Warhol ' scollection ofdental models Pop artist Andy Warhol excelled in turning the everyday and the mundane into art. During the last 13 years of his life, Warhol putthousands of collected objects into 610 cardboard boxes. TheseTime Capsules were never sold as art, but they were meticulously cataloged by museum archivists and displayed in a major exhibition at the Andy Warhol Museum. “Warhol was a packrat. But that desire to collect helped inform his artistic point of view. ” Yet Warhol was aware of his compulsion, and itdisturbed him: “I ' m so sick of the way I live, of all this junk, and always dragging...
Source: The Neurocritic - April 25, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: The Neurocritic Source Type: blogs
