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In a rapidly changing world, it’s important to be able to adapt and change rather than stubbornly adhering to old ideas and opinions. This was one of the lessons of 2020, a year that forced us to question many of our assumptions about what behaviors are safe, how work and school can be conducted, and how we connect with others.

“In a changing world, you have to be willing and able to change your mind. Otherwise, your expertise can fail, your opinions get out of date, and your ideas fall flat,” says organizational psychologist Adam Grant, author of the new book Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know.

In his book, Grant explains why it’s so important for people to be humbler about their knowledge and stay open to learning and changing their minds. The book is filled with fascinating research and guidance on becoming more flexible … Read the rest

AppliedVR Raises $29 Million for Immersive Headsets (LA Business Journal):

Century City-based AppliedVR, Inc. announced March 23 that it has raised $29 million in Series A funding that will be used to continue development of an immersive headset to help patients with chronic pain.

… The company is building a headset called EaseVRx that will display immersive environments like campfires, mountains and other animated nature scenes to help patients dealing with chronic pain, including fibromyalgia and chronic intractable lower back pain…

AppliedVR Chief Executive and co-founder Matthew Stoudt said that the pandemic has generated more need for pain treatments that can be administered away from medical settings.

The Announcement:

AppliedVR Secures $29 Million in Series A Funding to Make Virtual Reality the Standard of Care for Chronic Pain (press release):

AppliedVR provides virtual reality-based treatments aimed at comprehensively treating chronic pain. Combining well-established cognitive behavioral therapies with mindfulness exercises, the company’s

FDA’s enforcement discretion for digital health is more ambiguous than ever in 2021 (MobiHealthNews):

The digital health ecosystem has swelled to encompass a broad range of products over the years.

On one end of the spectrum is software-as-medical-devices (SaMD) and prescription digital therapeutics, product categories for which a comprehensive regulatory strategy and engagement with the FDA are mandatory. On the other are wellness apps and other low-risk digital tools that likely spend more time worrying about oversight from the Federal Trade Commission than the health regulator.

However, a growing number of companies are finding themselves in a gray area of enforcement discretion, a term the FDA uses for lower-risk products that meet the definition of a medical device, but do not require regulatory submission, review and authorization before heading to market … Early-stage companies that haven’t yet internalized these concepts of documentation and transparency should take an “engage early and

The money behind mental health: How the pandemic increased innovation, investment in behavioral health care (Fierce Healthcare):

Earlier this month, Modern Health marked a milestone few companies ever reach: unicorn status.

With the help of its latest $74 million funding round, the startup, which serves as a mental health benefits platform for employers, topped a $1 billion valuation.

… And while Modern Health was already attracting plenty of interest before the pandemic, CEO Alyson Watson said her company is among those in the behavioral health space that have seen what can only be described as a seismic shift across the industry in the wake of COVID-19. In the first half of 2020 alone, digital behavioral health startups scored $588 million, roughly the annual funding for this segment in any previous year, Rock Health wrote in a report last year … That’s translating to some real changes in the industry, including

Otsuka launches pivotal trial of digital therapeutics for depression (MedCity News):

Otsuka Pharmaceutical is launching a virtual study to see if digital therapeutics can reduce depression symptoms.

It’s the next step in a partnership between the Tokyo-based drugmaker and Click Therapeutics, a digital health startup that is developing programs for smoking cessation, depression and insomnia.

They plan to enroll up to 540 patients in a randomized, controlled trial that will test the digital therapeutic’s efficacy in patients that are taking antidepressants. The remote trial will be conducted using Verily’s Project Baseline platform…

“Specifically, in mental health, we do think that digital therapeutics will provide additional benefits for patients and that’s the reason why we are not only interested in one intervention but also obviously are committed to broaden this with other approaches that are meant to improve the life of patients,” (Otsuka Chief Medical Officer Christoph) Koenen said. “We do

Welcome to a new edition of SharpBrains’ e‑newsletter, starting with some ideas to get in the mood for Brain Awareness Week next month (March 15–21st). May BAW 2021 be a hundred times more upbeat than last year’s…

#1. Seven brain teasers and a neuroplasticity podcast to celebrate Brain Awareness Week 2021

#2. Imagine what this capability may mean just a few years from now. Should/ will Google alert Gmail users about their (future) cognitive status? Study: Artificial intelligence program identifies linguistic markers that predict, with 70% accuracy, who gets Alzheimer’s Disease years later

#3. Similar to what happened to Thync back in 2016, Halo Neuroscience struggled to commercialize tDCS as a non-medical device and the technology is being repurposed for clinical use. Neuromodulation developer Halo Neuroscience closes its doors; Flow Neuroscience acquires assets

#4. Here you have a couple recent meta-analyses suggesting a growing adoption in the near future of web-based, … Read the rest

Happify Health raises $73M to expand its digital therapeutic care delivery capabilities (MobiHealth News):

Founded in 2012, Happify is best known for digital programs that provided automated self-guided support across various areas of mental health and wellness, such as stress management for employees or health plan members. Should the user need additional support, the platform can also facilitate a referral to third-party coaching, therapy, telemedicine or other available resources.

In more recent years the platform has expanded to address more than a dozen other chronic conditions, such as heart health and psoriasis, that can overlap with mental health conditions…

“Today, our platform covers more than 20 million lives, with more than 5 million individuals having received care through our platform,” said Tomer Ben-Kiki, cofounder and CEO of Happify, in a statement.

“We are also working with five leading pharmaceutical partners on digital therapeutic solutions and four out of the five