Category Archives: Virtual Reality

From left: Megan Gianopulos of Apartment People & Tristen Heimann of Luxury Living Chicago Realty

Broker Megan Gianopulos had a set routine whenever a client would walk into her Apartment Peoples office in Lakeview looking for a rental. The two would discuss size and price of apartment and neighborhood, then hop in her car and over the course of a few hours, tour through several properties and areas. She would repeat that a few times a day, every day.

Times have changed.

As Covid-19 has upended the economy and forced several big cities like Chicago into a near lockdown, Gianopulos is now working from home and leading virtual tours.

Before, social distancing was definitely not a part of this job. Like, not at all, she said.

Though real estate services are deemed essential businesses under Gov. J.B. Pritzkers statewide stay-at-home order, Gianopulos clients dont want to see apartments in person, she said. And tenants who now live in those units on the market dont want strangers walking in and potentially exposing them to the virus. While that business has dried up, Gianopulos is still doing some showings in vacant units, but estimates that leasings have dropped by about 50 percent.

Across Chicago, real estate brokers in what is mostly a high-volume, low-margin rental business are now feeling the pain, sidelined during a time when the local apartment market is usually heating up.

Instead of walk-ins or clients pulled from rental websites, brokers must increasingly look to leads from their brokerages marketing teams, then try to close a deal from an online tour. It hasnt been easy, several of them said in recent interviews with The Real Deal.

Following Pritkzers stay-at-home order last week, Luxury Living Chicago Realty suspended all in-person showings. The brokerage which has 30 agents had about half as many showings and lease signings last week before the order compared to the week before. Those numbers are expected to keep dropping.

Luxury Livings director of residential rentals, Tristen Heimann, expects April will see a third of the tours compared to the same time in 2019. Most if not all of those showings will be done virtually, which isnt as conducive for establishing rapport between the agent and their client, he said.

Fewer leads coming in through the brokerages various marketing channels, he said, but the clients who do seek their services are more determined to find a home. Hes closed on two virtual-tour deals in the last week, including one in less than a 24-hour span from introduction to lease signing.

This is the way people will have to find apartments for the foreseeable future, Luxury Living CEO Aaron Galvin said. Pritzkers order extends through April 7.

Despite the many obstacles, there is still demand from renters looking to move in the next two to three months, Galvin said, though he anticipates the slowdown will have a dramatic impact on Luxury Livings revenue.

We believe that, unfortunately, this will probably get worse before it gets better, so the sooner that somebody can get in, the better right now, Galvin said.

Some tenants whose leases are expiring might be able to convince their landlords to let them extend month-to-month, or give them a short-term lease extension, but others will eventually seek out a new apartment.

Pritzkers stay-at-home order did call for a halt on evictions and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said it would suspend all of its foreclosures and evictions through April in response to the pandemic.

Several brokers said they were optimistic that once the virus subsides, business will return to normal and the citys rental market which had been booming will return, bolstered by the recent Downtown job growth.

Heimann said he believes that later in the summer there will be a pent-up demand from renters looking for a change of scenery after staying inside their apartments for so long.

Gianopulos agreed, saying she hopes renters will feel comfortable moving again in June and July, and even busier than she was last summer.

Were trying to get apartments rented, but we all have to be safe, she said. We want to keep our clients safe and keep the current tenants safe, but we still obviously want to secure tenants for landlords. Theres a lot of hurdles at the moment.

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Worse before it gets better: Rental agents adapt to new virtual reality - The Real Deal

Last year, HP announced the Reverb Virtual Reality headset with some fantastic features, including incredible clarity, a wide field-of-view, and more. Based around Windows Mixed Reality, the Reverb was HPs best VR headset to-date. However, that all could change with the release of the companys latest tease that we got a taste of earlier today. In partnership with both Valve and Microsoft, HP is making yet another VR headset, this time aiming to deliver an immersive, comfortable, and compact VR experience that the company claims is a new standard in VR.

Theres not much information out about this headset, at least, not yet. What we know is limited to the little info provided by both the Steam website and the HP landing page. Were told that its a next-generation HP Virtual Reality HMD that was developed in collaboration with Valve and Microsoft. This new headset is said to deliver an immersive, comfortable, and compatible VR experience. According to the Steam website, Its the new standard in VR.

Now, those are some pretty lofty claims. Steam, which is run by and owned by Valve, has its own VR headset, which launched in May of last year. The Valve Index was said to offer best-in-class VR experience with off-ear audio, 120+Hz displays, and more. Its a wonder what this Next-Gen HP VR Headset, as the Steam page calls it, will offer. And, whats left for the Valve Index?

We just saw the release of Half-Life: Alyx earlier today and it opened to much fanfare. So its no wonder that Valve is doubling down on teaming up with hardware partners for new virtual reality headsets in 2020. The big question is: what sets HPs latest headset apart from the rest? Will it be the price? Specs? Something entirely new? Only time will tell what HPs latest headset holds. Im hoping for upgraded screens, better headphones, and wireless connectivity personally.

While we dont have a set timeframe or pricing structure, we can assume that HP will be releasing this headset sometime this year. As for how much itll cost? Well, if the past is the future, then we can expect it to launch at around $600 or so. This is generally what similar headsets launch at, so theres no reason to expect HP to be much different unless they come out of the gate with wireless connectivity to your computer or something along those lines.

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HP teases a new virtual reality headset in partnership with Valve + Microsoft - 9to5Toys

TOLEDO, Ohio A Toledo teacher didn't let coronavirus stop her from taking her students to Washington.

Tammy Edinger teaches 8th grade at Elmhurst Elementary School. She's taken her students to the nation's capital for nearly a decade.

Since they can't physically make the trip this year, she created a virtual trip. The Facebook group she created is full of videos of museums and theaters the students were supposed to visit.

Edinger also encouraged them to post pictures of themselves packing their bags and partaking in the fun.

"I've had to kind of think outside the box on things I can do with them. Lessons and making me think across the curriculum that I didn't have before. It brings out their creativity, Edinger said.

Edinger said she's gotten the attention of other teachers across the country who are now joining in, as well as parents of students who are coming along for the ride.

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Toledo teacher makes trip to Washington a virtual reality - WTOL

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Penn State coach James Franklin sat in a bedroom of a condo somewhere in the U.S. on Wednesday for his first news conference of the spring.

It was unusual, indeed, during these abnormal times.

The seventh-year leader of the Lions would typically hold a question and answer session at Beaver Stadium, or on the practice fields inside and outside of Holuba Hall, at this time of year. As the coronavirus pandemic sweeps across the U.S. and forces college classes online and the cancelation or postponement of almost all athletic events, including spring practice, however, an audible had to be called.

Its how over 50 media members joined a Zoom video call to hear about how the Lions are dealing with no team activities, working out at home, and adjusting to the new normal as things like social distancing and stay at home orders force everyone to find a new way to accomplish tasks that used to be done in person.

Not having spring practice is the focus for our players, but the magnitude of this is much more significant, Franklin said.

This is much bigger than sports and something that the entire world is dealing with, and sports take a back seat to that.

Sports are always at the forefront for some, however, because its an escape from the current reality most face: A deadly disease is affecting millions worldwide, and there is currently no known way to stop it.

Franklin said that team, position, and individual meetings are being held over video conference calls, and the strength staff has talked to each member of the roster to find out what they have access to for workouts at home with most of the countrys gyms closed. Recruiting is taking place in a virtual world, too, and players are adapting to taking online courses.

Its been a scramble, it really has, but this staff has been awesome, Franklin said. "We sent workouts for our guys, whether they are bodyweight workouts, or if they do have weight lifting equipment, knowing exactly what that is and setting a workout for them.

Everything with them being home is all optional for them to do, but all of our guys are very motivated. I liked to be planned and organized for everything. This isnt something we had a plan for.

He isnt alone in that regard, of course. Non-life sustaining businesses are finding solutions for employees to work from home, and those in the medical and science communities are racing to care for an ever-growing number of patients until a cure or at least a medicine to treat the symptoms of COVID-19 are found.

Sports will eventually return to operating how they always have, and college football will be no different. So many of the ramifications are still unknown, though, including whether or not the 2020 season will even take place.

In time, those decisions will be made, but until then, citizens are being urged to stay inside as much as they can. Franklin echoed that message Wednesday and reminded anyone listening that there are bigger issues to figure out at the moment then when the next team meeting will be or when the pads can go back on again and that there are still lessons to be learned.

I think the biggest thing, the way I look at it is, we try and compete in everything we do and right now were in a challenging situation, Franklin said. "The reality is, the most successful people, organizations, and teams are going to handle it the best and come out of it the best. Are we going to be where we would have been before? No, but nobody else is.

Were still competing with all the other top programs in the country, and the best programs and individuals are going to handle this adversity the best. I would like to even flip it in some ways and, if handled the right way, we have an opportunity to learn from this, grow from this, and hopefully come out of this thing stronger and use it as an opportunity to work and grow as a program.

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Penn States James Franklin explains how the Lions are adapting to a virtual reality during the coronavirus p - PennLive

So Art Basel Hong Kong happened last week. But with travel restrictions, curfews and social distancing in place, its organisers abandoned the fairs physical edition: instead, it took place online. According to contemporary art magazine, ARTnews, the galleries that took part in the fair reported steady sales and positive feedback from buyers, despite there being technical glitches because of high traffic when the platform was launched to the public. The online iteration is a sobering remedy to the major disruptions that the coronavirus has wrought on the global art calendar, ARTnews wrote.

With Covid-19 recently reaching South African shores, the local contemporary art scene has slowly begun following suit, beginning with the closure of physical spaces. Last week, the Stevenson art gallery announced that although Thenjiwe Nkosis solo exhibition, Gymnasium, would be on display in its Johannesburg gallery, it would not have a formal opening. The gallery then confirmed that both Stevenson Cape Town and Johannesburg would remain open and operate with a skeleton staff to help with queries, answer phones, and welcome visitors. As well as Gymnasium, the launch of Mawande Ka Zenziles monograph, Uhambo luyazilawula, was also cancelled, after President Cyril Ramaphosa encouraged the public to practice social distancing as a means of hampering the spread of Covid-19.

During an interview about her solo debut, Nkosi mentions how although there were moments of uncertainty about whether to carry on exhibiting work while a pandemic was on the rise she believes that it is important that artists continue to give their art. To ensure that the art gets to the public, Stevenson told the Mail & Guardian that it is looking into teaming up with filmmakers and sharing additional digital content with our mailing lists in order to keep on telling our artists stories.

In addition to video content, a handful of South Africas leading contemporary art spaces are using virtual reality to bring their galleries to remote and isolated audiences. Ive never been busier in my life, sighs Richard Aldous, who, together with Andrew Larsen, co-owns 3D Tours a company that specialises in increasing brands competitive edge by equipping them with digital tools.

Since being set up in 2017, 3D Tours primary service has been creating digital, 3D impressions of existing spaces. The most common type of impression is one created when a space is captured using a sequence of still images or videos. Unlike a conventional video or slideshow of images, this interactive, moving picture continues uninterrupted and allows the viewer navigation agency. Such an impression allows the viewer to take a virtual walk: their view of the space will change as they pan the room.

To execute this, 3D Tours makes use of a 360 camera similar to those seen on the roof of a Google Street View car. When this is complete, the media captured by the camera is placed on an artificial intelligence platform that stitches the 360 imagery or videos together to create the moving, immersive and interactive tour. The artificial intelligence that makes that happen is all housed in Silicon Valley, adds Aldous.

Since its establishment, 3D Tours has developed a rapport with the local contemporary art scene that has seen it working with establishments including BKhz, Absa Art Gallery, the Goodman Gallery, The Bag Factory, Standard Bank Art Gallery, and the annual FNB Art Joburg fair.

Although its work with galleries is what brought 3D Tours to the M&Gs attention, they are only responsible for a portion of its income. The companys other clientele include hotels, lodges, guest houses, schools and retailers. And, during a time where businesses need to find a way of operating under the restrictions of social distancing, 3D Tours biggest clients are galleries and realtors. Apart from galleries, Im expecting a lot of show house days to be cancelled, so I have reached out to a number of estate agents to create virtual show days, Aldous says.

When asked about the safety of 3D Tours employees, Aldous argues that the risk is low because most of the venues that we are scanning are closed to the public or have very few people working on the premises.

As well allowing patrons to immerse themselves virtually in spaces that they cant get to because of self-isolation, 3D Tours can link any web-based content to the virtual tour. In the past few weeks, 3D Tours has developed a way to allow patrons to shop, by linking tours to a shopping cart. Aldous adds that: Its like putting takealot.com together with a mall, from the comfort of your device. This addition, if requested by gallerists, could make it possible for art to be bought online.

Because engagement with Nkosis work doesnt necessarily require a live audience, its easy to assume that social distancing and the use of virtual walkabouts does not have much of an effect on the work of artists such as her. The show will go on and art buyers will still have the opportunity to add her work to their collections whether its through a phone call or the click of a button.

However, Nkosi tells the M&G otherwise. Now that she is focused on painting after working as a teacher and academic who would take on commissions for a number of years an integral part of her practice is engaging patrons about their perceptions. When my work used to involve me engaging the people, it afforded me lateral thinking about how to make social work. Its become too solitary, which is something that I need to shift, said Nkosi.

Theatrical effects

Unlike artists who can use other platforms to attract audiences, virtual reality in South Africa is of no use to theatre practitioners, who still need bums on seats to pay the bills. Last week the chief executive officer of the Market Theatre Foundation, Ismail Mahomed, announced that all activities at the Market Theatre complex in Newtown and the Windybrow Arts Centre in Hillbrow are postponed until further notice. Patrons who have booked for shows can either claim a refund or request their tickets to be deferred to when the government has announced that it is once again safe, said Mahomed.

This includes suspending all contact learning at the Market Theatre Laboratory and the Market Photo Workshop. But since the show must go on, Mahomed says the foundation will shortly announce plans of how [the Market Theatre Foundation] will use livestreaming to continue to keep its audiences engaged. For the time being, it is unclear whether the streaming services will involve a cover charge for audiences who want to tune in.

Even though they werent created with the Covid-19 pandemic in mind, virtual tours almost seem like a perfect response to a widespread demand. As well as making remote engagements with spaces interactive, virtual touring saves time and its geographical reach is unmatched. You can send links globally so people who would otherwise be excluded from seeing a space can now see it, adds Aldous.

But this isnt the only truth. For the most part, online content, such as live-streaming and virtual touring is accessible. However, access to smartphones and the cost of data need to be considered before cultural institutions can start thinking of URL links and .mp4 file attachments as an all-encompassing solution for engaging diverse audiences across the socioeconomic divide.

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Covid-19 and virtual reality: The cultural cost of going online - Mail and Guardian

This month Manus unveiled their latest product: Polygon. Manus Polygon is a full-body VR solution that comes with multi-user collaboration possibilities. With the use of only 5 Vive trackers Polygon generates natural body movement. Enhanced with the Manus gloves which provide finger tracking, the users body integration is more immersive than ever before.

One of the key attributes of Polygon is the possibility for the user to self-calibrate, without any intervention from outside the VR experience. With the requirement of only 5 Vive trackers, setting up the hardware is as easy as it gets. These attributes allow the user to easily step into Polygon. Tracker assignment is done automatically during the calibration. The Polygon IK-system reads the movement of the Vive trackers and calculates the natural body movement of the user.

Polygon comes with multi-user support, either locally or via an existing network. This makes it possible for Polygon users to connect with each other and share their virtual workspace. This system works with a host who runs the simulation allowing guests to join their environment.

A true multiplayer experience is more than just allowing people to see each other. One of the essential features of Polygon is networked object tracking. This feature makes sure all users see object locations in real-time, even when the object is being used by another user. Combined with the multi-user interaction framework that Manus offers, collaborating in virtual reality promises to run smoothly with the use of Polygon. Polygon will be released in June 2020.

Over the years Manus became the industry leader in data gloves development. After the successful release of their Prime series last year, Manus aims to move further and raise the bar in immersive technology development, thus introducing Polygon. Polygon is suitable for a variety of applications, including VR experiences, training and simulation, and virtual collaboration.

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Manus Polygon: Full-body in Virtual Reality - Inceptive Mind

DETAILS ARE CRITICAL in Kerry James Marshalls paintings. In Our Town (1995), the artist portrays a pleasant 1950s-era neighborhood scene. A young boy bikes down a vehicle-free lane with his sister and their dog running alongside him. Wearing an apron, their mother can be seen in the distant background waving from the walkway of a large suburban home with an above-ground pool and swing set in the backyard.

While children at play in a safe neighborhood, blue birds, and enormous rays of sun emphasize the joy and optimism of American idealism, embedded details complicate the scene. Chicago-based Marshall has festooned the trees with yellow ribbons, for example, and sited small, closely clustered homes, in the manner of public housing, adjacent to the familys residence.

The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark., acquired Our Town in 2009 and has created a virtual reality video immersing viewers in the details of the painting. Stepping inside the scene, the contrasting elements are brought to life and the layered depiction can be considered up close.

This grand-scale painting evokes a fantasy of happiness comparable to sitcoms of the 1950s or Thornton Wilders portrayal of the average American family in his 1938 play Our Town, from which Marshall derived his title for the work, the narrator of the video says.

The visual optimism of the image becomes less clear, however, when one considers the yellow ribbons wrapping many of the trees. These suggest the family has a loved one serving in the military and are awaiting this persons homecoming. The strange, abstract areas of overlaid paint and collage across the left side of the canvas, along with the sullen gazes of the children staring at the viewer, also work to undermine the pristine celebration of suburbia.

The visual optimism of the image becomes less clear, however, when one considers the yellow ribbons wrapping many of the trees. The strange, abstract areas of overlaid paint and collage across the left side of the canvas, along with the sullen gazes of the children staring at the viewer also work to undermine the pristine celebration of suburbia.

OUR TOWN IS PART of Marshalls The Garden Project series, his first cohesive body of work. The artist had the image of European pastoral scenes in mind when he conceived the paintings. He reinvented the bucolic settings by casting the scenes with African American families living in public housing. Marshall grew up in Nickerson Gardens, a public housing community in Los Angeles, and has spoken about the desirability of the homes at the time.

When people moved into the projects in the 60s, they really were sort of idyllic places. They were great places to be. People really wanted to be in the projects back then, Marshall said in 2016, during a press preview of Kerry James Marshall: Mastry, his retrospective exhibition at MCA Chicago. He spoke of the normalcy of the communities established by the federal government to provide safe and affordable housing for low-income families. Residents, he said, took pride in maintaining the lawns in front of their homes.

Marshall lived near Stateway Gardens and Wentworth Gardens, two Chicago public housing projects, when he produced The Garden Project series in the mid-1990s. In the exhibition catalog Painting and Other Stuff, he wrote that the communities had been built with utopian notions of beauty and good living in mind, but were unable to maintain the promise of their pastoral-sounding names.

Most of The Garden Project paintings (which have titles such as Better Homes, Better Gardens and Many Mansions) are set directly in the projects and feature prominent signs with the names of the communities portrayed, including Wentworth Gardens, Nickerson Gardens, and Altgeld Gardens.

The series came about after Congressional hearing made plain the failures of public housing, Chicago public housing in particular, which had become synonymous with crime, drugs, and poverty. On May 30, 1995, the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) exercised a federal takeover of the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA). On Sept. 5, 1995, then-HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros stated that CHA oversaw 11 of the 15 poorest communities in the United States.

Marshalls painting draws on art history and explores important cultural and socioeconomic themes undergirding American progress and discrimination. Our Town is displayed in the museums contemporary art collection gallery. With the museum currently closed due to COVID-19, the VR experience provides a unique opportunity to explore the work, nearly first hand. CT

TOP IMAGE: KERRY JAMES MARSHALL, Our Town, 1995 (Acrylic and collage on canvas, 101 x 143 inches / 256.5 x 363.2 cm). | Kerry James Marshall, Collection of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Ark., 2009.3

BOOKSHELFOur Town (1995) is part of Kerry James Marshalls The Garden Project Series. The pivotal body of work is illustrated and discussed in several volumes documenting the artists practice, including Kerry James Marshall: Mastry, which accompanied his 35-year retrospective, Kerry James Marshall: Painting and Other Stuff, Kerry James Marshall, released by Phaidon, and Kerry James Marshall, published by Harry N. Abrams. Kerry James Marshall: History of Painting explores a recent exhibition at David Zwirner Gallery in London.

Just released, a narrated CBVR video invites viewers to step inside Kerry James Marshalls Our Town (1995) painting. | Video by Crystal Bridges Museum

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Virtual Reality Video Invites Viewers to Step Inside the Veiled Ideal of Kerry James Marshall's 'Our Town' Painting - Culture Type

It took less than a week from the publication of Science 37s whitepaper on March 12 encouraging virtual clinical trials to the FDAs decision to endorse the idea, tailored to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was a decision years in the making, one so swift that it surprised the whitepapers author, who said the FDA up to this point had been unwilling to even use the word virtual because its mere mention evoked a feeling that the process was not real.

It speeds up the trajectory were already on, Science 37s Jonathan Cotliar told BioWorld. The basic tacit approval that the regulators are giving us is amazing. Even before the guidance and the whitepaper, we were inundated with sponsors who were desperately trying to help to keep studies on track.

There are plenty of those. Numbers from a recent and ongoing survey from Continuum Clinical, a clinical trials enrollment company, show sites are feeling pressure from COVID-19-related interruptions to recruitment and retention. The concern among U.S. sites jumped 88%, from 25% to 47%, in a mere four days. In Europe, the survey showed, nearly 80% of sites feared their clinical trial enrollment would be negatively impacted.

Others have moved past the fear of delays and into the genuine article. Phathom Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Florham Park, N.J., temporarily paused new patient randomization in its phase III PHALCON-EE and PHALCON-HP trials because of COVID-19-related concerns. The decision, company officials said, was made out of an abundance of caution and not on any COVID-19 infections or safety events. American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy guidance about limiting colonoscopies was part of the rationale, as were governmental travel restrictions.

It was much the same with Provention Bio Inc.s pause in randomizing patients with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes in its global phase III study of teplizumab. Logistics, particularly travel by patients, was a large consideration when making the decision.

We would be asking CRAs and staff to travel as well, Ashleigh Palmer, Proventions CEO, told BioWorld. We just felt it was the prudent thing to do, out of an abundance of caution, a phrase Ive come to love. It just wasnt wise to continue.

The new FDA guidance doesnt affect Proventions decision, Palmer said, but it provided some stability in a constantly shifting clinical trials landscape.

We thought the FDA guidance was great. It was spot on and confirmed our decision in how we think about things, Andrew Dreschler, Proventions chief financial officer, told BioWorld. It was timely and well written.

Current thinking

The guidance, self-labeled as the current thinking of the FDA, offers more alternatives than just conducting trials virtually. Taking into consideration quarantines, site closures, travel limitations for patients and health care workers and supply chain interruptions for the candidates being investigated, the agency comes right out and said its aware that protocol modifications may be required, and that there may be unavoidable protocol deviations due to COVID-19. The document also states clearly in its introduction that it doesnt establish any rights for any person, that its binding on neither the FDA nor the public and that alternative approaches are acceptable if they satisfy applicable statute and regulatory requirements.

It also clearly states that it does not establish legally enforceable responsibilities and should be viewed only as recommendations.

The nine-page document uses the word virtual twice, once when addressing efficacy assessments and once when commenting on safety assessments. The guidance recommends that sponsors consult with the appropriate review division regarding protocol modifications with the appropriate review division.

Regarding efficacy assessments, the FDA notes that use of virtual assessments, delays in assessments, and alternative collection of research-specific specimens should be reviewed with the agency. If efficacy endpoints are not collected, the guidance recommends documenting reasons for the failure.

Patient safety is a priority in the document. If trial participants are not able to visit an investigational site, sponsors are urged to evaluate alternative assessment methods, such as virtual visits and using an alternative location, when necessary and feasible. Sponsors are told to determine if in-person visits are necessary to fully assure participants safety when, for example, carrying out procedures necessary to assess the safety or safe use of the product. The same holds true for making the decision to continue use or administration of the product.

The sponsor should consider whether the safety of trial participants can be assured with the implementation of the altered monitoring approach, the guidance states.

Collecting data at home

Science 37s Cotliar said that since the company was born little more than five years ago, the idea of virtual models for studies were front and center for the company, yet people thought we were nuts. Collect data in the home? You cant do that, were told, and we said, Yes, we can. We can get high-quality data with a site-based model.

Science 37 also recommends leveraging telemedicine-based physician visits, with virtual visits that can include physical exams, facilitated, if necessary, by a mobile research nurse in the participants home. It also points to the facility of at-home nursing visits to replace visits to the clinic by patients. Those visits can then collect blood and biospecimens, monitor vital signs, complete protocol-specified procedures and capture data. Shipping supplies to the patient, as the company recommends, eliminates the risk of patients traveling to research sites.

Circumstances shift rapidly, sometime daily as the pandemic spreads. Cotliar said market adoption of the model has, until now, been slow. Even if the changes are intuitive and common sensical, he added, regulatory agencies still need to have buy-in. Now they do.

The FDA has been progressive over the five years weve been in the business, but theyve never been willing to use the word virtual, he said.

Now that the word has been positively invoked by the FDA, Cotliar said the company has been continually on the phone with trial sponsors, with personnel learning together on the fly what works and what doesnt.

Its all hands on deck to field inbound inquiries, he said. Everybodys scrambling to figure it out. Its less about trial planning and its more about keeping ongoing trials going to ensure patient safety.

Unprecedented level of interaction

Greg Dombal, president and chief operating officer at Halloran, a life sciences consulting company, clearly sees the FDAs urgency in getting new options in front of researchers. In the past, he said, the agency has been slow to act with guidance but in this case he called it spot on timely. He said he is doing the best to protect safety with virtual steps.

I was talking to a client this morning whos doing an oncology study, which can turn into a remote visit, with Facetime or video, can reduce the number of times they come to the clinic, he told BioWorld. The FDA says to document and adjust. Thats a huge help.

Dombal referred to patient and personnel safety as the single biggest challenge to companies and that adjustments, such as virtual visits, were something he would never have imagined while designing a trial would become reality six or even three months ago. The pandemic forced the agencys hand.

Thank god somebody said it, he added.

Dombal said while the guidance isnt the law, the comment period will pass and firm decisions will be made.

We need input. This guidance document allows us to talk as a sponsor. Thats hugely important, he said. Even though the whole public debate before document is final, which might be three or six months, the FDA is putting it into practice today.

If theres a positive aspect to the pandemic and the changes its forcing, he continued, it is the unprecedented level of interaction between sites, CROs, clients and the FDA.

He said he is pleased and inspired to witness the goodness in people, front-line health care workers who are unbelievable and the people who run clinical trials who are up there with them.

Some market analysts also have noted the changes the pandemic is creating.

"Trials that are fully recruited and those involving the critically ill seem likely to go on without too much disruption," UBS analyst Laura Sutcliffe said in a note to clients. "The situation is less clear for other trials, and several companies told us it is too early to tell if there will be any impact."

RBC Capital Markets analyst Brian Abrahams on Thursday wrote that COVID-19 will have a meaningful substantial impact on drug development for biotechs with effects likely to reverberate the remainder of this year and beyond. He recommended that biotechs soften the blow of highly likely clinical study impacts from the pandemic by speaking transparently about potential risks to limit the future downsides as its effects become clearer with the passage of time.

As part of its ongoing coronavirus coverage, BioWorld is tracking the companies that have disclosed impacts to clinical trials.

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Clinical testing and the new virtual reality in time of COVID-19 - BioWorld Online

Mayweather Boxing + Fitness, a group exercise experience created by World Champion boxer Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr., announced the launch of over 135 franchise locations earlier this month.

CEO James Williams spoke with Benzinga about his gyms role in disrupting the fitness industry.

Mayweatheris a retired, undefeated professional boxer whose passion for exercise and self-improvement inspired him to build an impactful health experience, Mayweather Boxing + Fitness.

The Mayweather gyms draw on his more than 20 years of professional boxing experience, codified into programs adapted for the group fitness market.

Its taking an elite athletes workout never shared with anybody and adapting it for a group setting, said the gyms CEO.

The franchise leveraged a powerful group of Mayweather contacts in private equity, business development and fitness to launch flagship branded locations, Williams said.

We had a hugely positive response; the first gym was profitable within threemonths and membership growth was far stronger than forecast."

Mayweather received in excess of 6,000 applications for franchises, due in part to his 70% consumer awareness rate, the CEO said.

In [the first and second quarters] of 2019, something interesting happened, Williams said. We had multi-unit operators of other franchise brands, as well as small venture capital and private equity firms, take on territory development deals.

Early franchise owners understood the economics and long-term growth potential of the business and subsequently helped launch and begin development on over 150 locations, he said.

The fitness centers offer access to programs ranging from high-intensity calorie burn to strength and power training, toning and conditioningmembers at multiple levels of difficulty.

Training options include:

Its more than just a workout. Its where members create friendships and hang out socially. When you do that, you want to stay much longer, not only because of the workout but because of the community you have become a part of, Williams told Benzinga.

Mayweather's plans call for growth outside major urban areas and the launch of an additional 50 studios over the next 12 months, Williams told Benzinga.

The brand hasnt just attracted Mayweather fans, Williams said. Instead, its mostly individuals seeking to separate themselves from traditionally bland workouts available at competing fitness centers.

The brand will also incorporate more technology in its workouts, catering to an emerging trend in the fitness industry, the CEO said.

We have a virtual reality product where members get coached to box by Floyd. We have a 12-week program; you go into the virtual product, and Floyd is there, doing the same pad-work combinations he would do with his father. You can even spar against different opponents, including Floyd.

To learn more about the Mayweather Boxing + Fitness experience, visit mayweather.fit/studio/.

2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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Mayweather Boxing + Fitness CEO On New Locations, Virtual Reality Product: 'It's More Than Just A Workout' - Benzinga

LONDON, ONT. -- Taking a trip to the beach isnt always easy for clients at the Alzheimers Society, but now doing just that can happen without even having to travel.

What we do is empower them with a new tool thats up and coming and maybe not understood to new users, but we make it easy, says Ben Switzer of EXAR Studios.

Switzer heads a project called EXAR Wellness, an initiative through EXAR Studios in London that is using virtual reality to help Alzheimers and dementia patients.

We have a framework by which we use scientific inquiry and understanding to develop experiences for them, says Switzer. At the same time we are providing experiences that exist that we know are healthy to caregivers and making it a tool to make their lives easier.

Staff from EXAR work with various organizations across the city to bring the wellness project to life along with other virtual reality (VR) projects.

One of the most recent projects is called the Joshua Tree, which brings a 3D recreation of the iconic tree to life.

We can take this site, 3D scan it so now we have it like it looked in this moment in time, says Edwardo Platero of EXAR Studios. Also, now we can open this up to fans across the world that may not be able to make this journey to visit this iconic location.

The team took 4,000 individual photos of the site to create the real-life 3D experience

The process is, you just walk around and take a whole bunch of photos in a sequence, says Platero. Then we throw that into a piece of software and it will reconstruct it into a 3D model. Finally, we hand it to our team and they clean it up.

The EXAR team consists of 14 people and continues to grow. The goal is to keep expanding and bringing high-tech 3D and VR experiences to the community and put London on the VR map.

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Using virtual reality to enhance the way we see life - CTV News London