New York City-based startup Isaac Health picked up $10.5 million in Series A funds on Thursday to boost access to care for patients living with Alzheimer’s dementia.
The funding round was led by Flare Capital Partners, and other participants included B Capital, Black Opal Ventures, Industry Ventures, Meridian Street Capital and Primetime Partners, Isaac Health, which launched in 2022, has now raised $16.3 million to date.
The company seeks to expand the nation’s limited access to cognitive care, specifically in relation to Alzheimer’s and other forms of memory loss.
“The demand for care is outpacing the availability of specialists in this country — causing many patients to miss a critical window for treatment, during which the impact of these diseases can still be minimized,” said Julius Bruch, the startup’s CEO.
He noted that Isaac Health’s platform — which recently became available in all 50 states — takes patients through four phases of care: screening, specialist diagnosis, treatment and ongoing neurocognitive care management.
In the screening and diagnosis phases, patients receive an at-home risk assessment, which includes biomarker tests to determine patterns of lost skills and abilities, and then they get evaluated by one of Isaac Health’s medical specialists.
Next, Isaac Health provides coordinated care designed to improve patients’ overall brain health and delay cognitive decline. This can involve prescribing medication, such as cholinesterase inhibitors, and it can also involve non-drug treatments like cognitive therapy, Bruch stated.
He said Isaac Health has a team of more than 40 neurologists and other care providers, some of whom are directly employed by the startup and some of whom are contracted employees.
“We connect patients to a network of world-renowned medical experts, led by our Harvard-trained neurologist, Dr. Joel Salinas. Our multidisciplinary team is composed of neurologists, geriatricians, psychiatrists, psychotherapists and more — all of whom take on different roles during each phase of a patient’s journey,” Bruch remarked.
The startup’s target patient is an elderly person demonstrating early signs of dementia. However, apart from older adults, Isaac Health also provides care for people in their 40s and 50s, as this is a critical time during which healthy brain habits can be built. This time is also when the first signs of age-related memory decline typically appear, Bruch pointed out.
Currently, the company is partnered with more than 10 health plans and several health systems.
“Isaac Health is in-network with most major insurances, including Medicare. Our revenue is supported mainly by health plans and partially by patients, depending on the co-pays and deductibles that apply according to their policies,” Bruch said.
He added that the startup has screened more than 5,000 users on its platform.
While there have been a number of companies that have recently entered into the dementia space, such as Rippl and Synapticure, Bruch thinks Isaac Health differentiates itself with its focus on building relationships with health plans, as well as by offering a behavioral neurology-led specialist care model.
“We pride ourselves on our clinical credibility,” he declared.
The startup is betting that expanding access to early, specialist-led care can change the trajectory of dementia for thousands of patients.
Photo: Andrew Bret Wallis, Getty Images
