DTx for 'Medication-Free' Post-Stroke Visual Impairment... First Domestic Prescription

The prescription of NewNaps' VividBrain, developed as the '3rd domestic digital therapeutic device (DTx),' has begun.

Professor Kang Dong-hwa, a neurologist at Seoul Asan Medical Center and CEO of NewNaps, explains the visual perception training method and therapeutic effects of 'VividBrain,' a digital therapeutic device (DTx) he personally developed to treat visual field defects caused by stroke sequelae.
[Photo by Seoul Asan Medical Center]

Seoul Asan Medical Center announced on the 30th that it recently started the official prescription of VividBrain for patients experiencing visual field defects due to stroke. VividBrain is a DTx created by NewNaps, founded by Kang Dong-hwa, a neurology professor at Seoul Asan Medical Center who treats stroke patients.

Even if a person closes their left eye, they can see the left 'visual field' through the right eye. However, after experiencing a stroke, even if both eyes are intact, one side of the visual field may become invisible. The information entering our eyes is processed in the visual cortex at the back of the brain, and if this area is damaged, the brain cannot process the visual field corresponding to that region. For example, if the visual cortex in the right brain is damaged, the left visual field becomes invisible.

This type of visual field defect is a sequela experienced by 20% of stroke patients. It causes significant inconvenience in daily activities such as driving and reading, and the narrowed visual field increases the risk of accidents. However, from a medical perspective, there was no treatment method, to the extent that doctors could only say patients must 'adapt and live with it.'

Kang Dong-hwa, CEO of NewNaps and a neurology professor at Seoul Asan Medical Center treating stroke patients, focused on the 'brain plasticity theory' to overcome visual field defects. This theory suggests that even if the brain is damaged, if nearby areas are activated, they can compensate for the damaged regions. The hypothesis was that continuous 'visual perceptual learning' training stimulating the visual field would induce brain plasticity, allowing the previously unseen visual field to become visible again. VividBrain clinically demonstrated its effectiveness in improving visual field defects by repeatedly conducting such customized stimulation training through virtual reality (VR) devices to enhance visual information recognition ability. Among clinical participants, there were cases where the previously invisible visual field was fully restored.

Kang Dong-hwa, CEO of Newnaps, is being interviewed by Asia Economy at Asan Life Science Research Institute in Songpa-gu, Seoul, last May. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

VividBrain, which was approved as the 3rd domestic DTx by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in April, received the Ministry of Health and Welfare's innovative medical technology notification in June and was first prescribed on the 12th to Mr. Kim (57), who suffers from visual field defects as a sequela of stroke. Mr. Kim will undergo treatment for 12 weeks using VR devices and a mobile application to continuously perform visual perceptual learning training to recover impaired visual functions.

Kang Dong-hwa, CEO of NewNaps, explained, "VividBrain is the first DTx with proven effectiveness for visual field defects, for which there are no existing treatments," adding, "Through a patient-customized algorithm, it is an automated program that can increase the possibility of improvement through continuous visual perceptual learning training." Kang also stated, "Starting with Seoul Asan Medical Center, prescriptions of VividBrain will proceed at other domestic hospitals, and we plan to actively enter overseas markets such as the United States, Europe, and Asia," expressing hope that "VividBrain will become the global standard for treating visual field defects and contribute to improving the quality of life for many patients.”