NST-spark: developing an augmented reality (AR) digital health intervention for negative symptoms in schizophrenia - schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) are among the most devastating psychiatric…

The National Institute of Mental Health awarded North Shore Therapeutics, Inc., $450,020 on September 1, 2026, under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) to develop NST-SPARK, an augmented reality smartphone application delivering recovery-oriented cognitive therapy via gamified experiences to treat negative symptoms in individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

The award funds a two-phase Phase I project running through August 31, 2028. In the first phase, North Shore Therapeutics will co-develop NST-SPARK version 2.0 in partnership with a lived experience advisory panel over nine months across ten development sprints, producing a 12-week treatment course. In the second phase, the team will conduct a single-arm open-label study with 30 individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders experiencing moderate to severe negative symptoms, administering NST-SPARK v2.0 for 12 weeks and measuring primary outcomes around efficacy in reducing experiential negative symptoms, with secondary outcomes including reduction of defeatist beliefs, functional improvement, user adherence statistics, and qualitative feedback for future product development.

North Shore Therapeutics collaborates with the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research (Northwell Health) and the University of Pennsylvania. Place of performance is Rochester, Minnesota. The assistance type is a project grant.

NST-spark: developing an augmented reality (AR) digital health intervention for negative symptoms in schizophrenia - schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) are among the most devastating psychiatric disorders. Prominent negative symptoms such as low motivation, anhedonia, asociality, and emotional flattening are experienced by up to 60% of individuals with SSD and are often considered to be the greatest contributors to functional disability. Currently, there are no FDA-approved or cleared medications or therapeutics targeting negative symptoms of schizophrenia. In this phase i proposal, north shore therapeutics (NST) is collaborating with the feinstein institutes of medical research (fimr; northwell health) and the university of pennsylvania (penn) to develop a novel augmented reality (AR) therapeutic (NST-spark) targeting negative symptoms in individuals with SSD. NST-spark is a smartphone application that delivers recovery-oriented cognitive therapy (CT-r) via gamified AR experiences to provide experiential learning that dismantles maladaptive beliefs. Preliminary findings suggest that this approach is feasible, acceptable, and may reduce defeatist beliefs associated with negative symptoms. In the first phase of this study, we will CO-develop NST-spark v.2.0 in partnership with a lived experience advisory panel. NST-spark V2.0 will deliver a 12-week course of treatment and will be developed over 10 development sprints spanning 9 months. In the second phase, we will introduce the NST-spark V2.0 to individuals with SSD (n=30) and moderate to severe negative symptoms for 12 weeks in a single-arm open-label study. The primary outcome is the efficacy of NST-spark v.2.0 in reducing experiential negative symptoms. Secondary outcomes include efficacy in reducing defeatist beliefs; efficacy in improving functioning; user statistics quantifying adherence to the prescribed sessions; qualitative, semi-structured feedback to guide future product development. This study will set the stage for FDA-informed phase II trials.