Pharmaceutical companies are diving deeper into digital health. Earlier this week, Pfizer said it would acquire Resapp Health Ltd, a company that develops smartphone applications for the diagnosis and management of respiratory disease.

The deal would be for $74 million, and Pfizer would acquire Resapp Health through its Australian subsidiary.

Resapp has developed ResAppDx and SleepCheck, which have CE mark and Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approved in Australia.

But the attraction to Resapp could be because the company recently reported strong results from clinical trials of its new COVID-19 instant screening test. The application uses a smartphone and cough sounds to detect the presence of infection.

Pharmaceutical companies jumping into digital health isn’t a new thing and was a trend even before the pandemic began.

In September of 2019, Bayer formed a licensing agreement with OneDrop, a developer of digital therapeutic solutions for diabetes and other chronic solutions.

Under the partnership, One Drop's platform was used in Bayer's bio-digital efforts in therapeutic areas such as oncology, cardiovascular disease, and women's health.