MedRhythms advances product pipeline with science boards, new trial
Courtesy / MedRhythms
MedRhythms was founded and is led by Brian Harris, left, and Owen McCarthy. In 2018 the company received $5 million in venture financing, and now has formed its third scientific advisory board and beginning a second clinical trial.
A Portland medical technology startup, MedRhythms Inc., is continuing to develop its product pipeline with the formation of two scientific advisory boards and the start of a new clinical trial.
MedRhythms, whose patented digital platform uses music and biosensors to treat neurologically linked walking impairment, has created boards to guide the company’s product research in multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease, according to a news release Tuesday.
MedRhythms also said that its therapeutic solution for patients with MS will be studied in a pilot-scale, randomized clinical trial at Ohio-based Cleveland Clinic, which is widely recognized as one of the top hospital systems in the country. The study is funded by a grant from the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers.
Serving on the MedRhythms MS advisory board are Francois Bethoux, director of rehabilitation services at the Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis at Cleveland Clinic, and John DeLuca, senior vice president for research and training at the Kessler Foundation and a professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.
Bethoux is a paid advisor to MedRhythms, and will serve as principal investigator in the new trial, which starts in the next few months.
The company’s advisory board on Parkinson’s disease comprises Bastiaan Bloem, Ray Dorsey and Alexander Pantelyat.
Bloem is co-director of Parkinson's Net and a scientific advisor of the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Dorsey is director of the Center for Health Technology at the University of Rochester and editor-in-chief of Digital Biomarkers Journal. Pantelyat is director of the Center for Music and Medicine at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
"We are excited to advance the pipeline of products by adding these world-renowned researchers and clinicians to our MS and PD scientific advisory boards," said Brian Harris, co-founder and CEO of MedRhythms. “Each advisor brings to the MS and PD SABs unique clinical expertise and a history of significant research and publications in their fields.”
In July, MedRhythms formed its first SAB, focusing on stroke recovery. In October, the company announced the launch of a multi-site trial to evaluate its stroke treatment; results from that trial are due to be released next month.
MedRhythms was founded in 2016 by Harris, a certified music therapist, and Owen McCarthy, who studied biological engineering and serves as president. The two were recognized in Mainebiz's 2018 Next List for their impact on Maine's economy.
News of the MedRhythms SABs comes just one week after another Portland startup in the medical field, ElleVet Sciences, announced the formation of its own 15-member scientific advisory board. ElleVet is developing a line of cannabis-based therapeutic products for pets.
The formation of an SAB is a typical step for maturing companies in the biotechnology and medical technology industry.
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