Mindpax uses a wristband in conjunction with an e-health platform to measure parameters of patients with mental disorders to send early warning signals to treating medical professionals. The medtech startup has now secured €1.3 million in seed funding for its expansion.
Mindpax has developed a personalized e-health platform with an app designed to continuously and long-term track the development of mental illnesses via a wearable device. Monitoring objective physiological data, mood, and situational factors form the basis for visualizing the daily routine. This data is intended to help patients and treating medical professionals recognize early warning signs and thus adapt treatment. This should reduce or even completely avoid the duration of an illness episode and hospital stay.
Driving expansion in Europe
The startup has now received €1.3 million from Czech investors for this innovative approach. The funding will be used to further expand the teams in Prague and Munich to drive expansion in Europe. Nation 1, Redwood Capital, and private investors Ivan Hruska and Vlastimil Palata have invested.
From successful clinical trial to application
Treating bipolar disorder is difficult and carries a high risk of relapse.
"This chronic mental illness is characterized by alternating states of mania and depression that can last for up to several months. It is associated with high suicide rates of up to ten percent,"
explained Dr. Filip SpanielTogether with Soňa Sikorová, Pavel Nevický, Jan Novák, and Daniel Novák, he founded Mindpax.
At the beginning, the team investigated which factors influence the development of the disease course; in the case of bipolar disorder, these are parameters such as the patient's sleep and physical activity.
“In our clinical study with 350 patients, we were able to see how we can predict the development of the disease and help treat it more effectively,”
says Daniel Novak, Head of the Analysis Team.
Clinical trials focusing on bipolar and psychotic disorders
The Mindpax wristband monitoring system is being used in longitudinal research in Central Europe. The AKTIBIPO400 study, conducted in collaboration with the National Institute of Mental Health (NUDZ), involves 350 bipolar patients and more than 100 psychiatrists from across the Czech Republic and Slovakia. 200 patients have already completed the full 18-month study period, and 50 more will follow in the next six months. Further clinical trials focusing on bipolar and psychotic disorders will be conducted throughout 2020. Mindpax says it is collaborating with specialized clinics and universities in Germany, Great Britain, Belgium, France, the USA, and Canada.
