Mente Autism, page-22

Hey Anton, yes I am in the field (PhD student studying Neuroscience). My research is unrelated but I've read quite broadly on Autism.

From what I've read neurofeedback is a popular alternative treatment option. There were many trials done in the 70's and 80's for people with ADHD, depression, epilepsy etc. For this reason there are many clinics you can go to for neurofeedback in the form of EEG. They later started experimenting with other diseases such as Autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), Alzheimer's and Parkinson's which also show improvements with neurofeedback treatment.

The first properly controlled experiment using neurofeedback on ASD patients that I could find was in the early 00's, meaning there has been plenty of time for people to develop treatment options. One of the concerns when investing in this company might be that some of the large well funded clinics that already treat ADHD for example might start offering treatment for Autism.

I don't think this will be a very popular option as autistic patients show the best outcomes with 40+ visits and the best treatment would be ongoing.

In one study they performed 20 sessions of neurofeedback twice a week and observed a 42% reduction in ASD symptomology, 55% reduction in social interaction (90% success rate). Another study performed 28 session had a 64% reduction in ASD symptomology, and a final one which I can't seem to locate atm showed even greater outcomes at 40 session (longest trial I could find).

Contrast this to ADHD which might only require 20-30 visits before you don't have to go anymore.

Knowing someone with an Autistic child i've seen how stressful it can be for the parents. I'm sure they would chose this device over the clinic any day.

I think Lefevre's point is a good one. The data collected could be worth a lot of money. Companies like 23andme (genetics company) have formed alliances with large pharmaceutical and biotech companies, where one deal can generate almost as much revenue as doubling their customer base.

The only drawback to Mente's setup is that autism is a spectrum disorder and could be the result of any number of things (has a large genetic component). Pairing this EEG data with a genetic test would be worth much more. Further, you'd need to control for drug use and diet (gluten-casin free), both of which would have large effects on outcomes (assuming parents want to try multiple strategies at once).