Mental health platform Total Brain (ASX:TTB) caught the market’s attention with a material licensing deal this morning.

In a brief announcement, the company said it’s entered an agreement to provide data for a project being carried out by research group Janssen Research & Development, LLC — a subsidiary of global healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson.

A non-exclusive deal, the agreement will see TTB supply data for Janssen’s iSPOT-D program — the International Study to Predict Optimized Treatment for Depression.

In return, TTB will receive a one-off licensing fee to the tune of US$2.2m within the next 90 days, the company said.

Markets liked the look of the up-front cash nature of the agreement, sending TTB shares more than 50pc higher in morning trade to 15c.

However, the stock is still well off its 2021 highs after climbing to almost 45c back in January (and 80c pre-pandemic).

TTB’s core tech offering is a SaaS-based app platform that helps users to “scientifically measure and optimise their brain capacities while managing the risk of common mental conditions”, the company said.

It has a database of over one million users, providing customers with data-based insights on their brain performance and mental well-being.

In its most recent 4C filing for the September quarter, TTB reported net cash operating outflows of $2.865m on cash receipts of $554,000. The outflows were largely driven by staff costs of $2.4m.

The company also finished the quarter with $2.594m in the bank, less than its quarterly operating outflows.

Prior to today’s licensing income in a November trading update, the company said its cash runway would extend to June 2022 — buffered by the inclusion of a $2.3m R&D tax refund.

Rounding out its brief announcement this morning, the company said the the license agreement with Janssen “is subject to
conventional commercial termination provisions”.