Pear Therapeutics filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April and sold its remaining assets in an auction for about $6m. The demise of one the pioneers in the prescription digital therapeutics industry highlights the challenges PDT developers face getting their products reimbursed.

Pear Therapeutics, Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April, saying that it had laid off about 92% of its staff but would still pursue a sale of the company or its assets. Health care insiders tell AIS Health, a division of MMIT, that the announcement by one of the pioneers in the prescription digital therapeutics industry highlights the challenges such companies face getting their products reimbursed. The difficulties are exacerbated by investors being wary of backing companies that promise future growth but have yet to turn a profit. 

Public Company Edition: ImmunoGen received the first $75m under a $175m term loan, while Protagonist raised $100m in a follow-on offering, but companies with bankruptcy filings and job cuts outpaced those accessing new capital by a wide margin in late March and early April.

A few weeks after announcing that it was exploring its "strategic options," Pear Therapeutics announced that it is filing for bankruptcy and is not filling new prescriptions for its digital therapeutics.