Digital therapeutics: Exploring the road to commercialization across international markets

Digital therapeutics allow health care workers and patients to use software in the management and treatment of disease. The idea spans various health care areas, including mental health, chronic disease management, neurological disorders, addiction treatment, and rehabilitation.

Software-based interventions often offer personalized therapies through apps or digital platforms, using techniques like cognitive behavioral therapy, symptom tracking, and virtual exercises to help manage conditions such as mental health problems, diabetes, substance use, and recovery from physical injuries.

Research in the International Journal of Technology Transfer and Commercialisation suggests that digital therapeutics have changed the health care landscape. Of course, the rapid commercialization of these products has continued apace, but equally important is the challenge of the internationalization of such systems allowing them to be expanded into foreign markets.

Amy Lee and Grigorij Ljubownikow of The University of Auckland, New Zealand, have highlighted how the process of commercialization and internationalization, traditionally seen as separate, are deeply interconnected for companies that start out as born-digital enterprises.

These companies all operate in highly regulated environments. What sets them apart from conventional health care companies is their use of wholly digital solutions. The shift from conventional to digital was happening steadily up to around 2020 but was accelerated enormously by the pandemic and the urgent need for remote, or virtual, care.

The researchers point out that while traditional companies might commercialize their product domestically first and then branch out internationally, digital therapeutic firms have had to rethink this linear path because in the digital world, global is essentially just as immediate and local a market as the domestic one. The research reveals that for these companies, international expansion is not a separate concern to be tackled later, but has to be a key factor in the broader strategy from the outset.

The research emphasizes how collaboration, networking, and continuous learning within these companies can help them address the additional challenges of regulatory and reimbursement hurdles across international markets. While global may be perceived as the new local, there are still enormous differences in the socio-political and economic environments between countries.

Navigating the diverse institutional and international frameworks requires not only innovation in product development but also flexibility in business models. Lee and Ljubownikow’s findings thus offer insights into how firms can refine their strategies for global growth.

More information:
Amy Lee et al, The road to commercialisation: expanding digital therapeutics across international markets, International Journal of Technology Transfer and Commercialisation (2025). DOI: 10.1504/IJTTC.2024.143991