Big Health acquires prescription PDTx company Limbix

Digital therapeutics company Big Health announced it acquired Limbix, a maker of prescription digital therapeutics aimed at treating depression in teens and young adults. 

Limbix is the creator of SparkRx, a PDTx that uses the principles of cognitive behavioral therapy to address depression in teens and young adults ages 13 to 22. 

The self-guided CBT-based treatment was released in October 2021 as part of the FDA’s relaxed regulatory requirements for digital health devices treating psychiatric disorders during the pandemic. 

SparkRx will be added to Big Health’s portfolio, which includes Daylight therapeutic for anxiety and Sleepio for insomnia.

“Limbix and Big Health share significant alignment in our cultures and in our focus on delivering first-line digital therapeutics for a range of mental health conditions,” Ben Lewis, cofounder and CEO of Limbix, said in a statement. “As the industry leader, Big Health is a natural home for SparkRx, our upcoming product pipeline and our team to accelerate giving young people tools they can use themselves to meaningfully benefit from clinically-proven digital depression treatments,” he added.

THE LARGER TREND

In 2021, Limbix scooped up $15 million in Series A2 funding, bringing its total raise to $31 million. 

In 2020, the company scored $9 million in Series A funding, roughly four months after the Palo Alto-based startup was one of 27 digital health companies chosen in MassChallenge HealthTech’s 2020 accelerator class.

Last year, Big Health scored $75 million in Series C funding, just two years after receiving $39 million in a Series B raise.

Evernorth, the health services arm of insurer Cigna, also announced it added five programs to its digital health formulary, including Big Health’s Sleepio and Daylight.

In 2020, CVS Health announced it was adding a handful of digital health apps to its Point Solution Management service, including Big Health’s Daylight. The retail giant said Point Solution aims to help CVS Caremark pharmacy benefits management clients enroll in third-party health apps.