The popular meditation app, Headspace — which is valued at $250 million — launched a new subsidiary dubbed Headspace Health focused on building a suite of prescription-level apps that address several health conditions, and it is hoping the new tools gain FDA approval within two years, Business Insider reports.
The Headspace app already has 30 million users, but the new venture could mean more growth for the company as it will soon begin rolling out new prescription-grade meditation tools.
It's not yet clear which health conditions the products will focus on, but Headspace Chief Science Officer Megan Jones Bell, PsyD, believes it will "likely surprise a lot of people," she told the publication. She added that Headspace Health plans to start clinical trials for its new products this summer, with the goal of obtaining the first FDA approval of its digital health solution by 2020.
While most Headspace users currently turn to the meditation app for self-help purposes, Headspace Health will have to work closely with the FDA if it hopes to target specific conditions. While there are several studies that show the benefits of meditation in healthy people, not many studies examine whether meditation can help treat a specific disease or condition.
Headspace already has a team of seven working with academic and federal institutions to study meditation benefits, Ms. Jones Bell told Business Insider. The team is exploring 12 mental and physical conditions.
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