Episode 15: App vs. Pill – Will digital therapeutics transform how we treat medical conditions?

In this episode, Ivan Pandiyan, Vice President of Global R&D at Natus Medical Incorporated, joins us to discuss the evolution of digital therapeutics in contrast to traditional therapeutics. First, we talk about how digital therapy is being used to diagnose and treat diseases and the role of a biomarker in identifying a specific disease. Then we look at the role of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) enabling the environment for research and development of digital therapeutics as an alternative to traditional therapy. Finally, we discuss the success digital therapeutics have had and its future role in the pharma and life sciences industry.

In This Episode, We Cover:

• [02:35] What are digital therapeutics, and how are they different from traditional therapies?
• [04:10] The discovery of digital therapeutics and how do we go about finding and validating the efficacy of digital therapies.
• [08:07] How are regulatory bodies ensuring the safety of digital therapies and what are the guidelines and boundaries established by the FDA?
• [12:50] The role of software, data, and artificial intelligence in enabling digital therapeutics.
• [17:05] The maturity of digital therapeutics and the challenges companies face in development.
• [19:00] The success of digital therapeutics.

Key Takeaways:

• Digital therapeutics are real, and they are the future.
• We will see them either replace or complement traditional therapies.
• Digital therapeutics have the potential to cure diseases without the chemical side effects that come with traditional pharma therapies.
• Digital therapeutics are currently applied in targeted areas. More data will enable further development of the ecosystem and the digital therapy space.