Brainsway shares jump on schizophrenia trial results

The trial was conducted in Israel at the Beer Yaakov Mental Health Center in collaboration with the Medical Research Fund of the Assaf Harofeh Hospital. The trial included eight patients, three of whom received treatments twice. In view of the positive results, the chief researcher decided to end the trial at this point in order to move onto the next trial stage, a multi-center double blind trial that will include placebos.

Brainsway CEO Uzi Sofer told "Globes", "The clinical news is the most important thing. We're on the verge of a breakthrough in a very difficult medical field where there are few alternative treatments. The preliminary results are excellent, and we're already recruiting medical centers in the US, Europe, and Israel to participate in the next stage of the clinical trial."

Sofer estimates that 100-150 schizophrenia patients will be recruited for the next stage clinical trial.

Brainsway's Deep TMS device is a non-invasive treatment of brain disorders. The present study found an average 37% improvement in the Hoffman Auditory Hallucinations Scale, which measures the frequency, strength, and influence of auditory hallucinations. Several other measures also pointed to clinical success.

The trial's chief researcher said that one patient, who had heard voices daily for years, and for whom no treatment had been effective, no longer had any auditory hallucinations after the second treatment, and the voiced had not returned through the four months to the date of the report.

The chief researcher concludes that although the test results need to be verified, including through the use of placebo treatments, the researchers are confident of the safety and effectiveness of the treatment to date, due to patients voluntarily contacting the researchers to undertake a longer series of treatments.