TIDMPRTC
RNS Number : 2999X
PureTech Health PLC
05 May 2016
5 May 2016
PureTech Health plc
The Sync Project Teams with World-Renowned Artists, Peter
Gabriel, St. Vincent, Jon Hopkins and Esa-Pekka Salonen, to Advance
Music as Medicine
Company also appoints biotech industry veteran Steven Holtzman
to Board of Directors
PureTech Health plc ("PureTech", LSE: PRTC), a
cross-disciplinary healthcare company tackling fundamental
healthcare needs, is pleased to note that The Sync Project, a
PureTech business focused on developing music as personalised
medicine, today announced the appointments of four world-renowned
musical artists to its Advisory Board - Rock and Roll Hall of Famer
Peter Gabriel; Grammy Award-winning alternative artist, Annie Clark
(St. Vincent); critically acclaimed electronic musician, Mercury
Music Prize and Ivor Novello nominee, Jon Hopkins; distinguished
composer and conductor, Esa-Pekka Salonen. The Sync Project also
announced the appointment of former Biogen Idec Executive Vice
President and Millennium Pharmaceuticals Chief Business Officer
Steven Holtzman, to its Board of Directors.
These world-leading advisors will collaborate with The Sync
Project to facilitate the first-ever large-scale studies to measure
how the structural properties of music - like beat, key and timbre
- impact biometrics such as heart rate, brain activity and sleep
patterns to potentially advance clinical applications of music in a
variety of health conditions including sleep disorders, fatigue,
Parkinson's Disease, stroke recovery, anxiety and pain.
Daphne Zohar, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at
PureTech, said: "The Sync Project has a leading team of scientific,
clinical and engineering experts. Having world-class musical
artists advise on product strategy is enormously exciting as the
Sync Project expands its clinical testing to include broader
populations."
The full text of the announcement from The Sync Project is as
follows:
The Sync Project Teams with World-Renowned Artists, Peter
Gabriel, St. Vincent, Jon Hopkins and Esa-Pekka Salonen, to Advance
Music as Medicine
Company also appoints biotech industry veteran Steven Holtzman
to Board of Directors
Boston, Massachusetts, May 5, 2016 - The Sync Project, a
clinical-stage company focused on developing music as personalised
medicine, today announced the appointments of four world-renowned
musical artists to its Advisory Board. The new advisors - Rock and
Roll Hall of Famer Peter Gabriel; Grammy Award-winning alternative
artist, Annie Clark (St. Vincent); critically acclaimed electronic
musician, Mercury Music Prize and Ivor Novello nominee, Jon
Hopkins; distinguished composer and conductor, Esa-Pekka Salonen -
will collaborate with the Sync Project on product strategy. The
Company also announced the appointment of former Biogen Idec
Executive Vice President and Millennium Pharmaceuticals Chief
Business Officer, Steven Holtzman, to its Board of Directors.
"Peter, Annie, Jon and Esa-Pekka are all using technology in
creative ways to push the boundaries of what music can be," said
Marko Ahtisaari, the Sync Project's Co-Founder and CEO. "These
extraordinary artists, together with Steve and our other board
members and advisors, will help to advance our clinical strategy to
develop music as precision medicine."
"Our senses provide us with different ways of inputting and
experiencing ideas and emotions and also provide wonderful
opportunities to change our physical and mental health," said Peter
Gabriel. "A good collection of music has always been used as a box
of mood pills. I am delighted that The Sync Project is now using
evidence-based science to explore and develop real tools and a
platform to engage sound and music in the practice of
medicine."
Recent research has shown that music can modulate neural systems
like the dopamine response, autonomic nervous system and others
related to stress, movement, learning and memory. This body of
research shows that music affects the same neural pathways that are
regulated by pharmaceuticals such as psychostimulants and other
drugs. The Sync Project seeks to build on this foundation by
collaborating with some of the world's leading scientists and
musicians to facilitate the first-ever large-scale studies to
measure how the structural properties of music - like beat, key and
timbre - impact biometrics such as heart rate, brain activity and
sleep patterns. The Sync Project's platform is designed for medical
and health research, helping scientists and clinicians perform
rigorous studies. The platform may potentially accelerate the
discovery of the clinical applications of music in a variety of
health conditions including sleep disorders, fatigue, Parkinson's
Disease, stroke recovery, anxiety and pain.
"Opioid abuse has reached epidemic proportions in the United
States, and it often begins with a prescription for pain medication
following surgery or injury," said Steven Holtzman. "We need to
pursue alternative solutions for managing pain and other
conditions, and clinically-validated, personalised music
therapeutics present a promising option."
The Sync Project's advisors comprise a distinguished and diverse
team of science, music, health and technology experts committed to
uncovering the untapped potential of music's ability to improve
health:
-- Peter Gabriel is a six-time Grammy Award-winning British
singer-songwriter, musician and humanitarian activist. Gabriel was
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010 as a member
and lead singer of the progressive rock band, Genesis. He was
inducted into the Hall of Fame again in 2014 for his multi-platinum
success as a solo artist.
-- Annie Clark (St. Vincent) is an award-winning American
singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. St. Vincent's unique
sound, guitar work and songwriting style won her the 2015 Grammy
for Best Alternative Album.
-- Jon Hopkins is a classically trained British pianist,
critically acclaimed recording artist, Ivor Novello nominated
composer of film scores and prominent producer/collaborator. He has
produced and collaborated with artists including Coldplay, Brian
Eno, Natasha Khan of Bat For Lashes and King Creosote. Jon has
twice been shortlisted for The Mercury Prize, a highly prestigious
honour awarded annually for the best album from the United Kingdom
and Ireland.
-- Esa-Pekka Salonen is the Principal Conductor and Artistic
Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and Conductor
Laureate for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where he was Music
Director from 1992 until 2009. He is currently the Marie-Josée
Kravis Composer-in-Residence at the New York Philharmonic and the
Artistic Director and co-founder of the annual Baltic Sea Festival,
which invites celebrated artists to promote unity and ecological
awareness among the countries around the Baltic Sea. Salonen also
drove the development of an iPad app, "The Orchestra," which allows
the user unprecedented access to the internal workings of eight
symphonic works.
-- Steven Holtzman is the former Executive Vice President of
Corporate Development at Biogen Idec. Prior to Biogen Idec he was
the Founder and Chair of the Board of Directors of Infinity
Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he served as the company's founding
Chief Executive Officer. Prior to starting Infinity, Holtzman was
an early leader and Chief Business Officer of Millennium
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. From 1996-2001, Holtzman served as a
Presidential appointee to the US National Bioethics Advisory
Commission.
The newly appointed advisors will join the following members of
the Sync Project's Advisory Board and Board of Directors: Robert
Zatorre, Ph.D., Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery at the
Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University; Adam
Gazzaley, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Neuroscience Imaging Center
and Professor of Physiology, Psychology and Psychiatry at the
University of California, San Francisco; Tristan Jehan, Ph.D.,
Founding Chief Technology Officer of The Echo Nest (Spotify); and
Board Members Joi Ito, Director of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology Media Lab, Marjorie Scardino, DBE, FRSA, Chairman of the
MacArthur Foundation, Board member of Twitter and former CEO of
Pearson, and Daphne Zohar, Co-Founder and the Chief Executive
Officer of PureTech Health.
About The Sync Project
The Sync Project is positioned to become the first algorithmic
music therapeutics company. Founded by PureTech Health (PRTC.L),
the company is developing a platform to scientifically measure and
study the effects of music on our health. The Sync Project's goal
is to develop music as precision medicine through the application
of machine learning to a unique dataset combining music
characteristics and biometric data. The Sync Project is working on
initial conditions for human pilot studies including sleep, pain,
motor coordination and performance.
The Sync Project was incorporated in 2014 and PureTech Health
plc (PRTC.L) owns approximately 81.4% of the company calculated on
a diluted basis
About PureTech Health
PureTech Health (PureTech Health plc, PRTC.L) is a
cross-disciplinary healthcare company developing innovative
products that could improve the lives of billions of patients.
PureTech is focused on areas of growing scientific and technical
insights that it believes are at an important inflection point,
including the central nervous, gastro-intestinal and immune
systems, and the interactions and signalling between them. PureTech
has a pipeline of more than 30 programmes and has approximately 20
clinical studies across its pipeline, targeting multi-billion
dollar market opportunities. PureTech's advanced programmes include
five with human proof-of-concept and multiple with pivotal or
registration study readouts in the next two years. PureTech's
leading team and board, along with an advisory network of more than
60 expert founder-scientists and advisors across multiple
disciplines, gives PureTech access to potentially ground-breaking
science and technological innovation. With healthcare undergoing
major
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May 05, 2016 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)
transformation, PureTech believes it is well positioned to
develop and launch medicines for the 21st century. For more
information, visit http://www.puretechhealth.com and connect with
us on Twitter.
Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains statements that are or may be
forward-looking statements, including statements that relate to the
company's future prospects, developments and strategies. The
forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and
are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could
cause actual results, performance and achievements to differ
materially from current expectations, including, but not limited
to, those risks and uncertainties described in the risk factors
included in the regulatory filings for PureTech Health plc. These
forward-looking statements are based on assumptions regarding the
present and future business strategies of the company and the
environment in which it will operate in the future. Each
forward-looking statement speaks only as at the date of this press
release. Except as required by law and regulatory requirements,
neither the company nor any other party intends to update or revise
these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
Enquiries
PureTech
Allison Mead, Associate Director, +1 617 651
Communications and Investor Relations 3156
FTI Consulting (Communications adviser
to PureTech)
Ben Atwell +44 (0) 20
Matthew Cole 3727 1000
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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