How Click Therapeutics Is Aligning with Medtech’s Latest Trend

Click Therapeutics is reigniting the market for prescription digital therapeutics (PDT), following a notable cooling period in 2023. The New York-based company is also reinforcing the growing trend of medical device companies acquiring the assets of firms that have undergone bankruptcy or are reviewing strategic alternatives.

Click said it is in the process of acquiring the assets of Better Therapeutics, a former major player in PDTs, which recently announced employee layoffs and the decision to explore strategic alternatives.

In the deal, Click will obtain the AspyreRx (BT-001), the first FDA-authorized PDT for type 2 diabetes, and BT-004, which was recently granted FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for the treatment of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). Other assets are BT-002, for the reduction of blood pressure in patients with hypertension, and BT-003, for the reduction of LDL cholesterol in patients with hyperlipidemia.

Click said the assets would help strengthen its position in the obesity treatment market.

The company said it will use both AspyreRx’s digital behavioral therapy and its AI-enabled platform, which combines advanced engagement techniques with proprietary digital mechanisms of action to treat disease. Click noted that Similar development opportunities in type 2 diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and MASH will be enabled by the integration of Better’s assets with Click’s platform.

Related:Better Therapeutics Wins FDA Authorization & Rebrands Diabetes PDT

“There is immense potential in the cardiometabolic space for next-generation ‘smart’ therapeutics that enhance patient care and provider capabilities,” said Rich DeNunzio, Chief Commercial Officer of Click Therapeutics. “The current one-size-fits-all approach to obesity management can be improved with innovative digital therapeutics that tailor treatments to individual needs, leading to improved patient outcomes and the opportunity to create data-driven contracting models with payers. By collaborating with pharma, payers, providers, and patients to layer these capabilities onto the latest drugs, we can transform obesity care and enable our partners to succeed in what is soon to be a highly competitive market.”

This isn’t the first time that Click has acquired assets from a failing PDT company. About a year ago, Click bid $70, 000 for all of Pear Therapeutics platform patents, excluding those related to the firm’s Invention Science Fund assets. The acquisition came a few months after Pear filed for bankruptcy.  

A Fire Sale for Medtech Assets?

Related:A Digital Approach to Treat Type 2 Diabetes Gains Momentum

Many medical device companies experienced hardship in 2023 and either went through bankruptcy or looked at strategic alternatives. These measures opened several M&A opportunities for established and stable medtech companies in the industry.

Many of these acquisitions occurred in April.

Most recently, Labcorp acquired Invitae’s assets for $239 million. Invitae, a genetic specialist, filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. The company went through a massive restructuring plan in 2022 that saw it lay off more than 1,000 employees.

The measure also had the company exiting some of its underperforming businesses and reducing the more than 100 countries it serves to a paltry dozen.

Bruker acquired NanoString’s assets for $392 million. The deal occurred a little more than two months after NanoString filed for bankruptcy.

Also in April, Science Corporation, a brain-computer interface specialist, acquired the IP and related assets for Pixium’s Prima Retinal Implants. That acquisition came shortly after Paris-based Pixium said it was looking at strategic alternatives.