PursueCare brings Pear addiction DTx apps back to life

Two pioneering digital therapeutics (DTx) for addiction are available once again after their original developer Pear Therapeutics was dissolved last year.

The two FDA-approved apps – RESET and RESET-O – have been re-launched by new owner PursueCare, which acquired them as part of a fire sale of Pear's assets after the company declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Both take the form of 12-week cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) courses that help patients trying to recover from their addiction by allowing them to identify the triggers that cause them to relapse and find ways to stop thinking about drug use.

RESET was approved in 2017 for use by people trying to come of various substances – including alcohol, cocaine, marijuana and stimulants – and was a milestone in the digital health category as the first software-only therapeutic to be cleared by the FDA. RESET-O was approved a year later, specifically for those struggling with opioid addiction.

Despite data showing increased retention rates in treatment programmes for people using the apps – and improved abstinence rates in the case of the RESET DTx – Pear struggled to build a commercially viable business from them, blaming challenges in getting reimbursement for DTx treatment in the US healthcare system.

That challenge will now be taken on by PursueCare, a company that provides personalised addiction treatment for individuals across nine states in the US, with an emphasis on remote, telehealth-delivered care delivered via a smartphone app.

"Demonstrated to reduce substance use, increase treatment retention, and reduce overall healthcare costs, the products are positioned to transform addiction treatment," said the company in a statement.

It will initially offer the apps as part of its own addiction treatment programmes, but the plan is to also offer them to other providers.

"At PursueCare, we are driven by the belief that everyone deserves accessible, high-quality care that meets them where they are and stays with them through their journey," said Nick Mercadante, the founder and chief executive of PursueCare.

"Digital therapeutics empower individuals to reclaim control over their health, advancing a new standard of care for chronic substance use disorder," he added.

Pear's assets were acquired by other companies as part of the bankruptcy process by multiple companies.

Harvest Bio – led by former Pear CEO Corey McCann – acquired the two addiction apps, along with various other DTxs intended to treat other diseases, including depression and schizophrenia, for around $2 million. It then sold RESET and RESET-O to PursueCare last December in conjunction with a $20 million fundraising by the new owner.

Nox Health Group paid $3.9 million for assets around Pear's only other FDA-cleared DTx, insomnia treatment Somryst, while Click Therapeutics acquired certain patents Pear holds on DTx development for $70,000 and Welt Corp bought a migraine programme for $50,000.