Brain-scan firm Firefly to promote partner pediatric ADHD treatment; stock soars 70%
The partnership will bring NeuroSigma's Monarch system, the first FDA-cleared, nondrug treatment for pediatric ADHD, to Firefly's nationwide network of Evoke brain-scan platform customers / Photo: Firefly Neuroscience
Shares of Firefly Neuroscience, a micro-cap firm behind an AI-powered brain-scanning device, soared almost 70% on Friday after the company announced a partnership with medical device maker NeuroSigma to promote a nondrug treatment for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Details
Firefly surged 69% on the Nasdaq on Friday to $2 per share, a nearly five-month high. The company’s market capitalization thus reached $31.5 million. The rally followed the announcement of a partnership under which Firefly will introduce NeuroSigma’s Monarch device to medical centers already using its Evoke device. Monarch is the first nondrug treatment for children with ADHD cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Firefly shares are down 9% in premarket trading on Monday as of this writing.
Rationale for partnership
Firefly's Evoke is used in neurological, psychiatric, and cognitive care, including for concussions, ADHD, depression, and anxiety. It scans the brain and uses AI to compare the results with those in its database, helping doctors to make diagnoses and select treatments. As of June 30, the system was in use at 85 medical centers in the U.S., which access it through subscriptions.
In March, the company announced that it had used Evoke to discover new brain-wave biomarkers that could distinguish among three ADHD subtypes, which may require different approaches to treatment. NeuroSigma offers one such treatment. Under the agreement, Firefly will introduce NeuroSigma’s Monarch device to medical centers already using Evoke.
Combining the two technologies will allow patients to receive more personalized treatment, according to the press release. As of 2024, around one in nine children in the U.S. has an ADHD diagnosis, while almost a third of children with current ADHD received no ADHD-specific treatment, the company states.
Stock performance
Firefly shares have gained 128% year to date. The biggest gain came in early March, when the company announced a multifold increase in the number of partner medical centers and scans performed using Evoke. The micro cap stated that this brought it closer to creating the world’s first foundation model of the human brain powered by Nvidia GPUs.
