Last week, Pear Therapeutics announced that MassHealth will reimburse for prescriptions for Pear’s products reSET and reSET-O. The former treats substance use disorder while the latter treats opioid use disorder.
Founded in 2013, Pear Therapeutics develops prescription digital therapeutics: or PDTs. The company has successfully received clearance to commercialize three PDTs. The third, other than reSET and reSET-O, is a PDT meant to treat insomnia called Somryst.
“We applaud MassHealth for their leadership in introducing PDTs to their Medicaid population to provide safe and effective treatment options for patients in recovery,” Dr. Corey McCann, Pear Therapeutics CEO and president, said in a news release. “Pear is proud to help fight addiction in Massachusetts, especially at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating the addiction crisis in America with national drug overdose deaths increasing by almost 30% in 2020.”
Both reSET and reSET-O provide patients with cognitive behavioral therapy, fluency training, and contingency management. They act as a supplement to outpatient counseling. Clinicians meanwhile receive access to clinical dashboards to inform in-office and telehealth visits, according to the release.
Pear Therapeutics’s reSET and reSET-O received approval from the Food and Drug Administration in September 2017 and December 2018. Somryst received approval in March 2020. Pear’s website shows that its development pipeline includes 14 other products treating diseases in the psychiatry, neurology, gastroenterology, oncology and cardiovascular fields.
MassHealth covers about 2 million Massachusetts residents.
Pear Therapeutics nabbed headlines when special purpose acquisition company Thimble Point Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: THMA) announced it would acquire the company. The deal would transform both entities into the publicly traded company Pear Holding Corp.
At that time, Behavioral Health Business reported that the pro forma equity value of Pear Therapeutics totaled $1.6 billion and could generate about $400 million in gross proceeds from the combination.
The IPO for Pear Therapeutics is expected to launch at some point before the end of the year. The company’s stock will trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “PEAR.”
The latest documents Pear Therapeutics filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission show that the proposed maximum value of its stock is $1.3 billion.
Raising money apparently is no issue for Pear Therapeutics. Previous Behavioral Health Business coverage shows that Pear was able to raise $20 million in a Series D funding round earlier this year and $80 million in December.
Companies featured in this article:
Corey McCann, MassHealth, Pear Therapeutics, Thimble Point Acquisition Corp.
