HypnoVR, a European leader in digital therapies to manage pain and anxiety, has acquired Belgian company Oncomfort, the inventor of Digital Sedation™, a pharmacological method of relieving patients’ pain and anxiety.
The acquisition should speed up the commercial roll-out of HypnoVR’s solutions in Europe. Over 550 European healthcare facilities are now using HypnoVR technology, including more than one hundred in Belgium. A total of 200,000 patients have already been treated using its digital therapies that include software and a VR headset. The company has the most advanced clinical validation in its field, with more than fifty clinical trials having demonstrated the efficacy of the HypnoVR and Oncomfort therapies to manage pain and anxiety, reduce medication use and improve the care pathway.
Oncomfort was founded in 2017 to develop Digital Sedation™, an innovative medical device combining the capabilities of virtual reality with expertise in medical hypnosis. Digital Sedation™ is a CE-marked product designed to offer patients an alternative or supplementary treatment to drugs, for managing pain and anxiety.
HypnoVR has a subsidiary in Basel, Switzerland and has just opened an office in Belgium, where a number of Oncomfort staff will be based.
HypnoVR has advanced, ambitious R&D projects in progress, including the development of a next-generation therapeutic virtual reality solution with biofeedback. This system offers a real-time virtual hypnosedation session adapted to the patient’s physiological condition. Patents are being filed to protect its intellectual property. Second-generation products are expected to reach the market in 2024.
Nicolas Schaettel, president and co-founder of HypnoVR said: “The Oncomfort acquisition is a highly strategic step for HypnoVR that reinforces our position as the European leader in digital therapies to treat pain and anxiety and provides an ever-increasing number of healthcare facilities and patients with access to these advanced technologies. Our vision is one that Oncomfort shares, based on the clinical validity of digital therapeutic solutions and the potential of technology to deliver them to as many people as possible. HypnoVR pioneered the development and roll-out of virtual reality-based medical hypnosis solutions in France and Europe, and we intend to ramp up this work on an international scale.”
Diane Jooris, founder of Oncomfort said: “Both HypnoVR and Oncomfort are pioneering companies in digital sedation and have been built on shared values, scientific validation and strict adherence to regulations to ensure compliance with the requirements for digital medical devices. I firmly believe that our acquisition by HypnoVR will create worthwhile collaborations to help healthcare professionals go further in adopting this solution as the standard of care for relieving pain and anxiety, benefiting a growing number of patients.”
