Digital health technologies for monitoring motor function in progressive supranuclear palsy and dementia with lewy bodies

Biosensics LLC received a $5.17 million Cooperative Agreement from the National Institute on Aging under the Aging Research program (CFDA 93.866), awarded September 1, 2025, with completion expected August 31, 2029. The award supports development and qualification of digital health monitoring technologies for Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) and Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB), two neurodegenerative conditions lacking FDA-approved treatments and validated disease progression biomarkers. Biosensics, in partnership with Massachusetts General Hospital and Johns Hopkins University, will leverage its patented PAMSYS pendant sensor and PAMSYS ULM wrist sensor platforms to enable comprehensive monitoring of upper and lower limb motor function during activities of daily living.

The primary deliverable is the qualification of digital monitoring biomarkers of motor function for both PSP and DLB through the FDA Biomarker Qualification Program (BQP). Building on prior Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) work demonstrating feasibility of ambulatory change tracking in PSP patients, this project extends the technology to provide integrated upper and lower extremity functional assessment. These validated biomarkers are intended to address a critical gap in clinical research by providing objective, remotely-collected measures of disease severity and therapeutic intervention effects, thereby supporting the development pipeline for new therapies targeting these currently untreatable neurodegenerative disorders.

Abstract

Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a severe and rapidly progressive frontotemporal lobar degeneration (ftld) syndrome that lacks effective treatment and leads to a rapid onset of dementia, disability, and death. Dementia with lewy bodies (DLB) is the second most common type of neurodegenerative dementia after alzheimer's disease. Both PSP and DLB cause significant motor impairment, resulting in progressive loss of independence in activities of daily living, such as eating, dressing, and writing. There are no FDA-approved treatments for ftld syndromes (including PSP) or DLB. One of the key challenges in the development of new effective therapies for DLB syndromes is the lack of validated instruments and biomarkers to measure disease severity, disease progression, and the effect of therapeutic interventions. Since 2019, biosensics, massachusetts general hospital (MGH) and johns hopkins university (JHU) have partnered to develop a wearable-based remote monitoring solution for ftld syndromes. The solution uses pamsystm, a patented and validated pendant sensor for monitoring physical activity, posture, and walking parameters during activities of daily living. Through a direct phase II sbir award (R44AG080861) from the national institute on aging, we have demonstrated the feasibility of using pamsys for tracking ambulatory change in PSP. In this project, we will extend our work by using both pamsys and pamsys ulmtm wrist sensors to enable comprehensive monitoring of upper and lower limb function. Pamsys ULM is a patented wrist sensor solution for monitoring goal-directed movements of the upper limb during activities of daily living. The primary goal of the project is to qualify digital monitoring biomarkers of motor function for both PSP and DLB with the FDA biomarker qualification program (BQP). Context of use: COU1 and COU2) monitoring by working biomarkers to track ambulatory change over time in PSP and DLB, COU3 and COU4) monitoring biomarkers to track changes in upper limb function over time in PSP and DLB. We will work with curepsp, the association for frontotemporal dementia, and the lewy body dementia association to recruit study participants and leverage an NIH-funded platform trial in PSP to facilitate patient recruitment and assure enrollment diversity. We will demonstrate the accuracy (analytical validation) of both pamsys and pamsys ULM in PSP and DLB. In addition, we will conduct a proof-of-concept study to demonstrate the feasibility and reliability of monitoring motor function in PSP and DLB using pamsys and pamsys ULM. Afterward, we will conduct a multisite longitudinal clinical validation of digital health technologies for monitoring motor function in a sizeable and diverse cohort of PSP and DLB patients and compare this to functional scales and patient-reported outcome measures. Moreover, as recommended by the FDA BQP, we will conduct interviews with all participants using the technology acceptance model to examine the perception of benefit, technology acceptance and anxiety, and attitude toward use from patients' point of view.