Butterfly Network, a digital health company specializing in portable ultrasound technology, and Forest Neurotech, a research company focused on brain imaging and stimulation, have announced a five-year co-development agreement. The partnership aims to leverage Butterfly’s ultrasound technology to develop a minimally-invasive device for brain imaging and stimulation.
Under the agreement, Butterfly Network will receive $20 million for annual licensing, chip purchases, services, and milestone payments. Forest Neurotech has already paid $3.5 million upon signing the agreement and will provide additional revenue for every unit sold upon commercialization.
Joseph DeVivo, Butterfly Network’s President, CEO, and Chairman, expressed excitement about the partnership and the opportunity to bring Butterfly’s chip technology into the neurotech implantables space. He believes that the collaboration with Forest Neurotech will capture the full potential of Butterfly’s disruptive chip technology through new applications and adjacent markets.
Will Biederman, Co-Founder and CTO of Forest Neurotech, shared his enthusiasm about the partnership as well, emphasizing the importance of Butterfly’s unique Ultrasound-on-Chip™ technology in enabling their novel approach to brain imaging and stimulation. He believes that their shared passion for innovation and semiconductor-enabled healthcare technologies makes Butterfly the perfect match for their vision of developing the world’s first implanted whole-brain neural interface.
This announcement comes on the heels of Butterfly Network’s launch of Butterfly Garden, a program aimed at facilitating partnerships and collaborations with medical device companies, AI companies, and software developers to build new applications using their imaging platform. The Ultrasound-on-Chip™ technology developed by Butterfly can operate at various frequencies, offers programming flexibility, and is compact in size, making it well-suited for a range of ultrasonic sensing use cases, including potential implantables.
Since the launch of Butterfly Garden, the program has received a strong response, and Butterfly Network expects additional collaboration announcements to follow. The company continues to accept applications for third-party development on an ongoing basis.
About Butterfly Network:
Butterfly Network was founded in 2011 with the mission of democratizing medical imaging and contributing to global health equity. The company created the world’s first handheld, single-probe whole-body ultrasound system using semiconductor technology, known as the Butterfly iQ+. Its proprietary Ultrasound-on-Chip™ technology enables earlier detection and remote management of health conditions. The Butterfly iQ+ is currently available for purchase by trained healthcare practitioners in various regions around the world.
About Forest Neurotech:
Forest Neurotech is a Focused Research Organization (FRO) that aims to advance the understanding and personalized treatment of the human brain through the development of an ultrasound-based brain-computer interface (BCI) and software platform. By utilizing ultrasound technology, Forest Neurotech seeks to enable minimally invasive measurement and stimulation of brain-wide activity, opening new avenues for research into personalized therapies for psychiatric and cognitive disorders. As a member of the Schmidt Futures Network, Forest Neurotech operates as a non-profit organization focused on advancing science and engineering for the public good.
References:
– Butterfly Network: [link](https://www.butterflynetwork.com/butterfly-garden)
– Forest Neurotech: [link](https://www.forestneurotech.org/)
