PureTech's Sync Project Announces New Investors

RNS Number : 3535F

PureTech Health PLC

17 May 2017

 

17 May 2017

PureTech Health plc

PureTech Health's Sync Project Announces New Investors and Accelerates Development of Personalised Music Health Platform

PureTech Health plc ("PureTech", LSE: PRTC), an advanced, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, is pleased to note that Sync Project, a PureTech Health subsidiary, is welcoming new investors as it accelerates development of its proprietary, physiologically-responsive music health platform. To date, Sync Project has raised $5 million in financing, which includes funds from new investors Greylock Partners (via Discovery Fund), Reid Hoffman, Esther Dyson, David Shaw, and Digital Garage. Sync Project aims to validate interventions in both large-scale consumer experiments and controlled clinical studies in conditions such as stress, sleep, anxiety, and pain. 

Mike MacLean, Chief Financial Officer of PureTech Health, said: "We're pleased with the support that these prominent new investors have provided to Sync Project as the team continues to advance their precision medicine platform using music. PureTech Health has been at the forefront of developing non-invasive digital interventions across a range of conditions, and we look forward to the future progress of Sync Project's technology."

The full text of the announcement from Sync Project is as follows:

Sync Project Announces New Investors

and Accelerates Development of Personalised Music Health Platform

Funds are being used to advance physiologically-responsive music therapies

BOSTON, Massachusetts, May 17, 2017 - Sync Project, Inc., a Boston-based company developing music as a personalised treatment across a range of conditions, is accelerating development of its physiologically-responsive music health platform. To date, Sync Project has raised $5 million in financing from investors Reid Hoffman, Greylock Partners (via Discovery Fund), Esther Dyson, David Shaw, Digital Garage, and PureTech Health. The company aims to validate interventions in both large-scale consumer experiments and controlled clinical studies in conditions such as stress, sleep, anxiety, and pain. 

"Developing music as precision medicine requires the right mix of people and funding that bridge consumer technology, music, and biotech," said Marko Ahtisaari, CEO and Co-founder. "Our investors, advisors, and team are just such a mix. With the support of our investors, Sync Project is accelerating the development and validation of generative music for health." 

"We are excited about the Sync Project team and how they are using artificial intelligence to create a new kind of personalised music that responds to your physiology to improve health," said Reid Hoffman, partner at Greylock Partners.

Sync Project is building a unique data set on the biometric impact (e.g., heart rate, brain activity, and sleep patterns) of certain structural properties of music (e.g., beat, key, and timbre). Datasets generated through Sync Project's consumer initiatives will be further validated through controlled clinical trials in individuals suffering from sleep disorders, anxiety, and pain, among others. Sync Project aims to commercialise the clinical applications of this platform and deliver a personalised, low-cost, non-invasive therapy, across a range of conditions.

Sync Project's generative music platform is based on scientific research into the health effects of music. Recent research has shown that music can modulate neural systems like the dopamine response, autonomic nervous system, and other key pathways related to stress, movement, learning, and memory. This body of research shows that music affects some of the same neural pathways that are regulated by pharmaceuticals such as psychostimulants and suggests that music may hold significant therapeutic potential.  

Earlier this year, Sync Project launched unwind.ai, the first global experiment using algorithmically-generated music to potentially improve relaxation prior to sleep. Anyone with a smartphone can participate free of charge and contribute to a global data set on how music affects stress. Designed in collaboration with critically-acclaimed musicians, Sync Project's generative music is personalised to an individual's unique physiology. 

About Sync Project

Sync Project is developing music as precision medicine. Sync Project's generative music platform builds on scientific research into the health effects of music with a unique data set and machine learning that analyses musical attributes (like tempo and timbre) and their impacts on biometrics (like heart rate, brain activity, and sleep patterns.) Insights from Sync Project's consumer initiatives will be further validated through controlled clinical trials in individuals suffering from sleep disorders, anxiety, and pain, among others. Sync Project aims to commercialise the clinical applications of their platform and deliver a personalised, low-cost, non-invasive therapy, across a range of conditions. Sync Project was co-founded by Marko Ahtisaari, Yadid Ayzenberg, Ketki Karanam, and PureTech Health (LSE: PRTC; www.puretechhealth.com).

Sync Project's advisors and Board comprise a distinguished and diverse team of science, music, health and technology experts committed to uncovering the untapped potential of music's ability to improve health: Robert Zatorre, Ph.D., Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery at the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University; Adam Gazzaley, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Neuroscience Imaging Center and Professor of Physiology, Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco; Tristan Jehan, Ph.D., Founding Chief Technology Officer of The Echo Nest (Spotify); Peter Gabriel, six-time Grammy Award-winning British singer-songwriter; Annie Clark (St. Vincent), award-winning American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist; Jon Hopkins, classically trained British pianist, critically acclaimed recording artist, Ivor Novello nominated composer of film scores, and prominent producer/collaborator; Esa-Pekka Salonen, Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and Conductor Laureate for the Los Angeles Philharmonic; and Board Members Joi Ito, Director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, Marjorie Scardino, DBE, FRSA, Chairman of the MacArthur Foundation, Board member of Twitter and former CEO of Pearson, Steven Holtzman, CEO of Decibel Therapeutics, and Daphne Zohar, Co-Founder and the Chief Executive Officer of PureTech Health. For more information visit syncproject.co or connect with us on Twitter @syncprojectco. 

About PureTech Health

PureTech Health (PureTech Health plc, PRTC.L) is an advanced, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel medicines that modulate the adaptive human systems. PureTech's therapies target the dysfunctions in the immune, nervous, and gastro-intestinal systems by addressing the underlying pathophysiology of disease from a systems perspective rather than through a single receptor or pathway. The Company is advancing a rich pipeline that includes multiple human proof-of-concept studies and pivotal or registration studies expected to read out over the next 12-18 months. PureTech Health's growing research and development pipeline has been developed in collaboration with some of the world's leading scientific experts, who along with PureTech's experienced team and a stellar Board identify, analyse and advance very selectively the opportunities the Company believes hold the most promise for patients. This experienced and engaged team places PureTech Health at the forefront of ground-breaking science and technological innovation and leads the Company between and beyond existing disciplines. For more information, visit www.puretechhealth.com or connect with us on Twitter @puretechh.

Forward Looking Statement

This press release contains statements that are or may be forward-looking statements, including statements that relate to the company's future prospects, developments and strategies. The forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance and achievements to differ materially from current expectations, including, but not limited to, those risks and uncertainties described in the risk factors included in the regulatory filings for PureTech Health plc. These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions regarding the present and future business strategies of the company and the environment in which it will operate in the future. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as at the date of this press release. Except as required by law and regulatory requirements, neither the company nor any other party intends to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contact:

	PureTech Health	FTI Consulting
	Allison Mead [phone] [e-mail]	Ben Atwell, Matthew Cole, Rob Winder [phone]

 

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