# A Digital Therapeutic for Pain Relief through AI-Guided Visual Stimulation

> **NIH NIH R43** · DANDELION SCIENCE CORP · 2021 · $319,489

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Dandelion™ was founded in 2020 to develop digital therapeutics for neurologic and psychiatric disorders by
interacting with the brain via the eyes. The goal of this SBIR is to design and test a safe, effective, and non-
addictive pain-relief digital therapeutic in the form of visual stimuli. The platform will use artificial intelligence
(AI) and real-time biofeedback to “read” (decipher) brain signals and “write” to (neuromodulate) the brain with
rapid-changing visual stimuli composed of optimized patterns, colors, and frequencies. This is the first attempt
to use AI-guided visual stimuli as a treatment for pain. In 2017, 11 million of the 191 million prescriptions
written for opioid pain medications were misused, and 35% of opioid-related deaths (nearly 17,000 cases)
were connected to these prescriptions. In the search for safe, effective alternatives, a range of opioid-sparing
interventions have been developed through pharmacologic, clinical, and digitized behavioral platforms but
none has proved fully successful. Dandelion hypothesizes that the complexity and variability of pain demands
a therapeutic approach that mimics the way the brain itself processes and integrates data for pain perception.
Through its novel neuromodulatory platform, using artificial intelligence to parameterize potentially useful visual
information, Dandelion will develop a safe, low-cost digital therapeutic that patients can view on a smartphone
or tablet for immediate pain relief. By correlating stimulus with response across different types of pain,
Dandelion also hopes to build a pain-perception map of wider applicability. In Phase I a prototype AI-guided
platform will be developed that can synthesize novel stimulation combinations and optimize them based on
feedback from an array of biosensors; their efficacy in reducing the perception of induced pain will then be
tested in healthy subjects. In Phase II, Dandelion will develop the prototype into a commercially available
product and test the pain-relief digital therapeutic for efficacy and generalizability in randomized controlled
trials. The commercial opportunity is estimated to be $5.9 billion.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10325724
- **Project number:** 1R43DA054845-01
- **Recipient organization:** DANDELION SCIENCE CORP
- **Principal Investigator:** Adam Hanina
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $319,489
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-01 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10325724

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10325724, A Digital Therapeutic for Pain Relief through AI-Guided Visual Stimulation (1R43DA054845-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10325724. Licensed CC0.

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