Product: Device for Non-Surgical, Electromagnetic Transcranial Stimulation Developers: Prof. Abraham Zangen and Dr. Yiftach Roth Company: BrainsWay Start of Development: 2000
We have known since last century that psychiatric disorders can be treated with the use of transcranial electrical stimulation.
The problem was that treatment methods developed over the years were invasive, and required the administration of anesthetics and direct current stimulation. Important progress was made with the discovery that stimulation could be conducted with the use of magnetic fields without the need for surgery, and in a relatively focused manner.
Prof. Abraham Zangen, whose research included the study of psychobiological symptoms with a focus on addiction, hypothesized that a device could be created that would provide non-invasive, deep transcranial stimulation. This stimulation could restore systems of electrical activity in networks known to cause a variety of psychiatric symptoms.
In 2000, while doing his post-doctorate at the NIH, Prof. Zangen brought physicist Dr. Yiftach Roth on board to make this vision a reality. They started development and invented Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, or Deep TMS.
The groundbreaking technology allows deep transcranial stimulation without the need for neurosurgery. The NIH was quick to patent the revolutionary idea. All that was left was for the device to become commercial and to receive the permits necessary to market the treatments. To this end, in 2003, Prof. Zangen and Dr. Roth founded BrainsWay.
After acquiring the rights for exclusive use of the patent, BrainsWay was issued as a public company in Israel, and is currently located in Jerusalem.
Over the years, electromagnetic coils were developed for the device and many clinical trials were conducted. In 2012, the company achieved great success in completing a multicenter trial with its Deep TMS device for the treatment of clinical
(major) depression. In 2013, BrainsWay received FDA approval to market the device for this indication in the US.
Treatment with the Deep TMS device is non-invasive, with patients wearing helmets for twenty minutes a day.
Treatment for depression is administered five times a week for 4-6 weeks. According to true data collected by BrainsWay, the positive response rate was 75 percent with a full remission rate of 51 percent. Tens of thousands of patients suffering from depression have been treated by BrainsWay devices across the globe.
BrainsWay is currently conducting multicenter trials for other psychiatric indications such as OCD and PTSD, and has already been granted marketing authorization in Europe. Following the success of clinical trials, use of the device will be expanded for the benefit of even more patients.
