Aclarion Announces Northwestern Medicine as First CLARITY Trial Site

Northwestern Medicine is a global leader in clinical trial research, including spine

CLARITY is a randomized study designed to demonstrate Nociscan’s ability to improve surgical outcomes while reducing costs for chronic low back pain

Nociscan aims to become the gold standard in identifying sources of low back pain through MR Spectroscopy (MRS) and Augmented Intelligence (AI)

BROOMFIELD, Colo., Feb. 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ., (“Aclarion” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: ACON, ACONW), a healthcare technology company that is leveraging biomarkers and proprietary augmented intelligence (AI) algorithms to help physicians identify the location of chronic low back pain, today announced Northwestern Medicine as the initial site in the pivotal CLARITY trial, which is designed to demonstrate Nociscan’s clinical and economic value in spine surgery.

“Northwestern Medicine is a leader in clinical trials. In 2024, Northwestern led over 6,900 clinical studies with 372,561 study participants,” said Alpesh Patel, MD, Professor and Co-Director of the Northwestern Center for Spine Health. “We are pleased to participate in Aclarion’s CLARITY trial, a groundbreaking randomized controlled trial examining Nociscan’s impact on discogenic low back pain surgical outcomes. Low back pain is a complex problem and advancements like Nociscan are helping to advance our understanding of low back pain in fundamentally important ways.”

Aclarion recently announced that the CLARITY trial is fully funded and will be led by Dr. Nicholas Theodore of Johns Hopkins as principal investigator. The CLARITY trial is a prospective, randomized multi-center study evaluating patients who are scheduled to undergo surgical treatment of 1- or 2- level discogenic low back pain. The study will enroll 300 patients at multiple high-volume sites across the US and all patients will receive a Nociscan prior to surgery. The study will be randomized at a 1:1 ratio of surgeons blinded-to-Nociscan and unblinded-to-Nociscan to guide the surgical treatment (Fusion / TDR). The primary endpoint is change in back pain as measured on a 100mm VAS Back at 12 months compared to baseline, with several secondary endpoints collected.

“We are pleased to launch the CLARITY trial with a prestigious institution like Northwestern and renowned spine expert Dr. Alpesh Patel. I saw firsthand from my earlier experiences commercializing algorithms in the cardiology space how well-designed clinical trials could drive the adoption of cloud-based, augmented intelligence platforms. When compared to traditional testing options, these technologies improved diagnostic accuracy, reduced unnecessary procedures and ultimately saved the health system significant costs,” said Brent Ness, CEO, Aclarion. “At Aclarion, we are committed to building the same level of evidence to ensure adoption of Nociscan for all stakeholders is a logical and well-supported step for chronic low back pain.”

Chronic low back pain is a global healthcare problem with approximately 266 million people worldwide suffering from degenerative spine disease and low back pain. Aclarion’s Nociscan solution is the first evidence-supported SaaS platform to noninvasively help physicians distinguish between painful and nonpainful discs in the lumbar spine. Nociscan objectively quantifies chemical biomarkers demonstrated to be associated with disc pain and has the potential to drive better surgical outcomes.

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This press release is for informational purposes only and is not intended to and shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to sell or to buy any securities or a solicitation of any proxy, consent, vote or approval with respect to any securities of Aclarion, Inc. No offer, sale, issuance or transfer of securities shall be made in any jurisdiction in which such offer, sale, issuance or transfer would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

About Aclarion, Inc.

Aclarion is a healthcare technology company that leverages Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (“MRS”), proprietary signal processing techniques, biomarkers, and augmented intelligence algorithms to optimize clinical treatments. The Company is first addressing the chronic low back pain market with Nociscan, the first, evidence-supported, SaaS platform to noninvasively help physicians distinguish between painful and nonpainful discs in the lumbar spine. Through a cloud connection, Nociscan receives magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) data from an MRI machine for each lumbar disc being evaluated. In the cloud, proprietary signal processing techniques extract and quantify chemical biomarkers demonstrated to be associated with disc pain. Biomarker data is entered into proprietary algorithms to indicate if a disc may be a source of pain. When used with other diagnostic tools, Nociscan provides critical insights into the location of a patient’s low back pain, giving physicians clarity to optimize treatment strategies. For more information, please visit .

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 about the Company’s current expectations about future results, performance, prospects and opportunities. Statements that are not historical facts, such as “anticipates,” “believes” and “expects” or similar expressions, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on the current plans and expectations of management and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect the Company’s current plans and expectations, as well as future results of operations and financial condition. These and other risks and uncertainties are discussed more fully in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are encouraged to review the section titled “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, as well as other disclosures contained in the Prospectus and subsequent filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are made as of this date and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Investor Contacts:

Kirin M. Smith

PCG Advisory, Inc.

Media Contacts:

Jennie Kim

SPRIG Consulting