AppliedVR raises $29M to help make virtual reality the standard of care for treating chronic pain

AppliedVR Raises $29 Million for Immersive Headsets (LA Business Journal):

Century City-based AppliedVR, Inc. announced March 23 that it has raised $29 million in Series A funding that will be used to continue development of an immersive headset to help patients with chronic pain.

… The company is building a headset called EaseVRx that will display immersive environments like campfires, mountains and other animated nature scenes to help patients dealing with chronic pain, including fibromyalgia and chronic intractable lower back pain…

AppliedVR Chief Executive and co-founder Matthew Stoudt said that the pandemic has generated more need for pain treatments that can be administered away from medical settings.

The Announcement:

AppliedVR Secures $29 Million in Series A Funding to Make Virtual Reality the Standard of Care for Chronic Pain (press release):

AppliedVR provides virtual reality-based treatments aimed at comprehensively treating chronic pain. Combining well-established cognitive behavioral therapies with mindfulness exercises, the company’s EaseVRx solution recently became the first virtual reality (VR) prescription therapeutic to receive Breakthrough Device Designation from the FDA for treatment-resistant fibromyalgia and chronic intractable lower back pain. The company also just released results from its pivotal eight-week randomized clinical trial, finding that the EaseVRx device produced “clinically meaningful” improvement in multiple pain outcomes, and had high participant satisfaction and engagement.

“Chronic pain is one of the most common medical conditions in the world, yet it still is incredibly debilitating to patients, costly to the system and complex to treat. While our mission has always been to demonstrate that VR can be a powerful analgesic in any setting, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a surge in demand for digital medicines like VR that can be delivered safely to patients in their own homes,” said Matthew Stoudt, co-founder and CEO of AppliedVR. “As a leading evidence-backed VR therapeutics provider in healthcare, we’re committed to meaningfully improving the lives of people suffering from chronic pain by making VR the standard of care for treating chronic pain in a provider-prescribed, payer-reimbursed model.”

News in Context:

• The FDA clears AppliedVR headset to help treat fibromyalgia and chronic pain
• FDA clears MindMaze GO neurorehabilitation platform, easing access to continued outpatient therapy
• Virtual-reality gaming + affordable biofeedback = Anxiety therapy for all?
• Washington Wizards to test virtual reality system to better monitor players’ fatigue

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