Conversation
Alan Soclof: Hi Sid! Why don’t you start off by telling me about Rocket VR & your vision for the company?
Sid Desi: : Hi Alan! Here at Rocket VR we are building the next generation of immersive medicine using virtual reality. Rocket VR is a VR experience that is used to reduce anxiety, stress, depression, and PTSD for people suffering from these conditions. Our initial focus is on hospitalized cancer patients, who spend a lot of time in the hospital setting and have low to no access to mental healthcare.
Our long term plan is to make immersive, metaverse based therapies accessible and available to millions of people worldwide from the convenience of their VR headsets.
What we do is we take existing, proven, clinically validated treatments like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mindfulness, Positive Psychology and create our own unique programs.
AS: What progress have you and the team made to make this vision a reality?
SD: So we started the company in 2020. Our first iteration was a mobile app based therapeutic. We were trying to figure out a way to create a more engaging mobile mental health app.
After talking to a lot of people in the space, people were overloaded with apps and the last thing they wanted was another one. Then we discovered VR, and thought “this is freaking amazing.”
We started building a prototype in January of ‘21. Now a year and a half later, we have a phenomenal product and have partnered with some of the leading researchers and major health systems in the country to make our vision a reality.
Our first partnership was with the inventor of Mindfulness Cancer Based Recovery (MCBR), Dr. Linda Carlson. Dr. Carlson has published over 250 papers on the connection cancer and mindfulness. We are working on launching a feasibility study with her focusing on reducing chronic cancer pain using a virtual reality immersion experience.
We then connected with Mass General Hospital in Boston, did a demo with them and they were very impressed. We are now co-developing a 4 week intervention focused on patients undergoing a 30 day intense hospitalization procedure (stem cell transplant) and have no choice but to be locked in a room for 30 days as their immune system is down to zero. We have a randomized control trial with 80 patients starting this year.
We are also working with Penn Medicine in Philly for procedural anxiety specifically caused by radiation scans.
And finally, we also are working with St. Jude for pediatric VR use cases, focusing on how do you acclimate kids to the sites and sounds of MRIs.
I also should point out that we went through a medical device accelerator called Zero to 510, who helped us create a clear regulatory plan that we are very confident in.
AS: I have a question regarding the regulatory process, but why don’t we first talk a little bit about the monetization model?
SD: There are multiple ways we can and are focused on monetizing.
Our in hospital VR products are going to be sold directly to hospitals. It is a $5k (per year) kit including the VR headset, our apps, hardware upgrade, sanitization, etc.
If we prove that we can reduce hospital stay by just one day, we can save hospitals $8-$10K a day. Hospitals are incentivized to bring care costs down for their hospitalized patients while improving patient experience and they are looking at digital technologies such as ours to help with that goal.
We think each hospital could have 10 headsets at a minimum, maybe even up to 30. So from a dollar perspective, that is $50K-$150K deal opportunity per hospital. With over 3k hospitals in the US, the opportunity is massive. Initially, we will be focused on the over 200 cancer hospitals in the US.
There is also a $20 a month @ home app that can be found on the Oculus Store for patients who have been discharged from hospital who want to further rehabilitate physically or mentally with our immersive programs and activities.
AS: What does the regulatory pathway look like for Rocket VR?
SD: For the at home product there is no need for any regulatory approval. We expect to hit the ground running there right away. Our in hospital use product has to go through FDA clearance.
The FDA is concerned about safety and efficacy. VR is absolutely safe because the experiences we are building do not involve rapid motion or walking. They are all relaxing and seated.
The efficacy is the key and something we are working hard in proving through the various partnerships and studies I have mentioned above which have already seen significant interest from some of the most impressive hospitals in the country.
Also, the FDA has cleared over 50 different digital therapeutics to date including VR companies like Applied VR. More recently they also cleared an app from OxfordVR, a social anxiety reduction VR app.
We will be pursuing the 510K Pathway early next year and are very confident we will get designated for the Breakthrough Pathway.
AS: Thank you so much Sid. This was great. I am a big believer in what you are building!
SD: Thank you Alan! Look forward to connecting again soon.