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Digital therapy(DTx)It is becoming the darling of the global medical and health industry in recent years。
By 2021, nearly 30 DTx products have been approved by authorities such as the FDA。
Domestic companies have also made new breakthroughs in the field of digital therapy。Recently, by the International Digital Therapy Alliance(Digital Therapeutics Alliance, DTA)Academic committee review，Including Miao Health, micro pulse and Suyu Medical and other enterprises officially passed the academic defense，Become the first Chinese enterprises to obtain DTA certification，This marks a key step in the development of the domestic digital therapy field，It also indicates that，The international digital therapy industry began to recognize the business model, technical ability, academic ability and other aspects of the domestic digital therapy platform。
However, compared with the popularity of digital therapy in the international market, China's digital therapy is still in its infancy。Luo Xiaobin, senior vice president and chief medical officer of Miaohealth, told the health community that the participation of Chinese enterprises in DTA means that the exchange of experience in the field of digital therapy at home and abroad can be strengthened, providing references for industry development and policy improvement。
What's the point of joining a DTA？
The first Chinese digital health companies to be certified and officially joined as members by the DTA have won the recognition of the DTA with what？
"First, the digital therapy products we do are serious medical grade software products supported by evidence-based medical evidence, and their effectiveness has been verified in specific application scenarios.。Wonderful Health collaborates with the Canadian Institute for Chronic Disease Innovation，Based on 25 years of successful experience in chronic disease management at the Canadian Health Management Centre，The management paths and service paths of different chronic diseases are upgraded digitally，On this basis，It also cooperates with domestic experts in related fields，Make our chronic disease management model more localized。Luo Xiaobin explained that Miaoke Health's digital therapy is an upgrade on its original mature digital health management solutions。
Secondly, the digital therapy that is truly recognized by the DTA also needs to have clear clinical indications and real application scenarios, as well as a relatively clear payment method。Luo Xiaobin said that the advantage of Miaohealth is that "our digital therapy products have been organically combined with commercial insurance, and found a relatively clear payer, proving its actual effectiveness in commercial application scenarios.。”
Wanma, general manager of Micropulse AI Digital Therapy Center, also expressed a similar view to Luo Xiaobin。He told the health sector that the current problem facing China's digital therapy companies is how to land the product。The International Digital Therapy Alliance has summarized ten basic principles for digital therapy products in five aspects: the core value of digital therapy, product design and development, product safety and maintenance, clinical validation, and regulatory oversight。
According to Wanma, three of them are most critical in China's healthcare environment, namely, digital therapy is a software-driven medical intervention that requires patient privacy and security protection, as well as best practices for application product deployment, management and maintenance。These three are the high and low dividing lines for digital therapy product entrepreneurs to enter the threshold, and also the watershed to measure whether a company can join the DTA。
How to monetize digital therapy？
In July 2017, the US FDA approved the first digital therapy for clinical use。Since then, digital therapy, as a new digital health solution, has begun to enter the public's vision。
In this area, China's digital health innovation companies are also following suit。One question that needs to be answered, however, is how the products developed by digital therapy companies will be monetized compared to traditional therapeutic drugs？
In this regard, Wanma told the health industry that with the development of AI and big data technology,Drugs are no longer the only measure and intervention means to treat diseases, the medical model has gradually changed from the biomedical model to the health medical model, and the core goal has changed from "treatment-centered" to the establishment of whole-life cycle health management servicesAnd this health management service will also be the ultimate path to micropulse commercialization。
"According to the doctor's prescription, the patient may not only get drugs, but also may include a mobile phone APP or a combination of hardware and software products.Such as artificial intelligence diagnostic systems, patient remote monitoring systems, digital biomarker devices, etc., the purpose is to achieve health promotion。"Wan Ma said for example。
Wang Yu, executive director of Baidu Capital, also agrees with Wanma's view from the perspective of investors, "Micro pulse is a company in the medium term, its business model has been verified, and is constantly replicating, currently under the blessing of digital therapy, the speed of development is more rapid, which is also the reason for Baidu Capital C+ round of lead investment.。"Wang Yu told the health community。
In terms of commercialization, the solution path of Miaohealth is to closely integrate with commercial insurance。"We take advantage of the high frequency interaction with our customers through health management，Use data as a starting point，By integrating medical and insurance resources，To create a "health - medicine - medicine - insurance" service closed loop，It provides insurance companies with business capabilities ranging from intelligent two-core to innovative health insurance design，Through "digital therapy" to provide accurate active health intervention services for non-standard users such as diabetes and hypertension，It also plays 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 one of the criteria for DTA to measure whether relevant enterprises can join。
Song Still, investment director of Yuanyi Capital, told the health sector, "Digital therapy is rising in the context of the environment, and we believe that the reconstruction of digital for traditional medical care will inevitably occur.。”
However, compared with the confidence of people in charge of entrepreneurial enterprises in the industry, Song is still calm as an investor。She told the health community,At present, there are not many precedents for digital therapy business paths to be verified in the global field, and the business model of digital therapy will be very different from that of traditional drugs and devices, requiring further practice and verification by industry practitioners。
Capital bubbles may emerge
Compared with the United States, China also has some urgent problems in digital therapy。
For example, Luo Xiaobin believes that patient education is an urgent problem to be solved。"In terms of patient compliance, digital therapy requires patients to spend a certain amount of time on the product to accept, and after a period of time to play a certain improvement effect, so user and market education 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, and how to solve these problems in the future will also be the responsibility of the first Chinese enterprises to join the DTA。
It is worth mentioning that although China's digital therapy industry is still in its infancy, the good news continues。In November 2020, an APP product named Zhukang developed by Chengdu Shangyi Information Technology Co., Ltd. was officially approved by the National Drug Administration (NMPA), which is also the first approved "digital drug" in China.。
Investors with a keen sense of the market are already quickly following suit。Public message display，Bosten Technology, which focuses on the digital screening and intervention of Alzheimer's disease, has completed A round of financing of nearly 100 million yuan，The investment was led by GSR Ventures and Boyuan Capital，Changling Capital investment;Wangli Technology, which focuses on psychiatric digital therapy, has received tens of millions of yuan of investment from well-known funds such as SIG and Changling Capital, Haina Asia venture Capital Fund。
There is a basic consensus in the industry about the practical value of digital therapy。For its future development prospects, Luo Xiaobin said that the generation and development of any new things will attract the interest of relevant parties in the industry, which is a healthy development trend of the industry。With the support of capital, there may be some bubbles in the entire industry in the future。
"The development of digital therapy in our country requires the good money in the industry to constantly drive out the bad money.。Luo Xiaobin stressed that in the process of industry development, there will be a number of strong and responsible enterprises to participate together, concentrate on the bottom research and development and the verification of clinical effectiveness data, and explore the business model that is really beneficial to patients and valuable to the medical and health field。
Song also told the health community that bubbles are inevitable。"But no matter how the industry cycle changes, creating value for patients and doctors is the foundation of the company.。”
Wang Yu also expressed the same view, he said that although digital therapy does not rule out the emergence of bubbles, but after the bubble subsides, only truly valuable and capable enterprises will survive。
In fact, the blessing of capital also has a strong positive guiding effect。"Due to the late start of digital therapy in China, there is now a cognitive gap between pure technical talents or medical talents with a single background leading to communication barriers, so the industry as a whole still lacks compound talents who have a deep understanding of both medical and digital fields.。Luo Xiaobin believes that the influx of capital hot money may solve the problem of insufficient talent supply。In the case of increasing industry attention, capital can help enterprises attract more outstanding talents and promote the better development of the industry。
Now is a slow work out of the era, the relevant cutting-edge technology companies, in order to harvest results in the medical industry, need to go through a long period of ground breaking。According to Wama,Digital therapy companies must also withstand loneliness, may not make money in a short period of time, but this is temporary, as long as the direction of development and the choice of the track is correct, will usher in the harvest, just in time。 | 
