VERTICAL TRENDS
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Image: Natural Cycles
Health Digiceuticals come of age
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020 should be the year in which digital therapeutics, or digiceuticals, move out of the lab and into the real world. Heartcore portfolio companies Natural Cycles and Kaia Health are part of much larger wave of digital solutions looking to augment or replace traditional pharmaceutical products (they include Sleepio for sleep intervention, Meru Health for depression and anxiety, Second Nature — previously OurPath — for weight loss and Quit Genius for smoking cessation, to name a few). Until now, much of the debate has focused on whether it is really possible to deliver quality healthcare solutions through a mobile phone. But healthcare professionals and business leaders are starting to
appreciate the potential, and we think that both employers and consumers will start to formally adopt digiceuticals this year. On the single-player front, the new German reimbursement law makes it significantly easier for approved digiceuticals to get paid for their services, and in the US, major retailers like CVS and Walmart are working on digiceutical marketplaces to deliver digital healthcare services directly to customers.
Online providers are expanding offline while traditional healthcare go digital The field of telemedicine continues to evolve, and is now
crowded with new entrants, including both technology companies and traditional healthcare providers. From the technology side, Babylon and Kry recently raised a respective $550m and $155m to expand their online GP offerings. The online model is also evolving to include onsite clinics. Consumers, payers and regulators want comprehensive healthcare and purely digital services will not satisfy the need for physical interaction with patients. Who will excel in assembling and operating combined online/onsite healthcare networks?
Employers and consumers will start to formally adopt digiceuticals this year
