Since spring 2020 Braintale – a spin-off of AP-HP, the Paris hospital authority – has been offering the European market software so that changes over time in the integrity of the white matter of the nervous system can be quantified and monitored. This scientific innovation is the result of fifteen years of work by Professor Louis Puybasset, head of the department of anaesthesia and intensive care at the Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière and professor medicine at Sorbonne Université. He constructed the first score while assessing the prognosis of a patient waking up from a coma. In 2018, he helped co-found the company and is now chairman of its scientific board. “Over time, we realised how relevant this approach is to many other therapeutic needs,” added Julie Rachline, CEO.  

One of its solutions, BrainQuant, relies on standardised diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements. They are analysed using artificial intelligence algorithms, obtained from prospective clinical studies on large patient cohorts conducted at AP-HP. Visualising the white matter and its changes simplifies and accelerates patient care from their arrival in the neurology department or in intensive care until an appropriate care and monitoring protocol is set up. The majority of diseases in the brain have an impact on brain white matter: demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis or leukodystrophy, brain hypoxia caused by strokes, cardiac arrest or post-traumatic injuries, as well as certain neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s.

Establish a prognosis for the clinical impact of brain lesions

Braintale’s clients include both pharmaceutical development companies and hospitals. Its technology allows the former to develop and market more efficiently with less risk, and the latter to have access to personalised diagnostic and/or prognostic information.

“Braintale provides a calibrated, standardised and clinically validated decision-making tool, a unique proposition today,” stated Julie Rachline, CEO. 

Patients already benefit from these solutions in Europe, but not yet in the United States. Being nominated for the Prix Galien Medstartup is therefore an incredible showcase to prepare entry into the American market. The scientific cooperation with the Massachusetts General Hospital, focusing on the prognostication of patients in a coma and its expansion into neurology, means that Braintale can compete in the category “Best cooperation in the medtech or digital health sector”.