High in the hills of Barcelona, brain science startup Neuroelectrics is developing therapies that will improve the lives of people with brain disorders.
The group produces about 400 devices, which are shipped to 75 countries around the world every year.
The main product is a head cap, which monitors the electrical activity of the brain and stimulates areas of the brain with a mild electric current.
Co-founder and CEO Ana Maiques believes in improving the lives of people with epilepsy.
“In the world, there are 60 million patients with epilepsy and a third of them do not respond to medication,” Maiques told CNBC Tech: The Edge in an interview.
“These patients usually go into surgery, either a craniotomy – we remove the part of the brain that creates the seizures – or an implanted device. So Neuroelectrics brings this noninvasive solution to try to reduce seizures.”
In a study of 17 patients approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, the technology showed a median seizure reduction of 41%. Neuroelectrics is seeking FDA approval in September 2025.
In addition to epilepsy, Maiques and his team are optimistic that headgear can also be used to treat depression and Alzheimer’s.
“Our device reads the electrical activity in the brain, but it also injects electricity. So, the area we focus on is the one that is clearly electrical. So, when you have epilepsy, you have an electrical discharge in one of the areas of your brain, so we can target and help, ” says Roser Sanchez-Todo, director of R&D for Neuroelectrics’ brain model department.
CNBC’s senior technology correspondent Arjun Kharpal tries out Neuroelectrics’ neurostimulating electric head.
Benjamin Hall
NeuroTwin
Before patients could use the technology, Neuroelectrics created a brain replica, known as a NeuroTwin.
“We’ve been using what we now call AI, or machine learning, for years. If you think about an airline pilot, he’s not in the plane, he’s in the simulator. So why don’t you have a flight simulator. brain, where are you can we have a digital copy of your brain?” Maiques said.
“Then we can say, if we provide this treatment, or this stimulation, how will your brain react? We are very excited about our NeuroTwin technology. I think it will change the way we look at brain diseases,” he added.
The end goal is for patients to be able to use the cap at home, which is important because it takes ten 20-minute sessions a day for eight weeks for the average epilepsy patient to feel results.
“Then you just go. You put the headcap on, maybe you need some help to put the gel for the electrodes, and you just press the start stimulation,” said Sanchez-Todo.
“Usually, from 20 minutes to an hour you are sitting and relaxing. Then you just have to take it out, clean it, and then for the next day you repeat it.”
