by James Cavuoto, editor
September 6, 2008
July 3, 2006 |
Individuals with cognitive impairments represent a growing market opportunity for manufacturers of neurotechnology systems. In addition to building stimulation and sensing devices that detect and treat the neurological disorders causing cognitive impairment, neurotech firms may well be called upon by other healthcare firms and government agencies to help design new assistive technologies that will have application beyond the current market for neurological disorders.
The cognitive disabilities market in the U.S. includes about 4.6 million individuals with mental retardation or developmental disorders, 6 million with traumatic brain injuries, 4.2 million with Alzheimer’s disease, and 5.8 million with mental illness. In addition, nearly 20 percent of stroke survivors develop some form of cognitive disability, often language-related, and autism afflicts 1 in 175 children. The international market is estimated to be 124 million individuals in the developed nations and at least double that figure in the developing world.
The costs to society of these disorders are enormous; roughly $42 billion per year for long-term care of individuals with MR/DD and $54 billion for mental illness. Medicare’s costs to care for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease are projected to grow from $91 billion per year in 2006 to $160 billion by the end of the decade.
Many of the issues confronting healthcare and education professionals dealing with cognitive disabilities were discussed at the Technology to Improve Cognitive Function conference held in Washington D.C. last month, which was sponsored by the Interagency Committee on Disability Research [see Conference Report, p7]. The government committee was established with the passage of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to coordinate all federal programs dealing with disabilities research, assistive technologies, and related fields. Committee representatives come from the Department of Commerce, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Veterans Affairs, Department of Education, and other entities.
Several neurotechnology firms are currently pursuing the cognitive disabilities market. Posit Science Corp. of San Francisco, CA, which was founded by cortical plasticity pioneer Michael Merzenich of University of California San Francisco, is developing software products that exploit cortical plasticity principles to aid individuals with cognitive impairment.
The company is also looking at applications in autism and other disorders. Posit’s predecessor, Scientific Learning Corp., markets software that targets auditory processes in the cortex to assist children with language learning disorders. Epoch Innovations’ Brightstar also targets learning disorders using software that seeks to modify visual pathways in the brain.
Cyberkinetics’ BrainGate system promises to help locked-in individuals and Neural Signals is developing a speech prosthesis based on neurosensing strategies that detect phoneme ideation in these patients. Northstar Neuroscience’s Stroke Recovery System is undergoing a clinical trial for treating Broca’s aphasia.
