Israeli generics giant Teva Pharmaceuticals is investing “tens of millions” of dollars into telemedicine startup American Well, Globes reports.
It’s an unconventional move that marks big pharma’s budding interest in telemedicine. The investment will help Teva “expand its solutions beyond medication,” CEO Erez Vigodman told Globes.
Pharmaceutical companies are just beginning to take notice of telemedicine – Pfizer, for instance, piloted the digital tech in clinical trials. And Merck just opened several telehealth clinics in Africa that will allow patients and healthcare workers who live in remote regions to consult with doctors in Nairobi.
“Teva is committed to attaining a significant presence in the rapidly growing electronic medicine field, so that it can expand its solutions beyond medication,” Vigodman told Globes. “The investment in American Well is an important milestone in this policy.”
As Globes points out, Teva has made several forays into digital medicine: It just recently teamed with Royal Philips to build a med tech incubator in Israel. It’s also developing an inhaler that gauges dosage adherence and level with a cell phone app, a tool for doctors to report negative drug interactions, and a digital support center for multiple sclerosis patients.
American Well was launched nearly a decade ago in Boston by two Israeli brothers – Ido and Roy Schoenberg, both physicians. This new investment came about through personal connections with Teva leadership, Globes said.
American Well closed out an $81 million Series C this past December from a number of investors that added “new institutional, private equity, and corporate partners to its ownership roster;” Globes didn’t indicate whether Teva’s investment was part of this round or separate.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
[IMAGE: American Well]
