Chronic pain affects over 100 million Americans, costing society about $600 billion annually. Despite numerous pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies, over 50% of chronic pain sufferers feel little control over their pain. The need for alternative, more effective pain therapies is urgent, as the U.S. faces a widening prescription opioid abuse epidemic. CognifiSense has developed a patent-pending Virtual Reality Psychological Therapy (VRPT), which is designed to create lasting reduction of chronic pain by addressing the maladaptive learning processes driving pain chronification. VRPT is an experiential learning system, which provides the brain a new set of signals that teaches it that the pain is not as bad as it perceived and that it has greater control over the pain than it perceived. VRPT combines the immersive power and the ability to individualize the therapy of Virtual Reality with well-researched principles of self-distancing, self-efficacy, and extinction to retrain the brain. The goal of this Phase I study is to determine the clinical feasibility of VRPT in achieving a lasting reduction of chronic pain, establish brain mechanisms associated with treatment response, and collect comprehensive user feedback to enable further refinement of the current product prototype. The study will include 60 adults with chronic back pain. After a two-week baseline period, VRPT will be tested on 30 subjects (treatment group) over a 4-week intervention period, and a subsequent follow-up will be conducted over two weeks. Clinical efficacy data and pre / post therapy fMRI scans will be compared to a 30-subject control group. CognifiSense's VRPT has the potential to be a significant clinical and business opportunity in the treatment of chronic pain.

Public Health Relevance

CognifiSense has developed a patent-pending Virtual Reality Psychological Therapy (VRPT) designed to create lasting reduction of chronic pain. VRPT is an experiential learning system, which leverages immersive VR training, self-distancing, self-efficacy and fear extinction tools to correct the maladaptive learning processes which drive pain chronification.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)
Type
Small Business Innovation Research Grants (SBIR) - Phase I (R43)
Project #
1R43NR017575-01A1
Application #
9621475
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1)
Program Officer
Bough, Kristopher J
Project Start
2019-09-23
Project End
2020-08-31
Budget Start
2019-09-23
Budget End
2020-08-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2019
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Cognifisense, Inc.
Department
Type
DUNS #
080566224
City
Sunnyvale
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
94085