The State Of Mental Health Tech, With Daniel Månsson, CEO of Flow Neuroscience

Published in

SOSV

5 min readSep 20, 2020

This is the 17th episode of the podcast Deep Tech: From Lab to Market’ where Founders and Investors share how ‘deep tech’ innovation can go from lab to market. It is available on Apple Podcast and other platforms,

It is hosted by Benjamin Joffe, Partner at SOSV, a global early stage fund focused on deep tech. SOSV runs multiple accelerator programs including HAX (intelligent hardware) and IndieBio (life sciences). To hear about new episodes, sign up to the newsletter or follow us on twitter at @LabToMarket.

Telemedicine and Mental health are hot topics, especially in those times of economic uncertainty and forced isolation.

In this episode, Daniel Månsson, CEO of Flow Neuroscience (a SOSV portfolio company), explains how they are bringing the first medication-free depression treatment to the home of patients.

👉 Ask Daniel questions on LinkedIn here 👈

Our conversation covers:

The origins of Flow Neuroscience
The first at-home medication-free device to treat depression.
The impact of Covid-19 on mental health.
The technology spectrum of mental health, from wellness apps to invasive brain stimulation.
The brain stimulation alphabet soup: ECS, TMS, tDCS and DBS.
What Apple, Google, but also Amazon and Elon Musk’s Neuralink are doing.
Other startups in mental health diagnostics or treatment for anxiety, stress, depression and more.
The current push for remote patient monitoring and treatment.
The role of regulators to ensure both a positive effect of treatments and the safety of patients.
What’s ahead for Flow and their current expansion plans.

For other resources covering digital health, check out SOSV’s videos on our YouTube channel.

Companies

Flow Neuroscience: Medication-free at-home depression treatment.
Amazon Halo: Bracelet tracking body composition, tone of voice analysis, sleep & activity tracking, and more.
Apple Watch Series 6: Includes Blood Oxygen, ECG, High/low/irregular heart rate notifications. Apple also hired dozens of doctors in late 2018 (source: CNBC).
Google Health and its CEO, Dr. David Feinberg. DeepMind Health, Verily (life sciences arm of Alphabet) and its Project Baseline.
Neuralink: Elon Musk’s company focused on brain-machine interfaces.
Calm: Meditation and sleep app. Raised $143M.
Headspace: Digital health platform that provides guided meditation sessions and mindfulness training. Raised $215.9M.
Ellispis Health: AI for behavioral health, starting with depression and anxiety. Raised $10M.
Feel (SOSV): Emotions sensing bracelet for mental health. Raised $6.3M.
Lief Therapeutics (SOSV): Training wearable to manage stress.

Other References

ECT: electroconvulsive therapy (‘shock therapy’). ECT was invented in Italy in the late 1930s. Psychiatrists had already discovered that inducing seizures could relieve symptoms of mental illness (Source: Psychology Today). ECT remains the single most effective therapy for treatment-resistant cases of depression and some cases of bipolar affective disorder and schizophrenia. Today, it is a widely accepted treatment for serious mental disorders and is taught and practiced at hospitals throughout the world. It is estimated that one million people receive ECT annually (Leiknes, Schweder, & Høie, 2012). (Source: Psychology Today).
TMS: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive procedure that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain to improve symptoms of depression. TMS is typically used when other depression treatments haven’t been effective. Source: Mayo Clinic.
tDCS: transCranial Direct Current Stimulation. tDCS is currently the only brain stimulation technique that doesn’t require a physician prescription, and can be used in the privacy of one’s own home. Due to the simplicity of the technology, tDCS can be incredibly affordable. While the FDA has not yet approved tDCS for medical use, tDCS devices have been publicly available as experimental kits for nearly a decade.
DBS: — Deep Brain Stimulation. Deep brain stimulation involves implanting electrodes within certain areas of your brain. These electrodes produce electrical impulses that regulate abnormal impulses. Source: Mayo Clinic.
DSM-5: Fifth update of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Describes all different diagnosis in the mental health field.
Updated FDA regulations regarding Remote Patient Monitoring in the wake of Covid-19