Dr. Burchi über die transformative Wirkung von Nurosyms nicht-invasiver Technologie auf die psychische Gesundheit
Mental health cases are on the rise. According to the WHO, in 2019, 1 in every 8 people — 970 million individuals worldwide — were living with a mental disorder, with anxiety and depressive disorders being the most common. Dr. Burchi, an MD, MBA, and board-certified psychiatrist, believes that innovative solutions are essential to tackling this growing crisis. Her conviction stems from witnessing the struggles of patients who often find conventional treatments inadequate.
Nurosym is changing the game in mental health care by offering a non-invasive approach to vagus nerve stimulation. What’s most exciting about Nurosym is the significant investment they have made in research, boasting 40 completed clinical trials and counting. It's even more interesting to learn about their high patient success rates, given the prevalent challenges in mental health treatment. We are talking about millions of successful patient sessions — over 3 million, to be precise!
Speaking with Healthnews, Dr. Burchi discusses the challenges of mental health treatment and the exciting potential of Nurosym's technology. She highlights the company’s journey and shares insights into what has enabled them to achieve outstanding results in treating mental health.
Q: Could you give us a brief overview of your training and how your career path led you to your current role at Nurosym?
A: I am an MD, MBA, and board-certified psychiatrist with diverse experience in clinical practice, neuroscience research, and the biotech sector across Europe and the U.S. From the time I decided to become a doctor, I have sought to magnify the impact of my practice not only at the individual level but also systemically.
After completing my full residency program at the University of Florence in Italy and a three-year research period at the Einstein College of Medicine in the U.S., I pursued an MBA to acquire new skills and innovative methods to enhance my practice as a doctor and drive systemic changes benefiting the highest number of patients possible. I graduated from the INSEAD MBA program in 2021 while maintaining my private practice.
Subsequently, I transitioned to the biotech space, where I discovered Nurosym. Having been involved in research around neuromodulation, I was excited about Nurosym's mission to develop a proprietary non-invasive wearable neuromodulation system capable of improving the health of patients and healthy individuals worldwide.
Currently, Nurosym is the world leader in non-invasive vagal neuromodulation, and I lead its research efforts, managing around 100 academic partnerships.
Q: For those who might not be familiar with Nurosym, could you introduce the company and explain the unique role you play within the organization?
A: Nurosym is a neurotechnology company and the world leader in non-invasive vagal neuromodulation. We have developed a proprietary neuromodulation system capable of safely and effectively modulating the vagus nerve through its auricular branch at the tragus of the ear, with potential applications in numerous clinical conditions.
I am currently the Head of Research at Nurosym, managing our extensive network of academic partnerships worldwide.
Q: Let’s talk about depression. Why are the numbers for this condition skyrocketing, or could it be a case of misdiagnosis or overdiagnosis?
A: Depression has always been a clinical condition throughout human history. The increased incidence we've observed in recent years is partly due to greater awareness and sensitization towards mental health. Additionally, factors such as stressful lifestyles and a loss of social and natural connectedness have contributed to the real rise in cases.
Despite the soaring numbers, it is highly unlikely that the prevalence of major depressive disorder is overestimated. In fact, mental health disorders are often overlooked due to the lingering stigma in the field.
Q: Nurosym reports over 3 million successful patient sessions, which is quite an achievement! What do you think has contributed to this high uptake?
A: Primarily, the safety and effectiveness of our technology in achieving its intended outcomes. The vagus nerve plays a role in many physiological functions and is often exclusively involved in certain processes, meaning there is no redundancy in our physiology.
Consequently, the parasympathetic tone promoted by the vagus nerve is commonly suppressed by multiple counteractive mechanisms. Our ability to modulate vagus nerve function in a non-invasive and user-friendly manner explains the widespread success we’ve achieved.
Q: Given your background in psychiatry and neuromodulation, how do you see Nurosym’s technology impacting mental health treatments, particularly for conditions like depression and anxiety?
A: Nurosym holds significant potential in mental and brain health. While invasive vagus nerve stimulation was initially approved for treating epilepsy and resistant depression, our non-invasive approach greatly increases accessibility to this technology.
We have published multiple studies demonstrating how Nurosym can improve anxiety, mood symptoms, and cognitive functions across various clinical conditions, as well as in healthy populations. Mechanistically, these effects are likely mediated by direct neuroplastic actions and indirectly through autonomic tone modulation and anti-inflammatory effects.
Q: With 40 clinical trials completed and 60 more in the pipeline, why is Nurosym so committed to clinical research? Could you shed some light on what you’ve been investigating?
A: Nurosym is dedicated to improving the health of the majority of people by providing easy-to-use, at-home technology and fostering numerous academic partnerships globally. We have published over 40 studies and are currently engaged in around 100 ongoing research partnerships.
The versatility of our approach and the multiple mechanisms it targets — from autonomic tone re-modulation to systemic anti-inflammatory effects — allow applicability across a wide range of conditions. These include cardiac and mental health issues, as well as sports recovery, all with minimal to no adverse effects.
One of the most surprising findings has been the rapid remission of core long COVID symptoms, such as fatigue and cognitive dysfunction, after just 10 days of intervention.
Q: Long COVID has been a controversial topic, but Nurosym hasn’t shied away from it. Can you tell us more about your work in this area?
A: Long COVID is typically diagnosed by excluding other conditions, yet it is a recognized condition with a significant impact on global health. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, studies indicated that approximately 10–20% of individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 may develop persistent or recurring symptoms characteristic of long COVID.
At Nurosym, we have been pioneering the use of neuromodulation to address long COVID, publishing multiple successful studies that demonstrate remission of core symptoms, including fatigue and cognitive dysfunction, after just ten days of treatment.
Q: Is Nurosym exploring the longevity and anti-senescence therapy space? The market size is projected to grow, reaching USD 82.12 billion by 2031. What are your thoughts on this opportunity?
A: Medicine has progressively shifted from focusing solely on disease treatment to a more holistic approach that includes risk factor management and disease prevention. I believe it’s time to advance further and aspire to ‘positive medicine,’ which aims to enhance individual well-being.
From its inception, Nurosym has been exploring this path by investigating the impact of our therapeutic strategy on heart rate variability (HRV), an indicator of cardiovascular fitness. We are now intensifying our efforts to utilize Nurosym’s technology as a well-being promotion strategy, targeting areas such as body recovery, sleep quality, cognitive enhancement, and cardiovascular and metabolic fitness.
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