-Partnership Aims to Develop World's First Cognitive Behavioral Therapy VR for Patients with Depression-

Jolly Good Inc. (hereinafter "Jolly Good") and the National Center for Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Research (hereinafter "NCCBTR") announced that they have entered into a clinical trial collaboration agreement directed toward the development of digital health solutions. Under the agreement, Jolly Good will develop and commercialize CBT VR in Japan and certain other overseas markets for patients with depression. Before the collaboration accord, Jolly Good applied for its "VR Diagnostic treatment system" patent in Japan on February 26, 2020 (patent application numbers: 2020-030723).

In the trial, the two partners will provide CBT focusing on positive-valence system using VR toward patients with moderate to higher depression. In addition, they will test the safeness and effectiveness of the VR therapeutics. The hypothesis is that by exposing patients under virtual reality related to positive-valence, it will decrease the suppression of activity making the patient available to find positive-valence in real-life situations as well. This will improve the symptoms of depressions, especially anhedonia. This research will prevent severe depression and decrease the number of hospitalized patients. In other words, the partners want to promote the use of VR and AI technology for effective treatment of depression that does not rely on drugs.

About Depression

Depressive disorders led to a global total of over 50 million Years Lived with Disability (YLD) in 2015. Globally, depressive disorders are ranked as the single largest contributor to non-fatal health loss (WHO, 2017).

Mental disorder is considered as one of the five major diseases in Japan. Among them, especially depression has a large percentage (1.27 million patients), and the annual economic cost of depression totals up to 3.09 trillion yen.

About Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

The purpose of CBT is to relieve symptoms and prevent recurrence of depression in mood, physical responses, etc., caused by stress through strengthening patient self-control by applying theories and behavior modification techniques of cognitive behavioral science.

About Jolly Good

Jolly Good is a Japanese technology startup company that develops VR solutions and AI engines that analyze user behavior in VR space. The company designs advanced technologies and provides user-friendly solutions to many companies and local governments utilizing VR and AI in their businesses.

For more information visit: https://jollygood.co.jp/

About National Center for Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Research

The Center for Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Research is Japan’s first training and research center specializing in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). The center conducts its activities at The National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry ’s headquarters and a satellite office in Tokyo. The center implements the nation’s leading-edge research and training related to cognitive behavioral therapy.

For more information, visit: https://www.ncnp.go.jp/cbt/english/

Source: Jolly Good Inc.