Neurava's $4M NIH Grant Fuels Hope for Preventing Sudden Death in Epilepsy

BALTIMORE, MD – April 23, 2026 – In a move that could transform the lives of millions living with epilepsy, medtech startup Neurava Inc. has been awarded a $4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The prestigious award will fund the development of a groundbreaking artificial intelligence algorithm designed to predict the risk of Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP), one of the most feared and least understood complications of the neurological disorder.

The up-to four-year NIH Blueprint MedTech Optimizer award represents a significant validation for Neurava's wearable technology. It aims to accelerate the company's novel risk-assessment platform from development toward first-in-human clinical trials, offering a beacon of hope for a community long shadowed by uncertainty.

The Shadow of SUDEP: A Silent Threat

For many of the 3.5 million Americans with epilepsy, the daily reality involves more than just managing seizures. It involves a persistent, underlying fear of SUDEP, the leading cause of mortality for those with uncontrolled seizures. SUDEP claims the lives of approximately 1 in 1,000 adults with epilepsy each year, a risk that skyrockets for individuals with frequent, severe seizures. It often occurs without warning, typically during sleep, leaving families devastated and searching for answers that medical science has struggled to provide.

The core challenge for clinicians has been the inability to accurately identify which patients are at the highest risk. Assessment currently relies on a checklist of fragmented risk factors—such as the frequency of generalized tonic-clonic seizures, non-adherence to medication, and long duration of the disease—without a unified, quantitative method to weigh them.

"Despite decades of research, SUDEP risk remains difficult to quantify and communicate in a clinically actionable way," said Vivek Ganesh, PhD, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Neurava. This diagnostic gap leaves doctors, patients, and caregivers navigating a landscape of ambiguity, often unsure of the best course for monitoring or intervention.

A New Blueprint for Prediction

Neurava aims to replace this uncertainty with data-driven clarity. The company is developing a multi-modal wearable platform that goes far beyond simple seizure detection. The system is designed to continuously monitor a suite of physiological signals critical to understanding SUDEP, which is believed to result from a complex cascade of seizure-related failures in cardiac and respiratory function.

The core of the innovation lies in its AI-powered algorithm. By integrating data on seizure activity, cardiac function, and respiratory patterns from its wearable sensors, Neurava plans to build a comprehensive, quantitative risk stratification tool. This would provide clinicians with a dynamic, personalized risk score for each patient.

"This effort is about transforming how SUDEP risk is understood and acted upon," stated Jay Shah, PhD, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Neurava. "Today, clinicians and families often face uncertainty without clear tools to guide monitoring or intervention. Our goal is to provide objective, interpretable insights that can support earlier action and ultimately save lives."

The NIH's Multi-Million Dollar Validation

The $4 million award is not just funding; it's a powerful endorsement from one of the world's foremost medical research agencies. The NIH Blueprint MedTech program is a highly competitive initiative designed to identify and accelerate the most promising neurotechnologies with the potential for significant clinical impact. Neurava's selection underscores the urgent unmet need for better SUDEP prevention tools and validates the scientific foundation of the company's approach.

This non-dilutive funding will allow Neurava to rigorously develop and validate its algorithm, ensuring the technology is built for real-world clinical deployment. The support from the NIH helps de-risk the technology, making it more attractive for future investment and paving a clearer path toward regulatory approval and market entry.

Independent experts see this as a pivotal moment for the field. The project has the potential to synthesize decades of disparate research into a single, powerful clinical tool.

"Achieving consensus around how SUDEP risk is best quantified is a critical next step for the epilepsy field and for patients," said George Richerson, MD, PhD, a professor and Chair of the Department of Neurology at the University of Iowa. "This effort has the potential to bring together decades of knowledge on seizure, cardiac, and respiratory risk factors into a coherent, reproducible, and clinically meaningful framework. If successful, it could greatly advance how clinicians assess SUDEP risk and lay the groundwork for future preventative strategies."

From Data to Diagnosis: A New Frontier in Epilepsy Care

While competitors like Empatica have made significant strides with FDA-cleared wearables for detecting tonic-clonic seizures, Neurava is carving out a distinct and critical niche. Its primary focus is not just on alerting to a seizure in progress, but on forecasting the long-term risk of a fatal outcome. This represents a fundamental shift from a reactive to a proactive model of care.

The four-year grant will enable the company to refine its AI, test it against vast datasets, and prepare for the rigorous demands of human clinical trials. The goal is to create a seamless system where data from a comfortable wearable device translates into actionable intelligence for a patient's neurology team.

Success would mean physicians could identify high-risk patients earlier, potentially leading to more aggressive treatment adjustments, tailored lifestyle recommendations, or the use of specific monitoring strategies. For patients and their families, it offers the prospect of moving beyond generalized fear and toward a future of personalized, preventative care, armed with knowledge that could make all the difference.