PharmStars Announces Spring 2022 Accelerator Graduates: 11 Digital Health Startups Have Successfully Completed PharmStars’ Pharma-Focused Accelerator Program

 PharmStars, the pharma-focused accelerator for digital health startups, is delighted to announce the graduation of 11 startups from its Spring 2022 program. The graduates successfully completed the 10-week PharmaU program, which culminated with the Showcase Event held June 8-10 in Boston. The Showcase Event brought together the participating startups and PharmStars’ seven innovation-minded pharma members.

PharmStars focuses on bridging the “pharma-startup gap” by helping pharma and startups overcome partnership barriers. PharmStars’ unique PharmaU program provides education and mentorship to help startups and pharma partner more effectively.

The newest cohort was selected in March 2022 following a competitive application process. Each startup offers a novel digital health solution related to the theme of “Innovations in Neurological Disease.” Their products represent a diverse array of digital health solutions, including digital biomarkers, digital therapeutics, remote patient monitoring, and patient engagement tools.

At the Showcase Event, startups presented their solutions and participated in one-on-one meetings with representatives of PharmStars’ pharma members. Participating startups said that the Showcase Event was extremely impactful.

“Normally, it takes years from an initial meeting to a serious conversation with a pharma company. In one day, we have the attention of six pharma companies specifically interested in what we can do! The opportunity is enormous,” said the CEO of one of the startups.

The CEO of another participating startup said, “We are an early-stage startup. For us, to have an opportunity to showcase our company to major pharma companies…is an occasion that we had not even considered possible. It’s not only the pharma companies’ audience but, most importantly, the ‘right’ people within pharma attended the event.”

The following 11 digital health startups successfully completed the PharmStars accelerator:

· Accexible (Barcelona, Spain): Rapid, remote, device-agnostic speech biomarkers for accurate screening and monitoring of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early dementia.

· BeCare Link (Rumson, NJ): Gamified, mobile app for the remote, objective, and quantitative assessment of neurological function and decline using AI.

· Deliberate AI (New York, NY): Multi-modal diagnostics platform and machine learning model for the analysis of behavioral and physiological biomarkers to detect symptoms and monitor patients with psychiatric and neurological conditions.

· Head Diagnostics Ltd (Dublin, Ireland): A novel, hand-held medical device measuring ocular microtremor (OMT) enabling the rapid, non-invasive assessment of Parkinson’s disease.

· HealthQb Technologies (Vancouver BC, Canada): A biopsychosocial behavior modification system for pain and chronic disease which objectively measures, prioritizes, and targets a patient’s personalized “hidden” psycho-social factors that contribute to their persistent illness.

· Modus Health (Edmonds, WA): Wearable and validated digital endpoints for measuring real-world walking quantity, intensity, and duration, with demonstrated superior accuracy compared to other wearable mobility assessment tools.

· Neuroventis (Brussels, Belgium): Neurological patient and HCP engagement platform offering services and programs to deliver optimal patient outcomes, improved medication adherence, and generation of real-world data.

· Orbit Health (Munich, Germany): AI-enabled platform using commercially available smartwatches to offer objective, convenient, minute-by-minute information on motor symptoms and treatment response in Parkinson’s patients, in real-world settings.

· REACT Neuro (Cambridge, MA): Self-administered, in home, virtual reality platform for quantitative, comprehensive, and objective neurocognitive assessments.

· Vistim Labs Inc. (Salt Lake City, UT): Novel functional EEG-based, AI-enabled cognitive assessment collecting real-time stimulated brain activity to enable objective measurement of early, previously imperceivable changes in cognitive function.

· WKD.SMRT (Cambridge, MA): Pre-configured, video-based and sensor-based, in-home platform that passively, ambiently, and continuously collects objective, high-quality, real-world data on motor and functional performance.

PharmStars is accepting applications until July 16 for its Fall 2022 cohort, themed “Innovations in Real-World Evidence.” For digital health startups interested in participating, information on dates, deadlines, and the application form is available on the PharmStars website.

PharmStars 2022 membership is now open to a limited number of additional pharma and biotech companies.

About PharmStars

PharmStars is the member-based, pharma-focused accelerator for digital health startups. Through our extensive expertise across pharma, startups, digital health, and innovation, we understand the challenges that pharma and startups face when seeking to collaborate. Our PharmaU program supports digital health startups and our pharma members in “bridging the pharma-startup gap,” leading to greater success and faster adoption of “beyond the molecule” solutions for patients.