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 digital therapeutics market has surged during the pandemic and looks likely to markedly change health care long after the current crisis abates. The need for distance, limited in-person appointments, increased stress and mental health issues, and a more relaxed U.S. FDA approach have created the ideal environment for the rollout of therapies patients can use from home on their own time. Increasingly, clinical trials demonstrate the effectiveness of the new options and users praise the convenience.
Big Health’s digital therapeutic Sleepio may not only improve insomnia but also reduce symptoms of depression, a study to be published Aug. 19 in the Journal of Sleep Research shows.
More than 70% of individuals using Big Health’s newest digital therapeutic, Daylight, achieved remission of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) within 10 weeks, and the benefit persisted for at least six months, according to results published in Depression and Anxiety.