Some of the top neurology startups in Korea are getting a lot of attention due to their amazing work in neuroscience. The study of the human brain is complex which is why technology is vital to help us understand what is going on inside this organ. There has been a lot of focus in regards to the study of Alzheimer’s as it is becoming a concern in Korea due to the country’s aging population. It is a fact that cognitive decline increases with age and in Korea, it is estimated that over 3 million elderly people will be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease by 2050. Thankfully there are many medical startups focusing on neurology to fight illnesses like Alzheimer’s and Autism.
Top Neurology Startups in Korea
BioOrchestra
One of the top RNA therapeutics startups in Korea is BioOrchestra. They focus on neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease using its RNA-based drug and drug delivery platform. Therefore, they use a fully integrated platform for drug development. BioOrchestra was able to raise $45 million for their Series C round.
SoVarGen
SoVarGen is a biotech startup in Korea that develops a pipeline of product candidates in the area of brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, brain tumors, and intractable epilepsy. They have raised over $30 million for their Series B funding.
Astrogen
Astrogen is a Korean biotech startup that develops new drugs for intractable neurological diseases. They are carrying out Phase 2 clinical trials for its autism spectrum disorder treatment. In addition, they plan to carry out Phase 1 clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease treatment. Astrogen recently partnered with a French company that specializes in AI for drug design. They will collaborate to discover and develop small molecule pre-clinical drug candidates for Parkinson’s disease. Astrogen has raised over $13 million in funding to date.
NEUROPHET
Korean Medical AI-based software startup Neurophet created tES Lab 2.0 which automatically segments brain magnetic resonance (MR) into 107 regions within a minute. Therefore, the Neurophet tES Lab 2.0 is a complete transcranial electrical stimulation simulation software. In addition, It allows users to calculate and visualize brain stimulation effects. This is based on the individual’s brain structure and stimulus conditions.
Furthermore, Neurophet was able to secure $5 million in series A.
Some of the Key Features of Neurophet tES Lab 2.0
- AI-driven
- Fully automated brain segmentation
- Personalized 3D model generation
- Simulation of user-defined brain targets
- Automatically electrode positioning for user-defined brain targets
- Effective simulation result analysis
Nunaps
Korean therapeutics startup Nunap develops and tests its software-based treatments for neurological disorders. They are currently building out their platform while developing their first product called Nunap Vision. It is a VR headset that helps with perception training. This technology aims to help treat visual field defects that are caused by brain damage, such as strokes. They have raised over $4.2 million from Korean VC firms such as Company K Partners and K2 Investment Partners just to name a few. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approved Nunap’s clinical trial of Nunap Vision.
Furthermore, they were able to do their clinical trials at Asan Medical Center, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, and Samsung Medical Center.
“The approval of the new clinical trial will become the first step in securing the local market dominance for digital therapy,” said the CEO of Nunaps, Kwang Dong-hwa.
SEVENPOINTONE
SEVENPOINTONE is the developer of a digital healthcare platform designed to provide dementia diagnosis algorithms. They offer a VR-based healthcare diagnostic solution that provides an assessment of early signs or symptoms associated with dementia. Moreover, it can also be used for the development of mental and cognitive skills, enabling elderly people and dementia patients with brain-enhancing content that helps to cope with dementia side effects.
