London-based neurotechnology company NeuroHarmonics is set to begin recruiting patients for the first clinical evaluation of its non-invasive deep-brain ultrasound platform in essential tremor, following regulatory clearance from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and a favourable Research Ethics Committee opinion. The study will be conducted at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN) within University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH), supported by GBP 1.2 million (USD 1.6 million) in Innovate UK funding under the Biomedical Catalyst programme.
The sham-controlled study will enrol adults aged 18–80 whose essential tremor is inadequately controlled by, or who cannot tolerate, first-line medication. Primary endpoints are safety and tolerability, alongside preliminary evidence of target engagement — defined as a measurable change in tremor, recorded by movement sensors, compared with sham stimulation. Any tremor effects are expected to be temporary; the study is not designed to establish clinical efficacy. A follow-on study involving repeated stimulation sessions is planned under the same funding programme.
The NeuroHarmonics platform focuses low-intensity ultrasound through the intact skull onto the ventral intermediate nucleus (VIM) of the thalamus — the same structure targeted by deep brain stimulation (DBS) and MRI-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) — guided by each participant's MRI scan and computational skull models. Sessions require no surgery, anaesthesia, implant, or head shaving, and are designed for an outpatient setting. Unlike MRgFUS, the stimulation is non-ablative and repeatable. The UCL spinout's approach builds on foundational research published in Nature Communications demonstrating millimetre-precision stimulation of a deep thalamic structure in humans.
Essential tremor affects approximately 1% of the general population and around 5% of people over 65 — more than 600,000 individuals in the UK alone. First-line pharmacological agents, including propranolol and primidone, adequately control symptoms in roughly half of patients. For those with refractory tremor, DBS and MRgFUS both target the VIM effectively, but access is severely constrained: approximately 200 patients per year in the UK receive either procedure.