Rocket VR Health an emerging digital therapeutics company developing clinically validated virtual reality therapies that enhance the quality of life of cancer patients, their families and their caregivers is pleased to announce a research agreement with Massachusetts General Hospital (“MGH”).
Rocket VR Health’s platform transports patients from their hospital room to breathtaking nature environments where patients receive CBT, ACT and Mindfulness therapies.
Under the terms of the agreement Rocket VR Health will leverage its virtual reality therapy platform to co-develop a VR digital therapeutic solution based on population-specific well-researched care interventions created by Massachusetts General Hospital. This Digital Therapeutic Solution is intended to help 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 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 Virtual Reality Therapy’s effect 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 (QOL) and their physical and psychological well-being – both in the near term and long-term.
The treatment being developed consists of 7 modules integrating psychoeducation, therapy and relaxation exercises offered over a 4-week period in beautiful virtual reality (VR) environments 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 allow patients to access the outside world virtually while being confined to their hospital room.
About the company
Rocket VR Health is a healthcare technology company that is developing evidence-based virtual reality therapies that enhance the quality of life of cancer patients, their families and their caregivers. With the company’s platform cancer centers can provide mental health support at scale and offer virtual therapy to patients whether they are in the hospital or at home. Rocket VR Health digital interventions take clinically validated treatment modalities and transform them into fully-immersive virtual treatments that make psychosocial care for cancer more effective, accessible, and data-driven.
About the Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital, founded in 1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The Mass General Research Institute conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the nation, with annual research operations of more than $1 billion and comprises more than 9,500 researchers working across more than 30 institutes, centers and departments. In August 2021, Mass General was named #5 in the U.S. News & World Report list of “America’s Best Hospitals.”
