Prescription digital therapeutics company Pear Therapeutics announced this morning that it has added $20 million more to an $80 million Series D funding round announced back in December.

The company did not name any participants of this second closing, but highlighted "a leading national Integrated Delivery Network" as the source of the $20 million and the digital therapeutics company's newest strategic investor.

WHAT IT DOES

Pear Therapeutics is building and deploying a pipeline of prescription software therapies. Chief among these have been reSET, a substance abuse treatment that received a De Novo clearance in 2017, and reSET-O, an opioid use disorder treatment given the green light in 2018.

More recently came the clearance and launch of Somryst for chronic insomnia and a limited release of the Pear-004 schizophrenia therapeutic in April. However, this product suffered a setback after a Novartis-published clinical trial found no difference between Pear-004 and a placebo app.

Pear is continuing to develop similar app-based products for a handful of other indications listed in its pipeline, while also cutting deals that allow its offerings to incorporate new components such as digital biomarkers or digital adherence sensors. At the same time, the company has also been working to secure coverage from providers, plans and employer groups for its products.

WHAT IT'S FOR

As the company said in December, this Series D funding will be focused on securing reimbursement for its products and "creating the first market access pathway in the [prescription digital therapeutics] industry," according to today's announcement. Pear also noted that it hopes to bring its substance use, opioid use and chronic insomnia digital therapies to standard formularies in order to increase access to treatment.

“Pear is pleased to add one of America’s leading health care providers and health plans to our distinguished list of investors as we continue to expand patient access to our FDA-authorized digital therapeutics,” Dr. Corey McCann, president and CEO of Pear Therapeutics, said in a statement.

“This investment from a market-leading IDN in the next generation of medicine supports our mission to be the leading platform-based, product-driven [prescription digital therapeutics] company.”

MARKET SNAPSHOT

The digital therapeutics industry's players have been vocal regarding new COVID-19-driven demand for their products, and by and large have been keeping the pace with major announcements.

Beyond Pear, Click Therapeutics recently signed onto a $500 million-plus schizophrenia therapeutics agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim, and just last week took a step forward with its $250 million-plus Otsuka Pharmaceutical deal first announced in 2019.

2020 also saw three De Novo clearances for Pear's digital therapeutics colleagues: the video game-like pediatric ADHD treatment EndeavorRx from Akili Interactive, NightWare's smartwatch and phone app for improving sleep quality among those with nightmare disorder or related PTSD, and Mahana Therapeutics' digital CBT treatment Parallel for adults with irritable bowel syndrome.