Silicon Valley and Digital Therapeutics Vow to Go Beyond the Pill. But Is It Worth the Price? #hcsmeufr #esante
What if an app could replace a pill? That’s the big question behind an emerging trend known as “digital therapeutics.” The idea: software that can improve a person’s health as much as a drug can, but without the same cost and side-effects.
Digital therapeutics, or “digiceuticals,” as some call them, have become a Holy Grail in some quarters of Silicon Valley, where investors see the chance to deliver medicine through your smartphone. Andreessen Horowitz, the venture firm, even predicts digital drugs will become “the third phase” of medicine, meaning the successor to the chemical and protein drugs we have now, but without the billion-dollar cost of bringing one to market.
About a dozen startups now call themselves digital therapeutics providers, and say they’re distinct from the rest of the digital health market of activity monitors, smart scales, and sleep trackers.
To distinguish themselves from “wellness” gadgets, digital therapeutics companies tend to carry out clinical tests and sometimes seek regulatory approvals –one company, Welldoc, offers a prescription-only version of its BlueStar phone app for managing diabetes, which it terms the “first FDA-cleared mobile prescription therapy.” But unlike drugs, digital therapeutics don’t usually need approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, since often they promote lifestyle or dietary changes that are deemed to be low-risk.
Whether a digital therapeutic involves a tracking sensor or coaching though an app, the biggest question is whether they provide a distinct, measureable medical benefit. One startup calling itself a digital therapeutics company is Virta Health, based in San Francisco. The company raised $37 million in March. Its goal is to actually “reverse” diabetes without drugs or surgery using online coaching to get people on a special diet high in fats and low on carbs. It has a study by Indiana State University to back up the claim—about half of the 262 people with type 2 diabetes enrolled in a 10-week trial were able to reduce their blood glucose levels to non-diabetic ranges.
Some digital companies are already allying with pharmaceutical makers. One, Propeller Health, inked a deal with GlaxoSmithKline for what it calls a “digitally guided therapy” platform (read “GSK #pharma Propels Ahead by Targeting COPD Adherence with IoT Inhaler”; http://sco.lt/8vnt8z). The approach combines Glaxo’s asthma medications with sensors, made by Propeller, that patients attach to their inhalers to monitor when they’re used. Patients who get feedback from Propeller’s app end up using the medication less often.
Some drug company executives remain skeptical. Robert Plenge, vice president at Merck’s research labs, had to look up “digital therapeutics” when asked whether they were important. “I don’t totally understand what you mean,” he says. “Which might in and of itself be your answer.” Plenge doesn’t think the idea would have much impact on drug development and questioned whether digital companies will be able to prove their offerings are worth the price.
Further Reading:
“Will Silicon Valley Startups & Empowered Patients Replace #BigPharma?”; http://sco.lt/9FmPDN“AMA CEO Calls Out Medical Apps as ‘Digital Snake Oil’"; http://sco.lt/8zuIld“Silicon Valley & Pharma