About us

The history behind PainDrainer

The year was 2018 and Professor Carl Borrebaeck worked together with Doctor Maria Rosén Klement at Lund University in Sweden.

Maria, who herself lives with chronic pain, attended one of many programs in chronic pain rehabilitation. During the program, Maria realized that everyone who attended the program had the same problem. Every day is different, and the level of pain is affected by sleep and the many activities one is doing during the day. She realized that the pain is affected by far more parameters than the human brain can keep track of.

Maria shared her thoughts with Prof. Carl Borrebaeck, the difficulty of keeping track of the parameters affecting her pain and that advanced calculations should be able to calculate this. At this point, Maria and Carl decided to involve the IT specialist Göran Barkfors and together they began to explore the possibility of helping people with chronic pain understand their pain and thus being able to increase their quality of life through machine learning, i.e. artificial intelligence.

The goal was to create a tool that helps people with chronic, non-malignant pain to understand how different activities, and combinations of activities affect their pain level. With the aim to take control of their pain.

In the spring of 2021, PainDrainer’s pilot study was completed with very promising results. The chronic pain patients who participated in the study experienced increased quality of life and reduced pain level already after 6 weeks of using PainDrainer.

The dream came through thanks to investors, pain management specialists and chronic pain patients who, just like Maria, Carl and Göran, wholeheartedly believes in the idea, that it can help millions of chronic pain patients to live a more fulfilled life and that it can be realized.

Se filmen hur idén till PainDrainer föddes

Watch the story behind PainDrainer

Advisory Board

“I see a tremendous increase in the use of artificial intelligence-based technologies within the healthcare section. Connecting artificial intelligence with established and clinically accepted methods will open up a new avenue in self-management of chronic pain.”

Mattias Ohlsson

Professor in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at Lund University

“I see hundreds of chronic pain patients every week and having a tool that could improve their quality of life and also help me to be more efficient and see even more patients, would be a dream."

Neel Mehta

Medical Director, Pain Management Weill Cornell Medicine NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital

"PainDrainer represents an entirely new and exciting concept in the drug-free self-management of chronic pain, due to its advanced artificial intelligence engine.”

Christer Carlsson

Medicine Doctor and Pain Management Specialist

THIS IS THE TEAM BEHIND PAINDRAINER

Our board

Carl Borrebaeck

Chairman of the board

Professor Carl Borrebaeck, is a company builder who previously founded the Nasdaq listed companies Immunovia AB, Senzagen AB, BioInvent Int. AB, and Alligator BioScience AB. Carl Borrebaeck has been awarded a number of awards, such as AkzoNobel’s Science Prize (2009); Royal Engineering Academy Gold Medal (2012) for “his ground-breaking research on biomarkers” and he was appointed the Biotech Builder of the year 2017 for his entrepreneurship. He is the Director of CREATE Health Strategic Center for Translational Cancer Research, a permanent member of the Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences, and former vice president of Lund University. Carl Borrebaeck is also the Founding Mentor for Nordic Mentor Network for Entrepreneurship (NOME). Current appointments: Chairman of PainDrainer AB, SenzaGen AB, Immunovia AB and CB Ocean Capital AB. Board member of Alligator Bioscience AB, Qlucore AB and Scandion A/S.

Hans Lindroth

Board member

Hans Lindroth has extensive experience in venture investing, having had involvement in 60+ companies within IT, biotech and real estate development on four continents. Co-founder of several companies. He is heavily engaged in charitable activities in education, culture and social work; with a special mission on supporting deprived children. Speaker on new technology and new media. Former hockey player. 1987-88 Systems expert, Crosfield Electronics, 1988-1998 Various operational positions within the Marieberg/Bonnier Group. 1998- CEO of Lingfield AB – management company for holdings of the Peder Wallenberg Charitable Trust. Executive director of Carpe Vitam International and the Carpe Vitam Foundation. Board member of the Lemshaga Foundation. 2005- Special advisor and tech-investor for the Tamares Group. 2018- Financial advisor to the Svanberg family. 1987-88 Systems expert, Crosfield Electronics, 1988-1998 Various operational positions within the Marieberg/Bonnier Group. 1998- CEO of Lingfield AB – management company for holdings of the Peder Wallenberg Charitable Trust. Executive director of Carpe Vitam International and the Carpe Vitam Foundation. Board member of the Lemshaga Foundation. 2005- Special advisor and tech-investor for the Tamares Group. 2018- Financial advisor to the Svanberg family.

Peter Benson

Board member

Peter Benson led the formation of Sunstone Life Science Ventures and served as its Managing Partner from 2007-2019. In addition, Peter Benson has extensive experience from the Global Life Science industry as an investor, founder, board member and senior executive, including 10 listed companies. Previous positions include Head of Life Science Ventures at Vækstfonden (the Danish Growth Fund), President of the Hospital Care Division and Senior Vice President at Pharmacia AB as well as Executive Vice President Marketing & Sales at Kabi Pharmacia Parenterals.

Per Antonsson

Board member

Per Antonsson has a PhD in Medical Science and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Analytical Chemistry and Biochemistry from Lund University. As Investment Manager at Almi Invest, Per has long experience of business development and investment in start-up companies, preferably in life science. He has had several roles in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Per is currently a board member of two other start-up companies in life science.

Göran Barkfors

Deputy board member

Göran Barkfors has over 30 years of experience in programming and software architectures and is the founder of Barkfors Fleet AB. A software / hardware company producing services for the transport sector, as well as Fleet management software for the office, which includes planning, EDI, optimization, map technology, pricing and invoicing. Furthermore, Barkfors Fleet AB also produces truck computers, including advanced software for order handling, RFid reading, weight handling and navigation. Both handheld and ordinary PC and tablets, as well as having measurements algorithms for fuel consumption and other Canbus based data.