IKONA Health

IKONA Health is a MedTech firm leveraging VR to bolster learning outcomes for patients, healthcare providers, and organizations involved in kidney disease treatment and management. The company’s platform is also accessible on PCs and smartphones and offers over 250 educational resources from 40 institutions.

The company’s XR platforms in various stages of commercialization as of February 2024 include 1) VR-based home dialysis education for patients (launched); 2) home dialysis training for patients and staff using VR (piloting); 3) medication adherence for patients using AR (proof of concept); 4) AR-based dialysis device placement and training for patients and staff (proof of concept); and 5) patient education pre- and post-transplant using AR (proof of concept).

Other non-VR based tools in various stages of commercialization as of February 2024 include 1) online learning tools to assess and improve health literacy (piloting); 2) online learning tools to assess home readiness (piloting); and 3) online learning tools designed to aid care delivery with science-based health literacy metrics (development).

The company claims that its personalized education tools for patients result in a 51% increase in confidence after its baseline kidney health course, with a one-week retention score of 91%. In June 2022, IKONA Health received a patent for its pill planner application, designed to help patients manage multiple medications via AR-guided placement of pills into a patient’s pill box.

Key customers and partnerships

In January 2023, the company received a contract to develop educational modules for patients and care teams of the 137 outpatient dialysis centers Fresenius Kidney Care serves in Mississippi. Previously, in April 2022, IKONA was awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from the commercial innovation arm of the US Air Force to bring its immersive patient education platform to airmen and their families.

Funding and financials

The company’s latest funding round was in August 2020; it received USD 276,000 in grant funding from the National Science Foundation. The funds were earmarked for its SBIR Phase I project, geared toward solving the technical challenge of developing VR content that promotes caregiver knowledge acquisition, skill development, and motivation while keeping the training experience relatively brief and efficient.

Key competitors: None under coverage (IKONA Health offers VR education tools specifically for individuals with kidney disease).