Digital healthcare company BlinkLab (ASX: BB1) is set to participate in a clinical study with Bates College, Maine, to assess the performance of its smartphone test as an aid in the diagnosis of functional neurological disorder (FND).
The tests will be used for remote testing of FND patient populations in Maine, New York, New Jersey, and other locations. Dr Olivia Kim will lead this study, which will continue for up to three years and recruit up to 500 patients.
The collaboration agreement ensures that BlinkLab will have the option to acquire any intellectual property developed as a direct result of the partnership.
BlinkLab CEO Henk-Jan Boele commented, “It is a great pleasure to announce this collaboration with Dr Olivia Kim. This collaboration will not only advance our understanding and diagnostic capabilities for Functional Neurological Disorder but will also enhance the overall performance of our platform for autism and/or ADHD. By testing patients with FND, we will even further refine our app and AI/ML models, improving their diagnostic accuracy for autism and ADHD.”
He added, “This exciting collaboration will boost the reliability and utility of our platform in clinical settings, benefiting a broad spectrum of patients.”
BlinkLab, a company founded by Princeton University neuroscientists, develops smartphone-based AI-powered diagnostic tests for neurological disorders, including FND.
FND is commonly a misdiagnosed condition, characterised by loss of voluntary control over the movement of a body part. However, because FND symptoms are often taken as evidence for Factitious Disorder and people with FND often exhibit other psychiatric and neurological comorbidities, including autism, ADHD, fibromyalgia, depression, and anxiety, patients end up visiting multiple doctors and contend with multiple misdiagnoses before obtaining an FND diagnosis.
Evidently, then, there is a need for diagnostic tools that reduce the time it takes to reach an appropriate diagnosis.
The current study will aim to characterise the behavioural time course of Pavlovian eyeblink conditioning and acoustic startle habituation to validate the BlinkLab smartphone test for use as a remote neurobehavioral testing and diagnostic tool in FND. It will recruit up to 500 adults between the ages of 18 and 85, including patients with a diagnosis of FND, as well as age and comorbidity-matched controls. As FND is characterised by the effects of attention, the study will also test whether patient performance varies as a function of their engagement with distractor stimuli.
Assistant Professor at Bates College and the leader of this study, Dr Olivia Kim, said, “I am very excited to launch this study using the BlinkLab app. The app’s capacity to collect high-quality data in a location of the participants’ choosing will be key for reaching patients with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). This will let us overcome logistical barriers that can make joining conventional, in-laboratory studies burdensome.”
In H1 FY24, the Company recorded an operating loss of $143,318 and ended the half with over $1m in cash. In the coming years, BlinkLab expects to gain US FDA approval for its various tests and pave its path to commercialisation.
As part of the agreement, BlinkLab will provide access to its technology and data and facilitate the use of its platform during the term of the Agreement. Although there were no financial agreements at the time of signing, they are set to be arranged mutually in the future.
Alinda is a Business Reporter for The Sentiment
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