LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - University intellectual property commercialisation specialist Frontier IP announced "strong progress" in Portugal on Tuesday, with the incorporation of a new company which would be called 'Insignals Neurotech'.
The AIM-traded firm said Insignals was developing patented technology to aid deep-brain stimulation surgery on patients suffering Parkinson's disease, epilepsy and other neural conditions.

Frontier IP would hold a 33% stake in the company, which would be its third spin-out in Portugal, where it aimed to be a leader in university IP commercialisation.

Insignals - a spin out from the Portuguese Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science (INESC TEC) with the support of University of Porto's São João University Hospital - was developing wireless wearable devices to precisely measure wrist rigidity to help surgeons place brain implants more accurately.

The first product was aimed at Parkinson's disease, and had already undergone two clinical studies.

Increased muscle rigidity was described as one of the key symptoms of the disease, and was often treated by implanting deep brain stimulation electrodes when drugs no longer had an effect.

Frontier IP said Insignals' devices could help place the implants more accurately.

It said doctors evaluated wrist rigidity during surgery to decide the optimum position for the implant.

Currently, that was performed by two trained surgeons making a judgement by manually manipulating the wrist, which meant evaluation could be biased by the physicians' experience and perception.

Other systems designed to provide objective and quantitative evaluation were said to be "complicated" to set up, and were impractical for use during surgical procedures, with Insignals' device easier to set up and use.

Potential applications included helping pharmaceutical companies monitor or assess the impact of new or approved drugs in rigidity reduction during clinical trials as well.

Frontier IP said Insignals had already received interest from potential industry partners, and was looking to enter into collaboration agreements to extend clinical trials in Portugal, the UK and Germany.

It was established to commercialise the work of João Paulo Cunha, associate professor with Agregação at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, and senior researcher at the INESC TEC Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering.

There, he created the Biomedical Research And INnovation (BRAIN) research group and co-founded the Centre for Biomedical Engineering Research.

"The creation of the Insignals Neurotech startup with our partners from Frontier IP will provide a strong innovation vehicle to consolidate the neuro-technology we've been developing for several years at INESC TEC and University of Porto, and take it a step further to the international market," said João Paulo Cunha.

Frontier IP chief executive officer Neil Crabb added that the company was "delighted" to welcome Insignals to the group.

"The company's technology has the potential to improve the accuracy of where to place an implant and relieve the symptoms of Parkinson's disease and other neural conditions," Crabb explained.

"The spin-out provides further evidence that we are now gaining serious traction in Portugal, a country with a lot of exciting intellectual property and few companies providing commercialisation services."

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