CHF 1.99m · Grant · Healthtech · Zurich, Switzerland
Zurich-based DeepPsy has received a CHF 1.99m grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation for PRECISE MDD, a planned four-year clinical study of its biomarker-based report for depression treatment. Public material from the company says the triple-blind, multicentre randomised controlled trial will involve 500 patients across university psychiatric centres in Zurich, Bern and Basel. DeepPsy will provide the EEG and ECG analysis software and biomarker calculations, while an independent academic consortium will run the study.
The grant pays for evidence, not a product launch
DeepPsy turns resting-state brain and heart recordings into a structured report that physicians can use alongside clinical assessment when comparing depression treatments. The company describes a workflow in which a doctor refers a patient, DeepPsy coordinates or receives the EEG and ECG recordings, specialists review data quality, and a report returns physiological context for the next treatment discussion. Its materials cover choices including antidepressant classes, rTMS protocols, ketamine and ECT; they do not position the report as a replacement for the treating clinician.
The new trial is designed to test the clinical value of that decision-support layer prospectively. According to the founder's public description, it will compare individualised biomarker reports with reports based on standard treatment recommendations, while also examining biological change and healthcare costs. That distinction matters: the grant does not establish that DeepPsy's approach improves outcomes. It funds the evidence needed to determine whether using the report changes treatment decisions and patient results under controlled conditions.
DeepPsy says its service already has a route into routine care. Its current product site reports more than 42 physicians using reports, over 1,101 patients helped and more than 18 centres onboarded, with eligible Swiss patients covered through basic health insurance. Those are company-reported figures, but they show that PRECISE MDD is testing a tool with an operating clinical pathway rather than a laboratory prototype.
Prospective proof could widen the adoption case
For a clinical decision-support product, reimbursement and workflow fit are only part of adoption. Hospitals, physicians and guideline bodies also need evidence that adding a biomarker report improves care enough to justify the extra recording and analysis step. A multicentre design across three university settings could make the result more useful than evidence from one clinic, while the planned healthcare-cost analysis may address the payer case as well as clinical performance.
That leaves a clear execution dependency. DeepPsy's commercial position will strengthen only if the independent study is recruited, completed and produces persuasive results. Until then, the CHF 1.99m award should be read as funding for validation: a chance to move EEG- and ECG-informed treatment selection from an existing service with early use into a more rigorously tested clinical proposition.
