small steps great leaps

Exsurgo combines neuroscience, engineering and data analysis to help treat a range of neurological conditions without the use of pharmaceuticals.

Whether it’s chronic pain – one of the biggest healthcare issues facing the world today – or concussion, stroke rehabilitation or post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression or endometriosis, Exsurgo’s technology – and its centralised data collection hub Exsurgo Connect – analyses brain activity and then puts the power of our own brains to use to help treat those conditions.

Mindpower to the people

A REVOLUTION IN PAIN MANAGEMENT, EXSURGO’S PROPRIETARY AXON SYSTEM IS  NON-INVASIVE, EASY-TO-USE AND HAS NO SIDE-EFFECTS* OR TOLERANCE BUILD UP.

When wearing the headset, brain-activity data is tracked and displayed on the user’s own mobile device via our app. Through real-time visual feedback, the user learns to neuro- modulate the pain signals by recognising and modifying their response, causing a significant decrease in pain.

At a fraction of the price of traditional EEG technology, Axon empowers everyone, everywhere to manage their own treatment from the comfort of their own home.

HOW AXON WORKS

Electroencephalography (EEG) Neurofeedback is an established, medically-proven process used to evaluate electrical activity in the brain. Based on the proven science that people learn by positive (and negative) reinforcement, patients can ‘retrain’ their brains to respond to pain signals in a different way. 

Most major hospitals and medical universities will have an EEG machine, but using one currently requires attendance at a specialist clinic and a clinician is needed to interpret data. The equipment can also cost up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

Axon technology combines a miniaturised headset, Cloud-based AI for analytics, and a consumer-friendly app. Exsurgo intends to market Axon as a medical-grade service at a fraction of the cost of existing systems, making EEG Neurofeedback affordable and accessible for the first time. 

The therapy is non-invasive and drug- and side-effect free and it can be done at a clinic or at home with clinical oversight – allowing patients to deal with their chronic pain via an Axon subscription, rather than via drug prescription. 

Neurofeedback also has exciting potential for treating a wide range of health conditions that have a neurological component, including anxiety & depression, migraine, PTSD and ADHD. Richard Little and the Exsurgo team have an extensive programme of clinical trials and studies underway to validate the use of its technology.

 

The deployment of Exsurgo’s technology has the potential to save the UK healthcare economy in the region of £5.6B (US$7.9B) per year.

EXTRACT FROM TREATING CHRONIC SEVERE PAIN: THE ROLE OF AXON IN REDUCING GLOBAL COSTS.

Dr Nick Birch FRCS (Orth), Consultant Spinal Specialist

THE BURDEN OF PAIN

Pain is like an alarm that goes off when nerves in the body send a signal to the brain. Chronic pain – or pain that is experienced every day for more than 3 months and may not be related to a specific illness or injury – is basically when that alarm doesn’t switch off.  Estimates of the prevalence of chronic pain vary between studies, but it’s thought to affect around one in five people and that’s expected to increase in the coming years.  The burden on individuals and society as a whole is significant, in terms of direct health costs for appointments, drugs and other treatments, lost productivity among those experiencing pain and their carers, and the intangible costs of suffering from an often debilitating condition.  In the US, one study estimated the total costs of chronic pain ranged from US$560 to $635 billion. That is greater than the annual costs of heart disease, cancer and diabetes respectively.

Around the world, health authorities are looking for ways to reduce opioid misuse and addiction and recommending non-addictive pain treatments like exercise and psychological-based therapiesAxon offers huge potential to reduce the use of drugs to treat chronic pain and other neurological conditions, materially lower health care costs and improve patient outcomes. 

A UK clinical trial saw participants who suffered from various types of chronic pain using Axon from the comfort of their own home to measure changes in pain intensity alongside associated symptoms (depression, anxiety, sleep, and quality of life). The trial was led by Dr Nick Birch, an Orthopaedic Consultant, and his analysis suggests the deployment of Axon has the potential to save the UK healthcare economy in the region of £5.6B (US$7.9B) per year. 

In the US, he says the potential impact of Axon is three times as great as in the UK in terms of cost-effectiveness, but will also have a major impact on reducing opiate dependence and the annual death toll from opiate overdoses.

*from the data to date.