Malmö-based Flow Neuroscience has created a medication-free, at-home treatment for depression, which consists of a portable brain stimulation headset and therapy app.
The app has launched in Sweden and the UK last month, and the startup has recently received an investment of €1.3 million from Khosla Ventrures. The investment is planned to be used for expansion within the EU (perhaps the USA too), introduction of Flow to healthcare clinics and funding clinical studies.
“The technology combines portable hardware and software, and we believe this offers an exciting and scalable solution for potentially hundreds of millions of people living with depression globally, empowering patients directly with new options for treatment”, said Alexander Morgan, MD PhD, Principal at Khosla Ventures.
Flow Neuroscience’s headset uses transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to neutralise and stimulation a specific part of the brain (left frontal lobe), which has lower neural activity, if a person has depression. The headset offers neurostimulation therapy similar to anti-depressants, but it has fewer and less sever side effects.
The app, on the other hand, educates users with videos about depression and advice on how to reduce symptoms, similar to the ones on https://fizzymag.com/articles/a-complete-guide-to-mental-health-counseling-for-first-timers, using the latest expert knowledge from the fields of sleep, nutrition, fitness, and meditation.
“We’re increasing treatment choice and empowering people to self-manage their symptoms at home with an effective, personalized and non-pharmacological alternative,” said Daniel Mansson, a clinical psychologist and co-founder of Flow. “This has the potential to improve the standard of care, and reduce global healthcare costs. The Khosla Ventures investment will support the next stage of our journey as we cement our position as European leaders of brain stimulation treatment for depression.”
Source: EU-startups.com
