CogState Joint Venture launches Axon Sports concussion product in US

CogState (ASX: CGS) has officially launched Axon Sports, its joint venture with Quixote Investment, LLC, in the United States today and will market and sell a cutting-edge Computerised Cognitive Assessment Tool (CCAT) to protect the athletic brain.

In the US, there is a growing awareness of the dangers associated with concussions in sport, particularly due to high profile sports injuries to athletes playing American football in college and in the NFL. There are also dangers to a return to sport by athletes suffering concussion.

Axon Sports has an exclusive license to use and sell the technology initially in the sports market in North America only, employing CogState’s technology as the backbone of the CCAT.

CogState and Quixote Investment, a Portland Oregon-based investment group, each hold 50 percent of the issued capital of Axon Sports and have equally contributed to the working capital of Axon Sports, each investing US $0.5 million, with an option for further investment as required.

Axon Sports will be staffed and run independently from CogState and will market and sell the technology online via its website (axonsports.com) and via distribution partners, such as Wells Fargo Insurance Services.

Brad O’Connor, CogState's CEO said “we have spent the past six years building a profitable, cash flow positive business in the area of clinical trials. Axon Sports represents an accretive business opportunity outside of our core business."

“The sports concussion market is potentially a larger market than the clinical trials market and by partnering with a team with such great experience in developing and marketing products for the sports market, we believe that Axon Sports provides CogState with a tremendous opportunity to access the revenue potential of the sports market."

“We believe that Axon Sports will be a very profitable business and will add significantly to CogState’s profitability,” O’Connor added.

Test credits can be purchased in any quantity from the website. Customers will range from parents buying test credits for each child in their family, schools buying test credits for school athletes, doctors and/or medical centres buying test credits for patients, sports teams and/or associations buying test credits for their athletes and athletes buying test credits for themselves.

The size of the youth, high school and adult athlete market in the US is estimated to be greater than 60 million people.

The Axon Sports test is a series of simple tasks that measure the speed and accuracy of different aspects of thinking thereby allowing an athlete to establish a Baseline cognitive performance. The tasks are designed so that there is no practice effect – that is, you don’t get better by continued practice.

A Baseline test should be taken every year before the first contact practice of the sports season. Repeating the same test After Injury identifies any cognitive changes from the Baseline performance, which can indicate that the brain is not yet fully recovered from injury.

An After injury test can be re-taken hourly or daily and will merely reflect changes in cognition. Built-in integrity checks will review the athlete’s speed and accuracy to ensure that they are putting in an honest effort. On average, the test takes less than 15 minutes to complete and results are immediately available.

Comparing the results of a Baseline test to an After Injury test gives doctors a useful tool in making the decision on whether an athlete may safely return to play or to the classroom.