Japanese Otsuka-Click Therapeutics collaborate for a depression therapy app
Click Therapeutics has been funded by the US division of Otsuka Pharmaceutical for developing a therapy app that can treat the major depressive disorder.
Click Therapeutics is joining hands with Otsuka America, the US division of Otsuka Pharmaceutical, for developing a digital therapy app to treat MDD (major depressive disorder). Click Therapeutics will be creating a software application and will ensure its commercial deployment through this partnership.
Called CT-152, the new mobile app from Click is supposed to be the new MDD treatment app. According to reports, the app will apply cognitive therapy based on evidence and will use the patient engagement platform by Click in order to provide treatments to patients, sometimes also prescribing pharmacotherapies. The new app aims to be classified as a medical device.
CT-152 is targeted towards people whose mental health problems are untreated, and the app aims to meet their medical needs with digital solutions.
Most of the times, mental health professionals have limited time at their hand for providing cognitive therapy to each and every patient. And because of the shortage of such professionals, many people are left untreated.
The new app by Click aims to resolve this problem.
Otsuka will be funding CT-152 entirely while also commercializing it globally. The company will fund $10m upfront to Click Therapeutics, while a development funding of $20m will also be released. The final $272m will be paid to Click via regulated milestone payments. Apart from this, Click Therapeutics will also receive royalties on the sales of the app and the applications resulting from it.
About Otsuka and Click Therapeutics
Before Otsuka, Sanofi Ventures had shown interest in Click Therapeutics by funding $17 million to the therapeutic developer. Meanwhile, Otsuka itself isn’t new to the digital scenario and has forayed into the digital health industry earlier as well. The company had come up with Abilify MyCite, a drug combined with an ingestible sensor, in order to treat depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.
The FDA-approved digital pill has the ability to communicate with a wearable patch, which transfers data to a smartphone app. This way, patients can track their health and share it with their doctor.
Mental health and digital therapy trends
According to WHO statistics, more than 300 million people are affected by depression every year, and 800,000 suicides occur annually. Popular treatments for MDD include interpersonal therapy, antidepressant medicines, and cognitive behavioural therapy.
The problem is growing bigger due to the shortage of financing as well as trained mental health professionals. Stats reveal that mental health hardly makes up 1-6% of health budgets.
A lot of digital solutions have been developed to tackle this problem, and digital therapies are quickly gaining momentum. It is an area of interest for investors as well as entrepreneurs.
An app developed by Takeda for the Apple Watch monitors depression and has shown impressive results. Also, Akili, a digital health firm, signed a deal with the University of California to acquire exclusive rights to a video game that could be used for therapeutic purposes like improving cognitive functions in neurological and psychological disorders like major depression.
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