Canadian neurotechnology company Zentrela this week announced the EU launch of its Cognalyzer® product, a portable device that scans brainwaves and uses AI to quantify whether a person is under the influence of cannabis.
Cognalyzer® is the first commercially viable EEG test on the market, and its launch is expected to encourage further research into the effects of cannabis in addition to other types of products such as anxiety medications.
Ultimately, the company’s mission is to take EEG analysis mainstream.
The startup was founded in Ontario by engineering scientist and entrepreneur Israel Gasperin with support from neuroscientist Dr. Dan Bosniak of McMaster University.
The industry continues to evolve on the continent: In a landmark move for European drug policy, Switzerland introduced regulated sales of cannabis for adults for the first time last year, with Germany set to follow suit in early 2024.
“Restricting marijuana use is no longer a radical thing, it’s becoming an increasingly normalized strategy,” drug policy analyst Steve Rawls said in a previous interview.
According to the company’s CEO, Israel Gasperin, “the emergence of a cannabis market in the European Union has created an urgent need to produce accurate and reliable information about the effects of cannabis, so that Europeans can make informed purchasing and consumption decisions.”
The entrepreneur added: “We have created a new way to conduct human trials for cannabis effects research that can be completed in three months instead of an 18-month study involving clinical trials. Most importantly, our EEG-driven research model is standardized and has already been approved by an independent ethics research committee and Health Canada for the non-clinical version of the study in Canada, the C3 Non-Therapeutic Research of Cannabis (NTRC) study.”
Find out more about Cognalyzer® here.
