Pear Therapeutics today touted analysis of its reSET-O therapeutic for opioid use disorder (OUD) that demonstrated cost-effectiveness.

Boston-based Pear Therapeutics’ reSET-O is the first and only FDA-authorized prescription digital therapeutic for treating OUD, according to a news release.

The analysis, published in Postgraduate Medicine, highlighted that reSET-O and treatment-as-usual (which includes transmucosal buprenorphine, face-to-face counseling and contingency management) decreased total healthcare costs and resulted in improved post-treatment quality-adjusted life-year gains.

Over 12 weeks, a decision-analytic model evaluated the cost-effectiveness of reSET-O relative to treatment-as-usual, with results highlighting population-level gains in quality-adjusted life-years at a lower cost with Pear Therapeutics’ treatment instead of treatment-as-usual by itself.

Additionally, the analysis observed that, on top of clinical value, the results highlighted the limited economic risk of reSET-O in combination with treatment-as-usual.

“OUD is one of the deadliest and costliest health conditions in the United States, generating close to 50,000 deaths and costing an estimated 40 to 70 billion dollars in annual medical costs each year, mostly from the more than 80% of untreated patients. Already high OUD-related deaths jumped after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and relapse rates due to the ongoing pandemic are expected to further increase the use of emergency department visits and inpatient stays, which are primary direct cost drivers in OUD,” Pear Therapeutics chief medical officer Dr. Yuri Maricich said in the release. “This analysis showed that reSET-O has the potential to improve population health while reducing costs, further highlighting the importance of providing holistic, low-barrier care to one of our most vulnerable populations.”