The metaverse has faded from buzzword to buzzkill, and the hype that once gripped industries has been quietly brushed under the carpet – or so it may seem.
The developing technology was worth $48bn in 2022, and growth is still anticipated. In 2023, GlobalData forecast that the technology would be worth $400bn by 2030 despite acknowledging that “the theme has struggled to live up to the excessive hype that built up in 2021 and early 2022”.
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GlobalData is the parent company of Pharmaceutical Technology.
At the time, the analytics company suggested that the technology had entered an unremitting winter, defined by the limitations of underlying technologies, including blockchain, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and digital twins. It predicted that “without improvements in these technologies, the metaverse will continue to disappoint”.
However, healthcare giant Pfizer thinks otherwise, investing in the metaverse through a virtual lung oncology diagnostic lab created by VR and AR developer Cassette Group. Other clients of the company include Takeda, Omnicom Health Group, Novartis and the NHS – representing just a few of the healthcare players with plans for the technology.
According to Cassette CEO Ben Taylor, it’s a big space – he tells Medical Device Network: “We are only focusing on healthcare because that’s where we see the big opportunity. Pharmaceuticals and life science is such a big space, whether that is in health and safety training in factories or laboratories.”
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By GlobalDataPfizer’s metaverse and the question of accessibility
For Pfizer, immersive technology is about the accessibility and scale of training opportunities, which it aims to improve in lung oncology diagnostics through its virtual laboratory.
Developed by Cassette and available to healthcare professionals (HCPs) via its portal, Pfizer Pro, the laboratory is a high-resolution virtual imitation of a real laboratory in which users can follow ‘breadcrumbs’ that guide them through different rooms and equipment.
“It is based on physical environments, so people do understand how to move about it and how to explore,” explains Taylor. “It’s very intuitive.”
The layout is interactive, offering pop-up information associated with the relevant virtual equipment, with integrated quizzes to solidify learning. Gamified in its presentation, the laboratory has been designed specifically for HCPs, with consideration of the different demographics within the field.
Discussing how the VR world of the metaverse must cater to its users, Tony Hogben, immersive lead at Pfizer digital omnichannel services and solutions, tells Medical Device Network: “You have younger people – the Minecraft generation are now joining the working world – and they are used to this type of experience in which they can move around a virtual space. However, we also have people closer to retirement who maybe don’t have that native ability to access this type of content. Making it accessible for both ends of that spectrum is really important.”
He adds that it is not only access in the virtual world which has been considered. Immersive technology is often considered to be synonymous with headsets, which may not be available to many HCPs. As such, the laboratory has been designed to be accessed on a variety of terminals, including laptops, desktop computers and mobile phones. It solves an expensive and logistical barrier to training, says Taylor.
“Traditionally, the way that they promoted best practice in this field is by flying specialists from all over the world to come to a laboratory and to walk them around and show them face to face what best practice looks like,” he explains.
“That is absolutely the best way of doing training, but it’s expensive. It takes a lot of time, a lot of coordination of diaries, and requires the use of a laboratory environment as well.”
Pfizer sees cost-saving potential in the metaverse
Training represents a huge financial expense within oncology. Cancer Research UK reports that, on average, it costs £140,000 ($170,000) to fund a non-clinical PhD student through a three to four-year training programme, while funding the running of its research base, Cambridge Institute, costs almost £45m annually.
Hogben suggests that, by embracing the metaverse, Pfizer’s virtual offering provides more professionals access to training for a fraction of the price.
“In-person training is always going to be the best option if it’s if it’s achievable, but it’s expensive and it’s logistically hard,” he says. “The number of people you can train, or that you can engage with, is limited. Virtual training opens the door and makes, the content more inclusive, more accessible.”
VR environments also offer more bang for their buck, thanks to the option of continual revision and review. HCPs are also able to repeat training to improve their understanding, or to remind themselves of key information.
“It allows people to pre-learn and repeat,” adds Hogben. “If we say that you can get 70% knowledge retention through doing a virtual immersive experience, but you can do that over and over again, it becomes a case of rinse and repeat. You have all the benefits of in-person training but amplified.”
Where is the demand for VR in healthcare?
VR is proving its potential in efficiency, offering increased accessibility in the face of tight budgets and geographical challenges. However, the potential use cases span beyond immersive training environments.
A 2023 report by GlobalData points to virtual therapy and telehealth as two areas set to benefit. It offers the example of GameChange, a service developed by the University of Oxford, which uses VR to treat psychosis using digital therapeutics. Elsewhere, startup DeHealth is responsible for creating an AR- and VR-integrated decentralised metaverse via which doctors and patients can interact.
Considering Cassette’s insights on emerging applications, Taylor points to examples in the medical device field.
“We work with companies who make devices and are looking for better ways to train buyers in how to use the devices,” he says. “It varies from VR through web-based, interactive training and it’s a cost saver for them because it saves the expense of sending someone out.”
Yet, on the question of training, it is not only Pfizer that has seen the potential of VR and the metaverse. Among Cassette’s other clients is Baxter, which the company worked with to develop a 3D digital twin of the PRISMAX 2 machine, responsible for Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy (CRRT) in critically ill patients in the ICU. Using VR headsets, HCPs are trained on the equipment, engaging with a replicated version of the machines’ user interface, physicality, and functionality.
Will the metaverse winter thaw?
Despite GlobalData’s assertion that “cooling interest, economic obstacles, and the immaturity of enabling technologies resulted in a metaverse winter in 2023”, there appears to be a healthy metaverse market bubbling under the surface.
According to Pfizer’s Hodges, the metaverse is only playing dead, but the cooling-off period has been beneficial for developers.
“I think pronouncing the metaverse dead is great because it’s just part of the usual hype cycle,” he says. “Everything has its initial hype, then it dies, then we build it. Last year, everybody was interested in the metaverse. That’s not the case anymore, meaning that we have the space to work on the fundamental technologies and foundations we need to put in place.”
Despite the breathing space, questions about immersive technology remain. Companies must balance technological advancements with accessibility for all demographics, and the financial savings associated with virtual learning with the benefits of in-person study.
As the sector develops, Hodges thinks the future is bright enough to thaw the metaverse winter.
“As a healthcare solution, it absolutely makes sense,” he argues. “We learn by doing. There are lots of great studies on immersive learning and immersive experiences, and how effective they are for knowledge retention. It is obviously where we go, but how do we activate that?”
