UK partnership aims to support NHS use of depression app

Otsuka has teamed up with one of the innovation arms of the NHS to explore how a digital therapeutic (DTx) for major depressive disorder (MDD) could be deployed within the health service.

The alliance with Health Innovation Oxford & Thames Valley (Oxford HIN) is focusing on CARE for MDD, an app-based DTx co-developed by Otsuka and digital health specialist Click Therapeutics. It is an adapted version of a DTx that was recently approved by the FDA in the US under the Rejoyn brand.

Alongside Oxford HIN, Otsuka will monitor patient and healthcare practitioner feedback on the real-world use of CARE for MDD, which combines a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) course with a cognitive-emotional training method, known as Emotional Faces Memory Task (EFMT), and personalised text-based notifications.

With EFMT, subjects are asked to identify an emotion displayed in a series of faces, and for each face they are asked to identify the number of faces earlier in the series in which they saw the same emotion. The objective of the approach – which has been validated in clinical trials – is to tackle an imbalance in activity within certain regions of the brain that has been linked to MDD.

CARE for MDD contains the same core therapeutic components as Rejoyn in the US, but it is not the exact same product as it was specifically developed for the purposes of piloting in England, said a spokesperson. It therefore has some different features tailored to the market and to ensure it meets the requirements for both UKCA marking as a medical device and for implementation in the NHS.

The pilot study will take place at four primary care sites in England – Chineham Medical Practice, Camrose, Gillies & Hackwood (CGH) Partnership, Haxby Group, and St Bartholomew & Hollow Way Medical Practice – with discussions on the go to expand it to other practices.

Overall, the aim is to "inform plans" for the adoption of this type of therapy within other NHS sites, according to the partners.

"Depression is a significant challenge for the NHS in England, representing a substantial portion of the overall disease burden and affecting millions," commented James Rose, director of strategic and industry partnerships at Oxford HIN.

"Collaborating with Otsuka enables us to pioneer new treatments and approaches that have the potential to improve the landscape of care for those living with depressive disorders," he added.

Otsuka and Click Therapeutics have been working on DTx projects since 2019, and the MDD app is the first to emerge from that $300 million alliance. A US clinical trial of the DTx met its primary endpoint, with a significantly improved mean change over six weeks in the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) total score compared to a sham control app.