electroCore (NASDAQ:ECOR) is collaborating with Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in a neuroinflammation research program.
Under the program, electroCore’s non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS) will be studied in preclinical settings as a therapeutic approach on neuroinflammatory mechanisms, which have been associated with conditions in the central nervous system, including pain, trauma and neurodegeneration.
Through a research grant, electroCore intends to provide up to $1-million over a four-year period to MGH to conduct multiple preclinical studies, including work initiated in the second quarter of 2018 on the effects of nVNS on persistent neuroinflammation and the neurological outcomes after concussive traumatic brain injury, and the effects of nVNS on microglia cells and their association with the development and progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
The new program follows prior preclinical studies at MGH supported by electroCore to study neuroinflammatory mechanisms associated with migraine and their modulation by nVNS.
“We look forward to having the opportunity to explore the effects of this non-invasive approach to vagus nerve stimulation on neuroinflammation, which we increasingly understand to be a core aspect of neurologic disorders, ranging from pain to trauma to degeneration,” Dr. Cenk Ayata of MGH, who is the director of the new program, said in a statement.
