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Patients with long-term chronic conditions and rare diseases are looking for safe, novel, and evidence-based digital treatments in their pursuit to reduce dosages and reverse triggers of adverse events. Payers and providers are looking for legitimate alternatives to expensive medication for their patient population. Life sciences (LS) companies are trying to enhance patients’ treatment experiences and find new biomarkers that aid drug discovery in the long run.

Digital therapeutics (DTx) companies are working with LS to diversify their pipelines by adding new indications addressing unmet needs. Most digital health technologies have long suffered for not being able to systematically prove clinical efficacy of their solutions via peer-reviewed reports. Thus, they have never secured the unique distinction of being a regulated and “prescription-grade” digital treatment plan that guarantees improved patient outcomes and comprehensive reimbursement at the same time.

Convergence of biopharma & healthtech, traditionally two different IT workflows, will play a major role in the shift toward integrated patient management. Patient-centric digital health vendors have strived for a business model that allows physicians to recommend their products, patients to use them for a defined period of time (without fail), caregivers to monitor outcomes 24/7, and payers to reimburse the cost of usage. DTx companies partnering with LS companies provide the best way of getting access to patients for scalability, apart from risk-sharing agreements.