About:
Digital Therapeutics (DTx) is a new subsection of digital health that strives to directly deliver therapies to treat psychological and medical conditions through the use or interaction with software technology. The purpose of digital therapeutics is to mirror effective existing treatments, amplify care by using technology to scale to a large patient population, improve patients’ behavior or functioning, and reduce the cost of care.
Digital therapeutics typically fall within three categories:
- Behavior Management – Products that assist patients in making behavioral changes that lead to improved clinical outcomes. Typically in the form of a mobile app that delivers an evidence-based therapy and sometimes including a coaching component
- Chronic Condition Management – Digital solutions that help manage, monitor, and prevent events for patients with or at-risk for chronic health conditions, such as diabetes, asthma, COPD, cancer, and dementia
- Medication Adherence – Digital solutions that can help patients with medication management, drug adherence, prescription management, and pharmacy or medication tracking
Many digital therapeutics companies, including Dthera Sciences, incorporate evidence-based cognitive-behavioral therapies (CBTs) into their products. CBT is a widely used form of psychotherapy that seeks to identify, challenge, and modify dysfunctional behaviors and thoughts, and as a result to improve patient functioning and influence behavioral changes.