Medicortex, improving the diagnostics of Traumatic Brain Injuries
By: Kevin Hart
Tags: Health, Treatment, Brain, Healthcare, Startup

Medicortex has raised $1.7M in total. We talk with Dr. Adrian Harel, its CEO.

PetaCrunch: How would you describe Medicortex in a single tweet?

Dr. Adrian Harel: Medicortex Finland is dedicated to improving the diagnostics and treatment of Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) and concussions.

PC: How did it all start and why?

AH: I was encouraged by President Barack Obama’s BRAIN Initiative, a $300-million program launched in 2013 to inspire neurobiologists like myself to get involved with global brain research. I was convinced to improve the diagnostics and treatment of TBI.

I have earned my PhD in Neurobiology at the Weizmann Institute of Science and I was a postdoctoral fellow at Washington University. Thereafter I have managed several biotech companies. Pushed by the increasing awareness of TBI and with new ideas in my mind, I applied for financial support for research and development offered by the Finnish government and set up the activities in the city of Turku. Medicortex Finland Oy is a company developing a biomarker diagnostics kit that can rapidly detect TBI and concussions.

PC: What have you achieved so far?

AH: I was the first scientist to devise the utilization of glycan markers for concussion diagnostics. The idea was conceived from my previous experience and expertise in neurobiology and glycan analysis. I have succeeded to put together a professional team and proved the hypothesis. I’m currently the CEO of Medicortex Finland. In order to understand the clinical perspective in more detail, I hired Dr. Mårten Kvist (MD), a general practitioner, as medical director. For expertise in medical device development Dr. Lasse Välimaa, PhD in molecular biotechnology and diagnostics, was added to the team. Lastly, Mr. Oskar Haavisto, a master student in biotechnology, is working as an assistant in the clinical trials and test development. Regulatory aspects and marketing plans are supervised by two additional team members. We bring together all aspects required to identify and study biomarkers as well as develop a diagnostic test kit for easy and quick detection of TBI and concussions.

The biomarker development has proceeded from preclinical research to a proof-of-concept human trial and a more comprehensive clinical validation study. In course of the trials, the company showed that the biomarker could differentiate brain injured persons from healthy individuals, the structure of the biomarker was characterized and certain binders were identified which specifically recognize the biomarker. The binder will be utilized a quick diagnostic test.

PC: How will you use your recent funding round?

AH: The award of a 1.1 million dollars grant from the USA Department of Defense provides funding for continued clinical development of the company’s diagnostic kit for rapid detection of mild traumatic brain injuries and concussions. The funds will enable us to strengthen our research team and expand our translational programs from the clinical sample collection to a prototype kit. The award enables the next step in collecting more comprehensive clinical evidence to support the product development.

The test kit detects brain injury biomarkers from non-invasive body fluid samples such as urine and saliva. We have discovered and identified these unique biomarkers and we are developing them into a rapid diagnostic kit. Such a kit enables brain injury detection or ruling-out soon after the injury in the field conditions. There will be less need for laborious and expensive CT or MRI head scans — which are uncertain means to detect concussions and mild injuries. Many concussions remain undiagnosed which leaves the persons brain in a state of trauma and even a small jolt or hit can aggravate the injury. Ultimately it can lead to bad long term conditions.

PC: What do you plan to achieve in the next 2–3 years?

AH: Our next mission is to conduct a clinical trial validating the importance of the biomarker in pediatric children’s clinical trial and followed by the completion of the kit prototype development. The mission is to submit regulatory application for a CE-mark in the next two years.