Rocket VR Health partners with Massachusetts General Hospital to co-develop VR digital therapeutic solution for stem cell patients

This story was originally published on Auganix

March 4, 2022 – Rocket VR Health, an emerging digital therapeutics company developing clinically validated virtual reality (VR) therapies, has this week announced a research agreement with Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School.

Rocket VR Health’s solutions are designed to enhance the quality of life of cancer patients, their families and their caregivers. Under the terms of this agreement, Rocket VR Health will leverage its virtual reality therapy platform to co-develop a VR digital therapeutic solution based on population-specific care interventions created by Massachusetts General Hospital.

According to the company, its digital therapeutic solution is intended to help specifically with distress management in blood cancer patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) in an in-clinic setting. HCT can be used to treat certain types of cancer, such as leukemia, myeloma, and lymphoma, and other blood and immune system diseases that affect the bone marrow.

Sid Desai, Co-Founder and CEO at Rocket VR Health, commented: “This research partnership is instrumental to our company’s development and we are thrilled to be collaborating on innovative research with leading oncologists at one of the top research hospitals in the world.”

The research will study the effects of daily VR therapy on patients during their entire hospital stay. The average hospital length of stay for patients with hematologic malignancies who undergo HCT is approximately 28 days. During this intense hospitalization period, patients can’t leave their rooms as their immune system is weakened while their bone marrow is re-generated. As a result, with no contact with the outside world, these patients endure significant short-term and long-term distress that affects their quality of life and their physical and psychological well-being, both in the near term and long-term.

The treatment being developed by Rocket VR Health will consist of 7 modules integrating psychoeducation, therapy and relaxation exercises offered over a 4-week period in VR environments. The treatment course is designed to be self-administered by patients while they are in their transplant rooms after an initial assistance and on-boarding help from a nurse or other healthcare professional. The immersive environments, imagery, sounds and music included in the Rocket VR Health platform will allow patients to access the outside world virtually while being confined to their hospital room, according to the company.

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