The merger of DTx companies OxfordVR and BehaVR will result in the world’s largest virtual-reality platform for clinically-validated DTx solutions. The reformed BehaVR treatment platform will provide a full span of immersive mental health and behavioral health solutions to tackle the global mental illness crisis, by means of a scalable treatment platform.
Why it’s Notable:
The global burden of mental health conditions continues to rise, with approximately 1 in 5 adults within the U.S. affected - a prevalence of more than 53 million individuals in the U.S. alone. The extreme prevalence of mental health conditions demands new solutions to improve the quality of life of these individuals, and immersive virtual reality (VR) solutions may prove to be a key enabler through gamified programs and educational material.
The merger of BehaVR and OxforVR will provide a suite of evidence-based behavioral VR solutions for anxiety, pain-management and stress-management. This will include OxfordVR’s FDA-designated gameChange and Social engagement™ solutions for Serious Mental Illness (SMI). By providing the suite of solutions on BehaVRs streamlined platform, immersive solutions can be provided, and real-world data collected without overloading clinicians.
Industry Implications:
VR in healthcare is rapidly gaining traction, with use cases including, among others, immersive treatments for pain management, behavioral solutions and rehabilitation. The global VR market in healthcare is expected to grow from $2.7 billion to approximately $9.7 billion in the next 5 years. The new BehaVR entity will be a key player within this market and continue to drive growth due to its ability to drive data-driven insights and improve clinical outcomes across all stakeholders of the healthcare industry.
The potential of VR technology to complement or even replace treatment is increasingly being acknowledged. To ensure confidence with this technology, stakeholders are demanding clinically-validated solutions with a robust evidence-base – this will be crucial to their success and adoption. Given the potential of VR to be included as a new modality in the treatment arsenal, it is not surprising that pharma has begun partnering in this space in earnest also. For example, BehaVR partnered with Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma, while Otsuka partnered with Jolly Good to provide VR-based behavioral management solutions. However, the treatment modalities of VR are not limited to behavioral management, and it is therefore likely that as evidence-backed VR solutions are developed across other therapeutic areas, pharma will help bring VR even more into the mainstream.