Are the suddenly popular digital therapies and digital medicines really reliable...

Data shows that by 2021, nearly 30 DTx products have been approved by FDA and other authorities

Domestic companies have also made new breakthroughs in the field of digital therapy

However, compared with the popularity of digital therapy in the international market, digital therapy in China is still in its infancy

What is the use of joining DTA?

The first batch of Chinese digital health companies that were certified by DTA and officially joined as members.

“First of all, the digital therapy products we have made are serious medical-grade software products supported by evidence-based medicine, which have been validated in specific application scenarios

Secondly, digital therapy that is truly approved by the DTA also requires clear clinical indications, real application scenarios, and clearer payment methods

Wan Ma, general manager of Weimai AI Digital Therapy Center, also expressed similar views to Luo Xiaobin

Wanma believes that three of them are the most critical in the Chinese medical environment, that is, digital therapy is a software-driven medical intervention method that requires the protection of patient privacy and safety protection, as well as best practices for application product deployment, management and maintenance

How to realize digital therapy?

In July 2017, the US FDA approved the first digital therapy treatment plan for clinical use

In this area, China's digital medical innovation companies are also following closely

In this regard, Wanma told the health industry that with the development of AI and big data technology, drugs are no longer the only measurement standard and intervention method for treating diseases.

"Patients may not only get medicines based on the prescriptions issued by doctors, but may also include a certain mobile phone APP or a combination of software and hardware products, such as artificial intelligence diagnostic systems, patient remote monitoring systems, digital biomarkers, etc.

Wang Yu, executive director of Baidu Capital, also agrees with Wanma’s view from the perspective of investors, “Weimai is a late-stage company whose business model has been verified and is constantly being replicated.

In terms of commercialization, Myohealth's solution path is to closely integrate with commercial insurance
.
"With the help of the advantages of high-frequency interaction between health management and customers, we use data as the starting point, and through the integration of medicine and insurance resources, we have created a closed-loop service of'health-medicine-medicine-insurance', providing insurance companies with intelligent Two cores to innovative health insurance design and other business empowerment, through the "digital therapy" to provide accurate active health intervention services to non-standard users such as diabetes, hypertension, etc.
, it has also played a positive role in interactive insurance policies and medical insurance control fees
.
" Luo Xiaobin said
.

It can be verified in the field of commercialization, and it is also one of the criteria used by DTA to measure whether relevant companies can join
.

Yuanyi Capital Investment Director Song still told the health industry, "Digital therapy has emerged in the context of the general environment, and we believe that the reconstruction of traditional medical care by digitalization will inevitably occur
.
"

However, compared with the people in charge of startups in the industry, who are full of confidence, as an investor, Song is still very calm
.
She told the health industry that there are not many precedents for the verification of the digital therapy business path in the global field.
The business model of digital therapy will be very different from traditional drugs and devices, and industry practitioners need to further practice verification
.

Capital bubble may emerge

Compared with the United States, China also has some urgent problems in digital therapy
.

For example, Luo Xiaobin thinks that patient education is a problem that needs to be solved urgently
.
"In terms of patient compliance, digital therapy requires patients to spend a certain amount of time on the product to accept, and a certain improvement effect can be achieved after a period of use.
Therefore, user and market education still needs more time
.
"

In fact, the emergence of the above problems is also a sign that the domestic digital therapy industry is still in its infancy.
How to solve these problems in the future will also be the responsibility of the first batch of Chinese companies to join the DTA
.

It is worth mentioning that although China's digital therapy industry is still in its infancy, good news continues
.
In November 2020, an APP product called Shukang developed by Chengdu Shangyi Information Technology Co.
, Ltd.
was officially approved by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA).
This is also the first "digital drug" approved in China
.

Investment institutions with a keen sense of market have already followed up quickly
.
Public information shows that Bosten Technology, which focuses on digital screening and intervention for Alzheimer's disease, has recently completed a round of nearly 100 million yuan in financing, led by Jinshajiang Ventures and Boyuan Capital, with Changling Capital as a follow-up investment; and Wangli Technology, which focuses on psychiatric digital therapy, has received tens of millions of investment from well-known funds such as Hainer Asia Venture Capital Fund SIG and Changling Capital
.

For the practical value of digital therapy, the industry has formed a basic consensus
.
Regarding its future development prospects, Luo Xiaobin said that the emergence and development of any new things will attract the interest of relevant parties in the industry, which is a trend of healthy development of the industry
.
With the blessing of capital, there may be some bubbles in the entire industry in the future
.

"The development of digital therapy in China requires good coins in the industry to continuously drive out bad coins
.
" Luo Xiaobin emphasized that in the process of industry development, a group of capable and responsible companies will surely emerge to participate in the underlying R&D and clinical effectiveness.
Verification of sexual data, exploring business models that are truly beneficial to patients and valuable to the medical and health field
.

Song still told the health sector that the existence of bubbles is inevitable
.
"But no matter how the industry cycle changes, creating value for patients and doctors is the foundation of an enterprise
.
"

Wang Yu also expressed the same view.
He said that although digital therapy does not rule out the generation of bubbles, after the bubble subsides, only truly valuable and capable companies will survive
.

In fact, the blessing of capital also has a strong positive guiding effect
.
"Because of the late start of digital therapy in China, there is a cognitive gap in the cooperation of purely technical or pharmaceutical talents with a single background, leading to communication barriers.
Therefore, the industry as a whole still lacks a deep understanding of both the medical and digital fields.
Compound talents
.
” Luo Xiaobin believes that the influx of capital and hot money may solve the problem of insufficient talent supply
.
In the case of increasing industry attention, capital can help companies attract more outstanding talents and promote better development of the industry
.

Now is an era of slow work and meticulous work.
If relevant cutting-edge technology companies want to harvest results in the medical industry, they all need to go through a long groundbreaking period
.
Based on this, Wanma believes that digital therapy companies must also be able to endure loneliness, and may not make money in a short period of time, but this is temporary.
As long as the development direction and the selected track are correct, it will definitely usher in The harvest is only in time
.