Pharma

AI, machine learning
By  Tammy Lovell 07:51 am February 16, 2021
Italian startup PatchAi has joined forces with pharma giant Roche to launch a digital solution for patients affected by oncological diseases. PatchAi for Smart Health Companion (SHC) embeds a virtual assistant which engages patients through empathic conversations using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Following a pilot of the platform in July last year, it is now available to...
By  Dave Muoio 03:50 pm February 12, 2021
Digital therapeutics have been plodding on a steady path toward acceptance within healthcare, but the modality reached new heights during a year of unprecedented adoption for digital health technologies. More and more software-based treatments are picking up regulatory approvals – including three De Novo clearances in 2020 alone – while the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exposed more consumers,...
Also: Kaiser Permanente doubles down on the cloud with Accenture and Microsoft; Boehringer Ingelheim arms its reps with BreezoMeter's air quality data.
By  Dave Muoio 02:59 pm February 3, 2021
Highmark, a Blue Cross Blue Shield-affiliated health insurer, will expand access to Freespira's digital therapeutic for PTSD, panic disorder, panic attacks and other panic symptoms. In addition to bringing the treatment to members living in Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia, the agreement will also provide remote coaching on how to use Freespira to those not already receiving support from...
By  Alexandra Mullin and Ian Chiang 01:16 pm January 29, 2021
The alarming scale of the opioid use disorder (OUD) epidemic has resulted in unprecedented human and economic devastation, and there is significant opportunity for digital tools to alter the gold standard of care to one that is ongoing and on-demand. The epidemic has only worsened since the onset of COVID-19, given heightened economic instability, social isolation, disruption to transportation...
COVID-19 Severity Calculator logo
By  Dave Muoio 03:12 pm January 28, 2021
23andMe's new COVID-19 resource. Consumer genomics company 23andMe has released a new interactive tool that allows users to see how various health factors could impact the risk of COVID-19 hospitalization. The COVID-19 Severity Calculator pulls data from the company's COVID-19 study, which included 10,000 participants diagnosed with the disease and 750 who were hospitalized. 23andMe warned that...
By  Skip Fleshman 11:19 am January 22, 2021
Clinical trials have become big news this year amid the search for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. They are a critical component of helping the FDA validate that new drugs and diagnostics will be both safe and effective. Pharmaceutical companies spend over $45B a year running clinical trials, which are, by design, very methodical and measured. Unfortunately, they are also slow, unpredictable...
etectRx
By  Laura Lovett 03:03 pm January 15, 2021
Earlier this week DTx company Pear Therapeutics inked a deal with adherence tool etectRx to potentially develop a product that combines the former’s digital therapeutics with a digital pill offering. As part of the deal the two companies will meet quarterly to discuss potential collaborations with the pharma industry. “Here we are talking about how can we bring this to pharma... we are going to...
Doctor wearing PPE
By  HIMSS Media 03:37 pm January 13, 2021
The current version of PEAR-004, the company's digital therapeutic for schizophrenia
By  Jonah Comstock 01:59 pm January 13, 2021
Novartis has published results from a clinical trial of Pear Therapeutics' new digital therapeutic for schizophrenia, and the results don't paint a rosy picture. The single-blinded 112-person trial found no difference between the Pear app and a placebo app in any outcome measure, including the primary outcome measure of reducing schizophrenia symptoms. However, the trial did further establish the...