OREANDA-NEWS. PureTech Health plc, a cross-disciplinary biotech company developing 21st century medicines in and at the interface of the immune, central nervous and gastro-intestinal systems, is pleased to note that a University of California San Francisco (UCSF) pilot study found that Akili's Project: EVOTM platform was able to detect cognitive deficits in a paediatric population with a genetically-based developmental delay that is linked to attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorders. Interestingly, the Akili test was able to detect deficits where the traditional computerised tests used in the study were not, highlighting the potential power of the platform as an assessment tool.

The study, which was led by UCSF researchers Dr. Joaquin Anguera and Dr. Elysa Marco and published in the 20 September issue of Translational Psychiatry, assessed children with 16p11.2 deletion, a genetic variation associated with ADHD and autism, as well as siblings without the deletion and neurotypical age-matched children. Children with the deletion had differences in proprietary Project: EVO™ measurements even though standard tests were not able to identify these differences, suggesting that the Project: EVO™ platform was able to more robustly identify and characterise selective attention abilities than traditional tests.

Daphne Zohar, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at PureTech, said: "Though this was a small pilot study, we're pleased that it was statistically significant and supports a potential use case for the Project: EVOTM platform as an assessment or monitoring tool in paediatric populations."

Akili's lead product platform, Project: EVOTM, is based on technology exclusively licensed from the lab of Dr. Adam Gazzaley at the University of California, San Francisco. The Project: EVO platform deploys proprietary assessments and intervention aimed at interference processing and cognitive control abilities, all through a mobile action video game interface.  The mechanics of the platform are designed to directly target an individual's core neurological ability to process multiple streams of information, which represents a novel neurological target for Akili's intervention and monitoring products.

The platform powers two types of products. The treatment products are designed for daily at-home intervention and have the potential to improve attention, working memory and other executive functions and symptoms in patients through direct interaction with the device. The monitor product is designed for ultra-frequent (multiple times per second) assessments over time that may enable screening across neurological and psychiatric disorders. In each product, the technology automatically adapts difficulty in real-time, allowing individuals of wide-ranging ability levels to interact with the product remotely without the need for physician calibration. Akili is currently conducting multiple clinical trials of its digital medicine platform across a variety of patient populations, including paediatric ADHD, autism spectrum disorder (in collaboration with Autism Speaks), depression, Alzheimer's disease and traumatic brain injury.

Akili is building clinically validated cognitive treatments and assessments that are delivered in an action video game interface. Leveraging medical-grade science and consumer-grade software technology, the company is seeking to produce a new type of medical product that can offer safe and effective scalable treatment and better patient monitoring for patients across a range of mental health and neurological conditions. The company was founded by PureTech Health (PRTC.L), together with leading neuroscientists and game designers. Akili has garnered investment from Shire PLC, Amgen Ventures and Merck Ventures BV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, a subsidiary of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany (known as M Ventures in the United States and Canada), and it has strategic partnerships with Pfizer Inc. and Autism Speaks.

PureTech Health plc (PRTC.L) owns 61.4% of the company as of 30 June 2016. This is calculated on a diluted basis, including issued and outstanding shares and outstanding warrants, written commitments to issue options, options to purchase shares and shares to be issued upon closing of tranched financings, but excluding unallocated shares authorised to be issued pursuant to equity incentive plans and any shares issuable upon conversion of outstanding convertible promissory notes.