[BioUSA] 'Welt' Kim Ju-young: "The Lesson from Fair's Bankruptcy is 'You Must Make Colleagues'"

DTx Company Welt
Kim Ju-young, Head of U.S. Branch

First Domestic Digital Healthcare Company
Named as Speaker at BIO USA

"Increased Overseas Interest After Acquiring Fair Asset"
"The U.S. Should Learn from Korea in Terms of Regulation"

Interest in Welt has increased overseas as it became known that Pear Therapeutics acquired the migraine pipeline. "Having learned the lesson from Pear's bankruptcy that 'we need to make many peers,' we want to move forward together even if it takes time."

Kim Ju-young, head of Welt's US branch, is speaking with reporters on the 6th (local time).
[Photo by Lee Chun-hee]

This year has been a challenging one for the rapidly growing DTx industry, which had envisioned a rosy future. Pear, the first company to receive FDA approval for DTx in the U.S., filed for bankruptcy in April. Despite holding three FDA-approved DTx products, commercialization was excessively delayed, leading to a rapid deterioration of its financial status.

On the 6th (local time), during the BIO International Convention (BIO USA) held in Boston, USA, Danny Kim, head of Welt's U.S. branch, said, "Locally, many feel regretful, and there is a common reaction that payors moved too late. The problem was that insurance companies did not respond even though patients benefited." He analyzed the cause of Pear's bankruptcy. He added, "The charm of DTx is the 'democratization of healthcare,' enabling more people to receive higher quality care, but private insurance tends to prefer directions that yield more profit, which caused difficulties."

Welt is one of the companies inheriting Pear's legacy. It participated in the asset liquidation auction and acquired the migraine-related pipeline for $50,000 (about 65 million KRW). FDA-approved DTx such as reSET and Somryst were listed as secondary bidders. Kim, who said "Interest in Welt has grown overseas after acquiring the assets," also mentioned, "We considered acquiring Pear itself just before the bankruptcy. As the assets were sold separately, we saw migraine as an effective asset." Currently, proof of concept (PoC) has been established, and since Kim participated in its development while working at Pear, they believe they can achieve results quickly. He added, "Welt emphasizes predictive medicine. The insomnia DTx 'WELT-I,' which has received domestic approval, is also in a predictive domain, and since headaches are clinically effective and we were developing it ourselves, we saw it as a valuable asset."

Kim Ju-young, President of Welt USA (center), is discussing at the 'DTx 2.0' session held on the 6th (local time) as part of the BIO International Convention (BIO USA).
[Photo by Kim Ju-young]

As companies preparing for the 'after Pear' era like Welt are emerging one after another, a discussion session titled 'DTx 2.0: The Promise of Digital Therapeutics' was held at BIO USA that day. Kim also participated as a panelist. He conveyed the significance, saying, "I think this is the first time a Korean digital healthcare company has participated in an official BIO USA session." He shared the discussion content: "Thanks to Pear, we realized that DTx is possible, so there is now a consensus to try what we couldn't do before. Until now, medicine has been a 'defensive battle' after diseases occur, but from now on, we want to be more proactive."

He said that through this incident, he learned the lesson that many 'peers' need to be made. Kim said, "Since Pear was the first company, it went too fast alone without many peers. I felt that instead of rushing ahead alone, we need to move together even if it takes more time." He is also a board member representing the Asia region at the Digital Therapeutics Alliance (DTA), and through this, he continues to voice opinions while fostering exchange and cooperation.

Kim also emphasized institutionalization. He said, "Currently, DTx's position within the system is unclear?whether it is a drug or a medical device?so federal public insurance programs like Medicare and Medicaid in the U.S. cannot reimburse for it." He added, "We are requesting the U.S. Congress to enact legislation recognizing DTx as an independent classification." To this end, he immediately traveled to Washington D.C. to attend the DTA summit from the 7th to 9th and actively lobbied Congress. He expressed hope that this issue will be naturally resolved: "DTx is likely to be linked with drugs, and in that case, it cannot be viewed solely as a medical device, so the boundaries will naturally blur. I believe digital technology will integrate therapeutic devices, therapeutics, treatment, management, and prevention."

Welt's Insomnia Treatment DTx 'WELT-I (Domestic Name: PillowRx)' [Photo by Welt]

Regarding the system, he expressed regret that the U.S. is actually lagging behind global trends. Kim explained, "Although Korea started late, it has been closely communicating and providing opinions through existing associations, and recently, legislation related to digital medical products has been proposed. The U.S. is actually in a position to learn from us." Currently, in Korea, lawmakers such as Baek Jong-heon and Seo Young-seok have submitted bills related to digital medical products, and active discussions are ongoing in the National Assembly.

Through the U.S. branch, Kim shared plans to focus on research and development (R&D) collaboration and business development (BD) rather than directly selling products like WELT-I. He explained, "Directly selling products is difficult for now because we would have to approach over 500 private insurers in the U.S. individually. We want to continue R&D by communicating with communities in the U.S. and recruiting research personnel." Direct overseas expansion is expected to be first realized through Germany, where the Digital Health Application Program (DiGA) is well operated. Kim said, "We plan to leverage the network among DTA member companies to collaborate with local companies. Since they are doing well locally, we want to make the most of that."