For Patients Disrupted by Pear Therapeutics’ Bankruptcy — DynamiCare Health Helping with Free CBT App

Image generated by Midjourney.

Unfortunately, Pear Therapeutics, a pioneer of the digital therapeutics industry, filed for bankruptcy last Friday. In the process, they have laid off over 90% of their staff and are left with a skeleton crew trying to keep the product available while the company attempts a sale. It may not be enough to maintain customer support, bug fixes, data security and privacy compliance, and GMP quality control systems required by the FDA.

We have been distressed to hear reports that the app is no longer functioning properly for some patients. Pear’s products for the treatment of substance and opioid use disorders, reSET and reSET-O, respectively, are designed to provide self-guided cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) content to help patients build skills for their recovery over a 90-day period. Patients with substance use disorders (SUD) are highly vulnerable in early recovery due to their dopamine-deprived state: The brain is deprived of comfort, reward, and attention span; frustration tolerance is at its worst; stress, triggers, and cues are at their greatest; and motivations are often still highly conflicted. This is a phase when the mind wants to get better, while the chemical reward center desperately wants to keep using substances. Losing access to a support tool like a digital therapeutic can be worse than never receiving it in the first place.

Therefore, DynamiCare Health, a provider of digital therapeutics for addiction recovery, has decided to make a free version of our award-winning app available for any patients affected by the Pear bankruptcy. 

Eligible patients can receive access to DynamiCare’s full library of self-guided CBT content for 90 days. Our CBT library contains 90 short 2-5 minute modules teaching skills like how to deal with stress, triggers, and anxiety. Each module contains interactive questions about the content, including self-reflection and reading comprehension questions. The app also includes a sobriety tracker and an appointment scheduling, tracking, and reminder system. Patients earn virtual rewards for completing CBT lessons and other activities in the app, which can be redeemed for real money if our program is covered by the patients’ insurance or with a paid subscription.

Patients can download the app directly and indicate that they are reSET/reSET-O users. Treatment providers interested in offering this to their patients can reach out to us directly.

DynamiCare serves a profound public-health mission in collaboration with payers, providers, researchers, and government agencies. We look forward to a future where digital therapeutics are broadly reimbursable, integrated into routine care, and forming a thriving, stable industry. In the meantime, we will do our best to help patients stay supported through this turbulent time.