ChristianaCare Offers Prescription Digital Therapeutics for Substance Use Disorders

Delaware-based health system ChristianaCare is offering patients seeking treatment for opioid and substance use disorders access to prescription digital therapeutics (PDTs).

PDTs are a new therapeutic class that uses software to directly treat disease. Like traditional medicines, PDTs are tested in randomized controlled trials demonstrating safety and effectiveness, evaluated and authorized by regulators like the FDA, and used under the supervision of a prescribing clinician^. Unlike traditional medicines, PDTs are designed to collect real-world data for use by prescribing clinicians and for population health management by payors and health systems.

Three-hospital ChristianaCare is providing patients access to Boston-based Pear Therapeutics Inc.’s reSET and reSET-O PDTs through Project Recovery, ChristianaCare’s outpatient program for people with substance-use disorders.

Both products, which are adjunctive to outpatient counselling, provide patients with algorithm-driven cognitive behavioral therapy, fluency training, and contingency management, while clinicians receive access to clinical dashboards to inform in-office and televisits. reSET, which is intended to increase abstinence from a patient’s substances of abuse during treatment and to increase retention in the outpatient treatment program, is used as a monotherapy for patients with substance use disorder. reSET-O, which is intended to increase retention of patients in outpatient treatment, is used in combination with transmucosal buprenorphine for patients with opioid use disorder.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the vital importance of connecting people with substance-use disorder to effective therapies, and ensuring that they have access to these therapies when and where they need it,” said Jolomi Ikomi, M.D., medical director of Project Recovery at ChristianaCare, in a statement. “FDA-authorized prescription digital therapeutics used with complementary therapy are shown to keep patients on the path to recovery. The use of proven software-based therapeutics could provide innovative, convenient and cost-effective care to assist in the fight against addiction.”

Delaware has the second-highest rate of overdose deaths in the nation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Substance and opioid use disorders are chronic, treatable diseases. Staying in treatment is critical for people on their recovery journey. ChristianaCare and Pear said that reSET and reSET-O will give patients a discreet, 24/7 evidence-based tool to complement their remote or in-office addiction therapy provided by their care team.