Primary care doctors in England have been told by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to prescribe a digital therapeutic instead of sleeping tablets for patients suffering with insomnia. Sleepio, an app developed by London-based Big Health Ltd. that uses an algorithm to provide personalized cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), could benefit up to 800,000 people, according to NICE. It is recommending use of the app as an effective alternative to drugs such as zolpidem and zopiclone, after weighing evidence from 28 studies, including 12 randomized controlled trials.
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.