STAT+: How digital therapeutics companies are improvising when insurance coverage isn’t guaranteed
Health insurers have been reluctant to cover novel digital therapeutics, forcing the companies marketing them to improvise to stay in business.
For years, the playbook for many companies that wanted to market digital therapeutics was stupid simple: Sell it like a prescription drug.
But just because it was simple didn’t mean it was going to work.
The bankruptcy of Pear Therapeutics last year proved that selling software-based treatments like drugs is harder than anticipated. Pear received Food and Drug Administration clearance for its app treating substance use disorders and insomnia but insurers mostly refused to cover the novel treatments. Even after hitting roadblock after roadblock, the company stuck to its original plan and ended up vaporizing over $400 million in investment before finally throwing in the towel.
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