Aclarion, Inc. (Nasdaq: ACON, ACONW), a commercial-stage healthcare technology company, announced on May 6, 2026, that it granted an inducement stock option to Daniel Keefe, the company's recently-hired Commercial Director for the Western U.S. The option, covering 17,000 shares of common stock, was granted on May 5, 2026, as a material inducement for Keefe to join Aclarion, in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).
The stock option has an exercise price of $3.20 per share, equal to the closing price on the grant date. Vesting begins with one-fourth of the options vesting on the one-year anniversary of the vesting commencement date, with the remainder vesting in equal monthly installments over the next three years, subject to continued service. The option has a 10-year term and is governed by an inducement stock option agreement.
This expansion of the commercial team underscores increasing demand for Aclarion's Nociscan platform, which is supported by triple-digit growth in utilization. Nociscan is the first evidence-supported SaaS platform that noninvasively helps physicians distinguish between painful and nonpainful discs in the lumbar spine, using Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) data, proprietary signal processing, biomarkers, and augmented intelligence algorithms.
Chronic low back pain is a major health issue, and Nociscan provides critical insights into the location of a patient's pain, giving physicians clarity to optimize treatment strategies. By integrating with existing MRI machines via cloud connection, Nociscan extracts and quantifies chemical biomarkers associated with disc pain, entering the data into proprietary algorithms to indicate potential pain sources.
The appointment of a dedicated Commercial Director for the Western U.S. signals Aclarion's strategic focus on expanding its market presence in a region with significant potential for adoption. The triple-digit growth in Nociscan utilization suggests that physicians are increasingly recognizing the value of biomarker-based diagnostics in improving treatment success rates for chronic low back pain.
For more information about Aclarion and Nociscan, visit www.aclarion.com. The latest news and updates relating to $ACON are available in the company's newsroom at https://tinyurl.com/aconnewsroom.
This inducement grant reflects the company's commitment to building a strong commercial team to meet growing demand. As Aclarion continues to expand its reach, the impact on the chronic low back pain treatment landscape could be significant, potentially reducing the number of ineffective procedures and improving patient outcomes.
