Zap Surgical Systems Inc. is debuting its noninvasive brain tumor treatment to the European market through an agreement with Centre de Cancérologie de la Porte de Saint-Cloud (CCPSC). The Boulogne-based center, which is part of the American Hospital of Paris, said it expects patients to access the treatment by Fall 2022.

The brain-computer interface (BCI) is the subject of keen medical interest for those dealing with neurological damage, but military applications are also a point of interest among a number of national governments. With all this in mind, an agency at the Department of Commerce has posted a request for comments regarding a possible imposition of export controls on BCI devices due to national security concerns, a proposal that could complicate exports of such devices for medical use.

The Scottish government has signed a deal with digital therapeutics company Big Health Inc. to make a cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) platform for anxiety and insomnia available through the NHS. It makes Scotland the first country to provide a digital therapeutic for anxiety and insomnia nationally.

Mindmaze SA raised $125 million in a debt financing round led by Albacore Capital Group to expand its virtual reality-based digital neurotherapeutics platform. Total funding for Mindmaze now exceeds $235.7 million to date. Investors include the Hinduja Group, Venture Kick, the Foundation for Technological Innovation, and Leonardo DiCaprio. The Mindmaze platform assesses and restores cognitive and motor function in individuals who have sustained neural injuries or impairment from degeneration and aging.

Limbix Health Inc. released data demonstrating a 21% remission rate and 29% response rate for Sparkrx, its prescription digital therapeutic, in adolescents who completed the program as recommended. The company presented study results on Oct. 8 at the 2021 American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference in San Francisco.

Two innovators in the concussion assessment space have advanced their products with new funding and new clearances. Brainscope Co. Inc. secured $35 million in capital through an intellectual property-based funding arrangement with Aon plc to expand access to and develop new applications for its EEG-based product. Syncthink Inc. received a second FDA clearance for its Eye-Sync platform for mild traumatic brain injury diagnosis.

The U.S. Office of Inspector General (OIG) said a review of claims for implant of neurostimulation devices indicates that many of these claims lack the data to ensure that the devices were appropriately implanted.

Even though the U.S. already has a National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators is adding its voice to that of nearly 200 national organizations and experts in calling for more. In a recent letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra, the 15 senators requested that he make reducing the prevalence of dementias a departmental priority.

LONDON – Fixed and constant deep brain stimulation has been successful in treating Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy, but heterogeneity in individual response means that despite promise, clinical studies in serious depression have to date delivered inconsistent results. U.S. researchers have now developed a method for identifying the neural circuits underlying symptoms of depression in individual patients and applied this to deliver tailored therapy, using a commercially available device to stimulate the brain when these circuits are activated.

A series A fundraising round lifted the mood at Genetikaplus Ltd. (Genetika+), raking in $10 million, a healthy 33% more than the initial target of $7.5 million. Proceeds from the round will go to fund trials of the Jerusalem-based company’s “brain-in-a-dish” technology for evaluating the best antidepressant for each patient. Greybird Ventures led the round, with participation by Meron Capital, Jumpspeed Ventures and Sapir Venture Partners.