“Digital Therapy” Reaches A Milestone: The FDA Just Approved A Prescription Video Game

This week marked a major win for digital therapeutics as the US Food and Drug Administration approved the marketing of the first game-based digital therapeutic device. “The EndeavorRx device offers a non-drug option for improving symptoms associated with ADHD in children and is an important example of the growing field of digital therapy and digital therapeutics,” said Jeffrey Shuren, M.D., J.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. Digital therapeutics help make care more accessible and offer cost-effective, non-chemical treatment options for multiple therapeutic areas including pain management and mental health. Forrester identified them as an investment area because they meet market demand for treatment alternatives that do not lead to issues such as substance abuse or addiction. While the maturity of these solutions remains low, Forrester expects 2020 to be a turning point for digital health adoption by consumers. For this particular use case, the calculus is simple: the US medical spend for ADHD exceeds $3.6 billion per year, with a big chunk of that coming from prescription medications. On average, families spend five times more than those raising a child without ADHD. This landmark decision helps clear the regulatory pathway for more digital therapeutics products.

Edge Computing Can Help Ensure Employee Health And Safety When Returning To Work

AI-powered edge computing solutions can help ensure the health, safety, and productivity of your workers by giving them data-driven insights on when and how to safely reenter the workplace and prevent further spread of COVID-19. One of the latest of these solutions is IBM’s Watson Works. It aggregates data insights from Wi-Fi, internet-of-things (IoT) cameras, Bluetooth beacons, and mobile phones to provide real-time insights to preserve employee safety. These insights can help your managers reallocate spaces, designate no-go zones, and arrange for cleanings or other support actions needed to help improve office safety. To ensure and deliver high-quality employee (and consumer) experiences, we recommend installing and aggregating insights from IoT devices in other locations — such as in parking lots, garages, and lobbiesFor more return-to-work resources and insights, check out our most recent blog post.

The Facebook Ad Boycott Is Only The Tip Of The Iceberg

On May 13, we published our report, “It’s OK To Break Up With Social Media.” Since then, Twitter and Snapchat have taken action to curb political content and misinformation, but Facebook, Inc. has stated that it will take no action. Marketers are taking note — from an advertising perspective, at least. The #BoycottFacebook rally cries have begun, with retailer The North Face becoming the first to halt ad spend on Facebook’s apps. Over the weekend, Patagonia and REI joined in. Will the boycott force these and other brands to rethink their organic and advertising presences on social media in general? We hope so. Social media has become an imbalance of brands shouting at consumers without truly understanding what, if anything, social users want from brands. Instead, brands must do a better job of listening to consumers through traditional monitoring, social customer service, communities, ratings and reviews, and user-generated content feedback. To date, 40% of US online adults agree that “social media is a great tool to show a brand or company how I feel about them.” And more talk about topics beyond specific brand names, including product/service/category wants and needs, are all conversations that brands can leverage for market research, R&D, and creative planning. Ultimately, consumers, not companies, will define brands on social media. We’d like to see companies reconsider — or possibly overhaul — their entire social media programs beyond advertising buys.