Orasi Medical, Inc.

Orasi Medical, Inc. was a medical technology firm founded in 2007 as a spin-out from the University of Minnesota. The company was established by Shawn Lyndon, who served as its initial Chief Executive Officer and was a CEO in residence at the university. Orasi Medical focused on developing non-invasive products to aid in the diagnosis and monitoring of neurological disorders.

The company's core business revolved around providing imaging software and data to pharmaceutical companies to support the clinical development of new neurological treatments. Its flagship product, the Orasi Index™, was offered through a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. This platform was designed to measure the effects of neurological drugs and track disease progression by analyzing real-time brain function. The primary clients were large pharmaceutical corporations, such as Novartis and H. Lundbeck A/S, who used the technology to assess the efficacy of experimental drug compounds for conditions like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, and schizophrenia. By providing robust pharmacodynamic data early in the development process, Orasi Medical aimed to help these companies reduce costs and improve the success rate of their clinical trials.

Orasi Medical's technology was based on magnetoencephalography (MEG), a technique that measures the faint electromagnetic signals generated by electrical activity in the brain. The company licensed the initial imaging technology from the University of Minnesota and built what it claimed was the largest commercial database of MEG scans. This database of brain activity from healthy individuals served as a baseline to compare against scans from patients with suspected neurological conditions, with a key goal being the development of the first FDA-approved diagnostic device for Alzheimer's disease. Despite raising at least $8 million from investors like CentreStone Ventures and Prairiegold Venture Partners and securing significant partnerships, the company ceased operations around December 2011.

Keywords: neurological diagnostics, magnetoencephalography, MEG scans, brain imaging software, clinical trial support, Alzheimer's diagnosis, CNS biomarkers, pharmaceutical services, neuroengineering, pharmacodynamics, treatment effect measurement, neurological drug development, brain function analysis, University of Minnesota spin-out, medical imaging database, central nervous system disorders, SaaS medical device, neuroscience technology, clinical development tools, neurological biomarkers