UoN spin-out raises almost £1m to roll out Tourette’s wrist device

A new wrist device to help control Tourette’s Syndrome is a step closer to being commercialised after University of Nottingham spin-out company Neupulse raised almost £1m in additional funding.

Neupulse completed a second round of funding in December 2022 and raised £918,000 from existing investors and groups of high net worth individuals from around the world.

The company has harnessed research from the University of Nottingham’s School of Psychology which uses repetitive trains of stimulation to the median nerve (MNS) at the wrist to entrain rhythmic electrical brain activity – known as brain-oscillations – associated with the suppression of movements.

Researchers have found that rhythmic MNS is sufficient to substantially reduce tic frequency and tic intensity, and the urge-to-tic, in individuals with Tourette’s.

Paul Cable, chief operating officer at Neupulse, said: “This is an exciting time for the company as we move forward to the next stage of our development by starting to design the wearable that will bring choice to thousands of individuals that have Tourette’s Syndrome.”

Professor Stephen Jackson, a director at Neupulse, led the research at the University of Nottingham.

He said: “We’re delighted to have secured the funding for the next phase of development. In addition to raising additional investment in the company, we have also successfully completed our double-blind sham-controlled clinical trial of the Neupulse device, demonstrating the effectiveness of the Neupulse device in reducing tics in Tourette syndrome. I very much look forward to developing the commercially available device.”