Aclarion, Inc. (Nasdaq: ACON, ACONW), a commercial-stage healthcare technology company, has announced a second commercial agreement with Weill Cornell Medicine to expand the use of its Nociscan platform. The agreement brings Nociscan to Weill Cornell Medicine and Och Spine at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center through a trial led by renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Roger Härtl. The trial, titled “Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate Injection with MRI’s – a Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial” (IRB Protocol No. 24-09027977), aims to evaluate the long-term effects of lumbar microdiscectomy surgery with and without an intradiscal bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC) injection on patient-reported outcomes, intervertebral disc health, and pain biomarkers over two years.
Chronic low back pain affects approximately 266 million people worldwide, according to a study in Global Spine Journal. Aclarion’s Nociscan is a Software-as-a-Service platform that noninvasively helps physicians distinguish between painful and nonpainful discs in the lumbar spine by quantifying chemical biomarkers from magnetic resonance spectroscopy data. When all Nociscan-identified pain-positive discs are treated, the platform demonstrates a 97% surgical success rate, as reported in the European Spine Journal.
Dr. Härtl, the Hansen-MacDonald Professor of Neurological Surgery and Director of Spinal Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine, stated: “Our scientific interest focuses on clinical and basic science research surrounding innovative and less invasive surgical and biological treatment strategies for degenerative diseases of the spine. This trial strives to enhance our understanding of disc degeneration in patients, and illuminate chemical aspects of disc degeneration not available with traditional imaging.”
Ryan Bond, Chief Strategy Officer of Aclarion, emphasized the significance of the collaboration: “We are pleased to engage in this trial with Dr. Härtl and his team at Weill Cornell. Not only are Dr. Härtl and his colleagues renowned for their clinical excellence, their commitment to pioneering research is evident through this prospective randomized trial evaluating disc degeneration and the potential effects of bone marrow aspirate concentrate. Progressive trials such as this one are a clear example for how healthcare advances – investigating a major global health issue, like degenerative disc disease, while using innovative tools like Nociscan.”
This is the second trial at Weill Cornell Medicine to incorporate Nociscan, underscoring the growing interest in biomarker-driven approaches to spine care. The study aims to learn more about the natural history of degenerative disc disease, its causes, and inform treatments. Aclarion’s technology leverages proprietary augmented intelligence algorithms and signal processing techniques to provide critical insights into the location of a patient’s low back pain, potentially optimizing treatment strategies. For more information, visit Aclarion’s website and the company’s newsroom.
