WILMINGTON, DE — NRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. said its HOPE Therapeutics subsidiary will become the first interventional psychiatry network to deploy Zeta Surgical’s newly FDA-cleared robotic transcranial magnetic stimulation system, expanding its use of precision-guided TMS ahead of a planned military and civilian trial combining the technology with NRX-101.
Clinical staff are undergoing orientation and training at Zeta Surgical’s Boston headquarters before the system is deployed at HOPE clinics in Florida.
The Zeta TMS Robotic System received FDA 510(k) clearance in July 2026. It uses AI-driven software and a robotic arm to track patient movement and adjust the TMS coil in real time with submillimeter precision.
The system builds on Zeta’s TMS Navigation System, which HOPE began using commercially in June. That system uses image guidance to track a patient’s head and show clinicians the coil’s position relative to an MRI-guided brain target.
“Not all TMS is delivered the same way, and the difference between precise, repeatable targeting and approximation is exactly what patients and clinicians should be asking about,” NRx and HOPE Chairman and CEO Jonathan Javitt stated.
The robotic deployment also supports SPARC-TMS, NRx’s FDA-approved Phase 2/3 trial evaluating NRX-101 in combination with robotic TMS. The study is registered as NCT07227103.
NRx was selected by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as prime contractor for SPARC-TMS, subject to completion of contracting.
The company plans to conduct the trial across a U.S. academic teaching hospital, multiple HOPE Therapeutics clinics and two military treatment facilities.
Javitt described the robotic targeting capability as the technological foundation for the SPARC-TMS program, which is intended to evaluate treatment in both military and civilian settings.
TMS is a noninvasive therapy used primarily for treatment-resistant depression. NRx stated that treatment-resistant depression affects about one-third of patients with major depressive disorder and that accurate, repeatable targeting is an important component of TMS delivery.
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