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Health intelligence for decision-makers

The company has facilitated a study led by Australia-based speech analytics firm Redenlab in partnership with the Translational Centre for Speech Disorders at Murdoch Children’ s Research Institute. The research will assess the value of speech as a clinical marker for brain health.

The study focuses on H-ABC and considers all communication styles, including sign language, gestures, devices and other systems. Researchers are currently recruiting patients aged from six months to adulthood worldwide.

Uwe Meya, Chief Medical Officer SynaptixBio, said:“ We are delighted to see this study get underway and keen to leverage Redenlab’ s expertise in speech analysis for rare diseases to support our clinical research programme.”

Meya highlighted the importance of communication for patients and families affected by neurodegenerative diseases such as H-ABC. He said:“ The ability to communicate is often more important to patients and their families than other motor skills and this is often underestimated by regulators.

“ Despite the current lack of regulatory acceptance, we will use speech metrics as exploratory parameters in our intended clinical trials to inform our decisionmaking and support their validation for regulatory recognition.

“ Speech parameters may be powerful tools for detecting early treatment effects prior to established clinical rating scales.”

SynaptixBio has no direct role in the study but has supported patient recruitment through advocacy groups in the UK and US. The research relationship is between the University of Melbourne, Redenlab and participating patients.

SynaptixBio previously selected its lead candidate drug, an antisense oligonucleotide, for clinical trials. These therapies are a form of gene silencing technology that prevent mutated genes from producing toxic proteins without altering the gene itself.

Dr Adam Vogel, Chief Science Officer Redenlab and Professor of Speech Neuroscience at the University of Melbourne, said:“ Speech analytics provides insights that serve as a powerful decision support tool.

“ They can outperform subjective, manual clinician ratings which can be unreliable and / or insensitive.”

Vogel added:“ Speech is a powerful digital clinical marker that provides insight into brain health. It can be analysed using advanced tools like AI to extract objective metrics such as intelligibility, pause length, pitch, articulation and lexical diversity.”

The fully online study is available in multiple languages, enabling global participation and supporting improved assessments, targeted therapies and future clinical trials. • 42

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