Akili Interactive Inc. is the latest in a growing field of med-tech startups that are merging with special purpose acquisition companies as a backdoor path to an initial public offering. On Wednesday, the digital medicine company reported plans to combine with Social Capital Suvretta Holdings Corp. I in a deal valued at approximately $1 billion.

Tau protein aggregates are present in a group of disorders, collectively termed the tauopathies. Alzheimer's disease is the most common of those disorders, while frontotemporal dementia is most strongly linked to tau. Now, a map of the proteins that interact with tau and how those interactions differ between normal and disease-associated tau protein could give new clues on how the protein causes damage in neurodegenerative disorders, and on how to treat or prevent that damage.

Neurometrix Inc. secured breakthrough device designation from the FDA for its Quell technology for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) just six months after receiving the designation for fibromyalgia in July 2021. Quell is a wearable, credit card-sized transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) device worn on the upper calf that delivers self-adjusting, high-power nerve stimulation that disrupts pain signals sent to the brain.