[Interview] Welt drives DTx growth with telemedicine-based prescription platform

Korea’s digital therapeutic (DTx) market is entering the “post-approval” phase.

While seven products have received approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) as DTx devices to date, actual prescription numbers remain low. This demonstrates that the industry is currently navigating what is often called the “DTx death valley.”

DTx company Welt’s strategy to overcome this obstacle is to reshape the industry landscape through its non-face-to-face medical consultation platform.

"For example, we aim to achieve 10,000 prescriptions for SleepQ by July of next year to demonstrate the clinical effectiveness of digital therapeutics," Welt CEO Kang Sung-jee said in a recent interview with Korea Biomedical Review. "Since DTx cannot establish an ecosystem independently, a strategy of shared standards and industry-wide growth is essential."

Question: Currently, DTx faces challenges with direct hospital prescribing. What do you see as the strategy to overcome this?

Answer: Directly persuading patients is limited, as doctors are busy and patients often don't know about DTx. So, we created a system where patients learn about it on their own and seek prescriptions themselves.

Q: Recently, you've been expanding the DTx prescription environment using non-face-to-face platforms.

A: Integration with non-face-to-face medical platforms isn't straightforward. These platforms vary significantly, and medical chart structures differ widely. Integrating with every single system is unrealistic.

To address this, we developed a solution that preserves the integrity of the existing healthcare infrastructure. Patients can log in automatically by submitting photographs of their medical expense receipts. Mirroring the drug prescription process, we created a standardized prescription framework.

Q: Why did you choose a strategy utilizing telemedicine platforms?

A: Telemedicine is particularly compatible with DTx as it facilitates an informed patient approach. In-person consultations often require lengthy explanations from physicians, which can disrupt workflow. Telemedicine enables patients to review information and schedule appointments independently, promoting engagement and intent-based care.

Q: Do you think adopting a drug prescription method like Germany's is feasible?

A: Although patient records differ among hospitals, prescriptions tend to follow a standard format. We applied this principle. When a physician issues a prescription, and the patient submits a photo of the medical expense receipt, AI recognizes relevant details, including hospital name, patient name, date, and prescription specifics, to facilitate treatment.

There is no requirement to replace hospital information systems. If a standardized prescription infrastructure and legal framework are established within the DTx ecosystem, it will promote industry-wide adoption of new prescription practices.

Q: You've maintained a long-term collaboration with Handok, starting with investment attraction. What specific collaborations are underway?

A: There is often a disconnect between pharmaceuticals and patients. Pharmaceutical firms develop drugs and healthcare providers deliver treatments, but managing patient data, such as behavior and habits, remains challenging. We believe digital therapeutics can close this gap. Collaboration with pharmaceutical companies is thus a natural progression. By disease type, digital therapeutics can complement traditional drug sales and create additional value.

Q: Why did you choose eating disorders as the second indication after sleep disorders?

A: Sleep and eating are essential human behaviors that are strongly interconnected. The behavioral and cognitive data, along with therapeutic processes developed for insomnia, can be effectively extended to address eating disorders. We intend to expand consistently into the behavioral medicine sector with insights from exercise, sleep, and meal-related data.

Rather than expanding our pipeline linearly, our development strategy reflects DTx's inherent updatability. Similar to pharmaceuticals releasing improved drugs, we will continue to update SleepQ. The primary focus is ongoing refinement of treatment algorithms using AI and user data.

Q: You are also accelerating overseas expansion beyond Korea.

A: Merely adapting existing products for overseas markets is insufficient. We must first verify functional superiority in Korea, then conduct clinical trials in Germany before pursuing global expansion. There are additional opportunities to partner with international pharmaceutical companies to develop “digital-integrated medicines.” Ultimately, the central objective is to leverage DTx algorithms for optimized medication use.