Vygon, Oncomfort Partner to Commercialize Virtual Reality Pain Relief Device

Vygon, a group specializing in single-use medical devices, and Oncomfort, the Belgian inventor of Digital Sedation—a new method for relieving patients’ pain and anxiety without medication—have anounced a commercial partnership in six European countries. The strong synergy between Vygon’s specialization and Oncomfort’s fields of application will enable greater acceleration of the adoption of Digital Sedation by healthcare professionals and patients.
 
Digital Sedation is a CE marked medical device designed to relieve, without medication, the pain and anxiety of patients, combining hypnotherapy and integrative therapeutic techniques through virtual reality glasses.
 
A Partnership Based on Strong Synergies in the Healthcare Field
Through this parnership, Vygon will offer healthcare professionals a new therapeutic option in performing their interventions—with many benefits: less medication, less disruption, more comfort for the patient, without the usual side effects associated with pharmacological therapies. This partnership is effective immediately; the Sedakit device will be introduced to the market in January 2021 in France, the U.K., Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and Italy.
 
Vygon specializes in the development and commercialization of medical devices that are used by healthcare professionals in multiple clinical areas, in particular intravascular therapies, anesthesia and emergency care, as well as cardiology and vascular surgery. Oncomfort has created its digital therapy to reduce pain and anxiety for patients in these clinical areas and has proven its effectiveness in terms of improved workflow and better health outcomes for patients.
 
“Vygon has long-standing experience in combined therapeutic approaches. Oncomfort’s innovative technique is in line with our expansion in this field,” said Stéphane Regnault, president of Vygon. “Our international presence in hospitals and clinics allows us to integrate Oncomfort’s solution into interventional approaches to ensure that the patient can benefit from the best care.”
 
“We are delighted to be partnering with Vygon,” said Mario Huyghe, CEO at Oncomfort. “It has an international presence in specialties where Oncomfort’s efficacy has been proven. Our method covers light to deep sedation, allowing it to be used in the different clinical areas in which Vygon is active. Our hypnotherapeutic sessions using virtual reality have been designed for internationalization, with sessions already available in 12 languages. Together with Vygon, we will deploy configurations targeted for each clinical activity. This will enable us to provide a personalized approach to patients and healthcare professionals across all hospitals and clinics.”
 
A Great Asset in Different Clinical Specialties
“We immediately saw the potential of this partnership,” said Thomas Walter, vice president of Vygon’s Intravascular Therapy (IVT) and Cardiovascular & Surgery (CVS) Business Unit. “Our customers have tested Digital Sedation in some of their minimally invasive cardiovascular procedures (angioplasty, stenting, carotid, etc.), in the placement of catheters and implantable ports, and even in the administration of chemotherapy in day care. These trials have demonstrated that this method provides significant added value for medical teams during the procedure. In addition, the positive impact on the comfort of patients before the intervention and during the drug treatment is impressive.”
 
“Sedakit, Oncomfort’s medical device, enables the use of non-pharmacological sedation in routine care, following a short end-user training,” said John Kerridge, vice president of Vygon’s Anesthesia & Emergency (A&E) Business Unit. “The clinically proven efficacy of Digital Sedation allows its use as a validated perioperative therapy. This technique is of particular interest when performing procedures under local anesthesia, such as peripheral nerve blocks, epidural and spinal procedures.”