CNS Response issued a press release to announce that an article was published on July 3, 2010 in the Journal of Psychiatric Research on clinical studies of their Referenced-EEG (rEEG®) system for patients with treatment-resistant depression. Physicians using rEEG had “success” rates of nearly 65 percent for afflicted patients as reported in the article.
The carefully conducted study was 12 weeks in length and performed at 12 different medical sites including Harvard, Stanford, Cornell and Massachusetts General Hospital. This was a randomized, single-blind, parallel group study of rEEG-guided pharmacotherapy vs. the most effective treatment regimens reported in the NIH (National Institute of Health) sponsored STAR*D (Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression) study. Previously, the STAR*D study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of different treatments for people with major depression who had not responded to initial treatment with an antidepressant. STAR*D is the largest and longest study ever conducted to evaluate depression treatment.
Referenced-EEG, developed by CNS Response, Inc., is a patented system that analyzes an individual patient’s brain waves against an extensive patient outcomes database to determine pattern matches which are then correlated to effective treatments. By reducing guesswork, rEEG offers the potential to curtail needless treatment delays and adverse drug reactions from ineffective therapies. In this study which tested the use of the rEEG system against the best data concluded from the STAR*D research to determine a method of treatment, a total of 114 subjects were randomized with 89 subjects being evaluable.
The results demonstrated that rEEG was shown to provide important information for patients whom depression symptoms were resistant to first-line treatment. The difference, or separation, between rEEG and the control groups was 50 and 101 percent for the study’s two primary endpoints. Commonly, separation between a new treatment and a control group falls below 10 percent in antidepressant studies. The data also showed statistical superiority in 9 out of 12 secondary endpoints. In “less medical terms,” the rEEG systems offered superior results as compared to the STAR*D study in determining the next mode of treatment for people who did not show significant results from initial anti-depressant medication for this study. As mentioned earlier, the results showed the rEEG to be approximately 65% more effective.
In the research report, the conclusion read, “These results warrant additional studies to determine the role of rEEG-guided psychopharmacology in the treatment of depression. If these results were confirmed, rEEG-guided pharmacotherapy would represent an easy, relatively inexpensive, predictive, objective office procedure that builds upon clinical judgment to guide antidepressant medication choice.”
To elaborate on the rEEG method a bit more, we spoke with Marty Tullio, CNS Investor Relations representative, of McCloud Communications. Basically, the rEEG system developed by CNS is designed to provide physicians a tool for taking personalized medicines to the next level. Currently, there are over 20 FDA approved antidepressant medications on the market as well as several time-limited, scientifically tested psychotherapies. History has shown that no one treatment is universally effective for everyone and that many depressed patients do not experience any significant benefit from the initial treatment they receive.
Referenced-EEG is a novel assessment tool that helps physicians understand the unique brain function of each patient, as measured by EEG electrophysiology. EEG, or electroencephalography, is a painless, non-invasive 20-minute procedure, which measures brain activity at specific points. That information is processed and then compared to CNS Response’s reference database, which generates a report doctors can use in evaluating treatment options. CNS has been collecting and cataloging data for this database for over 20 years. rEEG has now been studied in 12 clinical trials and is currently being used by more than 50 practicing physicians with data collected from the studies and the doctors reporting superior results than the trial and error method which is most commonly used. These data collected from the latest clinical research reported in the article in the Journal of Psychiatric Research further coincide with and strengthen previous results and have CNS well positioned as a leader in their industry.
More information on CNS Response, Inc. and the rEEG system is available on their website at www.cnsresponse.com.
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