Patients Engage With Opioid Use Disorder PDT Across Regions, Company Says

Pear Therapeutics announced study data Tuesday showing that their prescription digital therapeutic (PDT) for the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) had a similar reach across a broad range of geographic regions in the United States, including both urban and rural areas.

The findings about the PDT, called reSET-O, were presented in a poster at the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting.

ReSET-O is currently the only PDT authorized by the FDA for the treatment of OUD. The 84-day PDT provides cognitive behavioral therapy to increase outpatient care retention, and serves as an adjunct to outpatient treatment including transmucosal buprenorphine and contingency management, for adult patients supervised by a clinician.

According to Pear Therapeutics, patients with OUD experience higher rates of mental health diseases and co-morbid medical problems compared with the general population.

“Patients with opioid use disorder have higher baseline rates of suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts, and suicide completion,” Pear Therapeutics said in a statement. “Clinicians should undertake standard of care to monitor patients for medical problems and mental health disease, including risk for harming others and/or themselves.”

These new findings are a result of a database study including 5263 patients with OUD from various geographic subgroups in the United States, including metropolitan (2904), micropolitan (1081), metro commuting (709), small town (300), and rural (269) areas.

All patients had completed 1 or more lessons in a 12-week treatment course of reSET-O to determine engagement levels.

Pear Therapeutics found similar engagement among patients with OUD in different areas, specifically between median days active, median lessons completed, and retention during weeks 9 through 12.

Median days active with reSET-O ranged between 21 and 23 days. Patients from micropolitan, metro commuting, and small town areas used the PDT for a median of 23 days, while patients in rural and metropolitan areas averaged 22 and 21 days of use, respectively.

The median number of completed lessons ranged between 25 and 28, with patients in micropolitan and metro commuting areas completing the most lessons, followed shortly by patients in rural areas, small towns, and metropolitan areas.

Retention to reSET-O was defined as any activity in the app. Between weeks 9 and 12, retention was highest among patients in micropolitan areas, with 80% of patients using the PDT during this time.

Metro commuting patients and patients in small towns followed close behind with 79% and those in rural areas trailed with 78%, and patients in metropolitan areas still had a high retention of 76%.

Pear Therapeutics noted that long-term benefits of reSET-O in patients with OUD have not yet been evaluated in studies lasting beyond 84 days, and its ability to prevent potential relapse after discontinuing therapy has not yet been studied.

The software-based medicine company said these results suggest that PDTs may enable broader access to treatment and help address disparities in health care and equity.