The company first inked a multi-year partnership with the pharmaceutical giant in 2024. Today, they extended the deal to leverage the Beacon platform to accelerate data-driven development for sleep biomarkers and patterns. It could support new diagnostic pathways for people with narcolepsy.
Under the agreement, Beacon could receive up to $109 million in data license fees and potential development, regulatory and commercial-based milestones, including equity participation.
Beacon develops the Waveband device (previously called the Dreem 3S), which is designed to directly measure brain activity (EEG) during both sleep and wakefulness. The company says the wearable headband brings gold-standard neurophysiology out of the lab and into patients’ homes. Biosignal data produced by the device provides valid, longitudinal measures of brain function across diverse populations.
The company’s platform received FDA clearance in September 2023, then got clearance for updated algorithms late last year. Earlier this month, the company raised $86 million to further support the platform.
Through its expanded partnership, the company expects to utilize its solution to address critical barriers in narcolepsy diagnosis. It aims to shorten the diagnostic journey. Then, Takeda can leverage the company’s database to identify sleep biomarkers and generate new insights into brain function. This would enable it to accelerate discovery, optimize trial design and expand therapeutic opportunities.
“This collaboration demonstrates exactly what the Beacon Platform was purpose-built to do — enable earlier, more accurate diagnosis for patients and identify brain biomarkers that can guide the next generation of CNS drug development,” said Dr. Jacob Donoghue, CEO and co-founder of Beacon Biosignals.
