BOSTON & SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pear Therapeutics, Inc., today announced that it has successfully closed an $80 million Series D financing led by SoftBank Vision Fund 21 with participation from existing investors including Temasek, 5AM Ventures, Arboretum Ventures, JAZZ Venture Partners, Novartis, CrimsoNox, and EDBI, and new investors, Forth Management, Pilot House, Sarissa Capital, Shanda Group, and QUAD Investment Management.
“Pear is pleased to welcome our new investors and our new board members. SoftBank Investment Advisers represents an ideal partner to support Pear as we build the digital therapeutics industry,” said Corey McCann, M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO of Pear Therapeutics. “This oversubscribed round of funding will allow us to continue to invest in the launches of our three commercial products to accelerate revenue growth, which we intend to reinvest in our robust pipeline and platform.”
Prescription Digital Therapeutics (PDTs) are a new therapeutic class that uses software to directly treat serious disease, alone or in combination with drugs. Pear’s products reSET® and reSET-O® for the treatment of substance use disorder and opioid use disorder, respectively, are the first two PDTs to receive market authorization to treat disease from FDA. Pear recently launched Somryst™, for the treatment of chronic insomnia, its third FDA-authorized PDT and the third PDT to receive market authorization from FDA. Pear also recently launched its end-to-end virtual care experience combining virtual doctor visit(s) via telemedicine provider with PearConnect™, the industry’s first patient service center for PDTs. The Company’s three FDA-authorized products address large market opportunities with more than 20 million patients suffering from substance and opioid use disorders2 and more than 30 million from chronic insomnia3, in the U.S. alone. These diseases are on the rise as the pandemic has exacerbated the country’s mental health crises.4,5
Pear will use the financing to accelerate reimbursement coverage for its three commercial products, creating the first market access pathway in the PDT industry. The Company collaborates with innovators to build a broad and deep pipeline that has the potential to redefine standard of care in a range of therapeutic areas, including specialty psychiatry, specialty neurology, and a host of other non-CNS diseases. Pear has built the first scalable platform infrastructure to discover, develop, and deliver PDTs to patients.
“We believe prescription digital therapeutics are creating a new category of medicine,” said Kirthiga Reddy, Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers. “Pear Therapeutics has combined biology and software to pioneer the first end-to-end platform for prescription digital products, with an initial focus on serious psychiatric diseases. We’re pleased to support Pear’s mission to create the next generation of therapeutics and deliver better patient outcomes.”
In conjunction with the financing, Nancy Schlichting, retired Chief Executive Officer, Henry Ford Health System, and Board Director at Walgreens Boots Alliance and Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc., and Elena Viboch, an investor at SoftBank Investment Advisers, will join Pear's Board of Directors. Ms. Reddy will contribute as a Board Observer.
“It is a privilege to join Pear at this exciting time,” said Ms. Schlichting. “Prescription Digital Therapeutics have the potential to change healthcare in many profound ways. Using technology to treat serious disease is an idea whose time has come, and I am proud to pioneer this new space with Pear and with SoftBank Investment Advisers.”
About Pear Therapeutics
Pear Therapeutics is the leader in prescription digital therapeutics, or PDTs. Pear aims to redefine medicine by discovering, developing, and delivering clinically validated software-based therapeutics to provide better outcomes for patients, smarter engagement and tracking tools for clinicians, and cost-effective solutions for payers. Pear has a pipeline of products and product candidates across therapeutic areas, including the first three PDTs with disease treatment claims from FDA. Pear’s lead product, reSET®, for the treatment of Substance Use Disorder, was the first PDT to receive marketing authorization from FDA to treat disease. Pear’s second product, reSET-O®, for the treatment of Opioid Use Disorder, was the first PDT to receive Breakthrough Designation. Pear’s third product, Somryst™, for the treatment of chronic insomnia, was the first PDT submitted through FDA’s traditional 510(k) pathway while simultaneously reviewed through FDA’s Software Precertification Pilot Program. For more information, visit Pear at www.peartherapeutics.com.
