Stockholm-based Alex Therapeutics AB is joining forces with pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. to roll out digital therapies to patients in Germany. The partnership will utilize Alex Therapeutics' Alex DTx platform for nicotine addiction in Germany. The platform combines cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy with artificial intelligence (AI) to create treatments for a wide range of psychiatric and somatic disorders.
Investor appetite for digital mental health technologies is expected to continue in 2022, although startups will face the challenge of standing out from competition. Venture capital firm Rock Health reported funding for digital mental health startups was the top-funded therapeutic focus in 2021, with $3.1 billion raised by the end of Q3. Key trends are emerging, as investors seek companies addressing complex mental health conditions.
Ieso Digital Health Ltd. raised £39 million (US$52.5 million) in financing to develop new tools for its digital cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) service. Investment firm Morningside led the series B round with Sony Innovation Fund and existing shareholders IP Group, Molten Ventures and Ananda Impact Ventures also participating. Ieso’s digital platform connects users to mental health practitioners for text-based therapy.
The Scottish government has signed a deal with digital therapeutics company Big Health Inc. to make a cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) platform for anxiety and insomnia available through the NHS. It makes Scotland the first country to provide a digital therapeutic for anxiety and insomnia nationally.
The Ernst & Young Pulse of the Industry 2021 report outlined several ways med-tech companies can benefit from fundamental changes in business wrought by the pandemic to build a stronger foundation for the future. While the need for more agile supply chains and the drive to measure social and environmental impact as well as financial metrics have affected all economic sectors, COVID-19 transformed the med-tech industry in specific ways that could have long-lasting impact.
Calpro AS and Ampersand Health Ltd. are combining technologies to provide a self-management and remote monitoring solution for people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The partnership will integrate Oslo, Norway-based Calpro’s smart biomarker test with Ampersand’s digital therapeutic app My IBD Care. The companies said the collaboration could help reduce the administrative burden of IBD patient care.
Limbix Health Inc. released data demonstrating a 21% remission rate and 29% response rate for Sparkrx, its prescription digital therapeutic, in adolescents who completed the program as recommended. The company presented study results on Oct. 8 at the 2021 American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference in San Francisco.
Reports of increased alcohol use began early in the pandemic and, with many counseling services and physicians’ offices closed or more difficult to access, therapists worried that an increasing number of patients with substance use disorders would be unable to find effective treatment. In that gloomy setting, San Francisco-based Woebot Labs Inc. reported cheering news in the October issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
Cureapp Inc. is ready to take the next step for its digital therapeutic app (DTA) for hypertension, after completing a late-stage clinical trial and publishing the results. The company said it is the first global trial for a therapeutic app, conducted to seek regulatory approval in the field of hypertension.
Better Therapeutics Inc. has closed on a $50 million debt facility that advances the company’s push into the market for digital therapeutics for type 2 diabetes, a market that seems poised to expand drastically in the next few years. The $50 million debt facility by Hercules Capital is just one of several important financial benchmarks for Better, which is also planning to go public thanks to a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that may raise well in excess of $100 million, all of which seem to promise a bright future for Better and those with type 2 diabetes.
