Matthew Stoudt had just sold off his digital media firm in the fall of 2014, and wasn’t sure what he wanted to do next. His wife, Brenda, was fascinated with virtual reality, which prompted him to look into the space. Everything he found was in the gaming and entertainment sector, which didn’t particularly excite him. But while watching a TEDx talk on using virtual reality for behavior change, he was excited by the prospect of using virtual reality for pain management.
“I thought we could use virtual reality as a powerful tool to truly change the way we think about pain management in America,” he recalls thinking.
Seven years later, and the company he eventually cofounded thanks to that TEDx talk, the Los Angeles-based AppliedVR, has now raised $29 million in a series A round that includes lead investments from F-Prime Capital along with Jazz Ventures, Sway Ventures and GSR Ventures, among others. The raise brings the company’s total funding to $35 million.
Nearly 20% of U.S. adults-around 50 million people-suffer from chronic pain which puts them at high risk of opioid addiction, according to the CDC. Historically, Stoudt says, NSAIDs, opioids, injections, implants, and surgeries have been the go-to methods for pain management but those are riddled with problems such as poor access, addiction and catastrophic spending. “Into that breach storms this idea of using virtual reality as a new modality for managing pain,” says Stoudt, 51.
This is where virtual reality holds promise. The technology has been used as an analgesic for nearly a decade. It uses the logic of distracting the brain from pain but researchers don’t completely understand the biological mechanisms of it. The idea of a therapy that could be much simpler is what drove Stoudt to partner with David Sackman, who had given the TEDx talk that had inspired him. The two men along with another partner, Josh Sackman, founded AppliedVR in 2015.
While it’s not the only company that’s developed VR to tackle the problem of chronic pain, most such set ups require patients to visit a healthcare facility to access the therapy. By contrast, AppliedVR focused on designing headsets which patients could use at their homes.
In 2016, company put its technology to the test by beginning a series of clinical trials, with the latest study looking at 178 patients with chronic lower back pain. The participants were given headsets which they used at their homes for a period of 8 weeks on an average of seven minutes a day.
During their therapy sessions, the patients are provided with a variety of different experiences, including showing them animations of body organs, exploring their breathing patterns, simulating a visit mountains or gardens and into underwaters surroundings of dolphins. Stoudt says these sessions help patients to manage the pain even when the headsets are off. “We are almost implanting memories in their in their minds so that when they have the headsets off, they are more easily able to connect to that (scene) and then relive it.”
The findings of the most recent study, which were published in The Journal of Medical Internet Research in February 2021, showed that some patients reported a reduction in pain and improved quality of sleep.
These results, as well as the findings from its other studies, have proven to be a major attraction to investors “They have compelling data and clinical results,” says Jon Lim, Partner, F-Prime Capital, one of the leading series A investors.
Another attraction, Lim says, is that the company’s therapy can be paid for by Medicare and insurance companies. On January 12, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced that under its Medicare Coverage of that it will provide around 60 million Medicare beneficiaries access to the latest medical technology. AppliedVR received the Breakthrough Device Designation from the FDA for treatment-resistant fibromyalgia and chronic intractable lower back pain in October 2020, which means the CMS rule applies. “Many investors have been wondering who is going to pay for digital therapeutics and that’s a nice way to know that the reimbursement pathway is there,” Lim says.
Stoudt says this company will use the new funds to get robust data and look at how durable the effects of virtual reality therapy are. It expects to receive an FDA approval for VR prescription therapy for lower back pain and launch the product by early 2022. “As technology becomes more fun, we have an opportunity in digital health to empower patients to take control of their own health,” he says.
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March 23, 2021 at 12:18PM
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Virtual Reality Startup Raises $29 Million To Help With Chronic Pain - Forbes
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