Curavit, a virtual contract research organization, has been signed up by MedRhythms to run a study of its technology aimed at aging adults with walking impairments as a result of a stroke.
Dubbed MR-001, the system uses MedRhythms’ rhythmic auditory stimulation to improve walking and ambulation in adults who have suffered a chronic stroke, the company said in a Sept. 20 press release. The system involves auditory-motor entrainment during which the brain subconsciously synchronizes to an external auditory cue like music.
The two companies, which began working together in June, aim to enroll 225 participants for the 12-month trial by the end of the year. The OrcHESTRAS study is partly designed to generate evidence of the product’s ability to reduce the financial impact of the condition on the U.S. healthcare landscape.
“We are honored to work with MedRhythms to manage such an important study of an innovative neurorehabilitation system to help stroke patients improve walking without invasive therapy or pills,” Curavit CEO Joel Morse said in the release. “We believe it is going to become increasingly important for [digital therapeutics] companies to capture health economics data to enable broader market access.”
Curavit launched in late 2019, just months before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Disruptions caused by the crisis initiated a global embrace of decentralized clinical trials that have continued to gain popularity.