Doctor’s Orders: Use This App

Nearly a decade ago, Corey McCann, a PhD-MD and McKinsey wonk turned serial entrepreneur, was intrigued by the formative concept of software-as-a-drug: a prescription program that collects data and helps modify behavior to heal patients. The thing was, no program like that existed. “What was missing,” McCann says, “was a hybrid company that was able to execute with the rigors of a pharmaceutical company and the agility of a tech company.”

So, in 2013, he founded Pear Therapeutics—the first such company to get to market. Its reSET-O is a prescription app that delivers a series of interactive therapy lessons including a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) component, fluency training exercises, and contingency management for those taking buprenorphine to recover from opiate addiction. (Pear’s reSET works on other substanceabuse disorders.) Patients download Pear’s app and use it to check in with clinicians, get guided through therapy sessions, report cravings or relapses, or get reinforcement for staying clean.

Software-as-a-drug may seem a little hard to swallow, so McCann frames it this way: “Think about CBT as the active ingredient.” ReSET-O was approved by the FDA as any drug is: through randomized clinical trials. Those tests showed that reSET-O is more effective at helping those with addictions than medication and therapy alone. Pear’s next product is for chronic insomniacs, and the company and big-pharma partner Sandoz now face another issue: getting insurers to pay for a prescription that isn’t a medication. “We are building a novel business,” says McCann. “We expect to have novel problems.”