For a startup that ostensibly shut down operations last year, behavioral health company Lantern has had a surprisingly busy 2019.
New York-based Spring Health has signed perpetual license to add the shuttered startup’s digital therapeutic technology to bolster its own behavioral health platform. As part of the agreement, former Lantern CEO Alejandro Foung will also be joining Spring Health’s board of advisors.
The news follows a deal announced last month between Lantern and chronic disease management company Omada Health to add the company’s CBT-based therapies to launch new programs for depression and anxiety. Lantern has also sold its IP to Ginger and a number of health systems.
Spring Health, which bills itself as a “comprehensive end-to-end behavioral health solution” personalizes treatment plans for users that could include medication, mindfulness, telehealth therapy – and now – CBT-based digital behavioral health tools. The company has its own nationwide provider network to deliver care.
Since it’s founding in 2016, Spring Health has raised $8 million and signed up large employers like Gap, Whole Foods and Equinox as customers.
Mirroring Omada Health’s rationale for integrating Lantern’s technology, Spring Health CEO April Koh said the company saw alignment in the clinical validation of Lantern’s approach to building its product. When asked about working with a failed company, Koh said she was not disenchanted by the company’s prior issues finding a viable business model.
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.
“There’s a lot of reasons why a company might fail,” Koh said. “What we found was that Lantern had one of the best digital therapeutics products on the market and they were truly committed to evidence based approaches. The issues with the company had nothing to do with product being bad and we feel like we’re picking up the best pieces of Lantern.”
While, Koh declined to comment about the financial terms of the deal, she said it was a “great opportunity” for Spring Health to add to the robustness of its platform. The enhanced platform will include CBT-based web and mobile programs geared toward anxiety, stress and body image.
“Many other companies offer blanket solutions, but in mental health one-size doesn’t fit all and finding the right care is often a long journey,” Koh said.
She added that Foung also sought to find companies with similar commitments around clinical proof to follow through on the promise of Lantern’s technology.
The digital behavioral health space has gotten increasingly crowded with dozens of startups springing up to provide services to employers including Lyra Health, Big Health and Ginger.
Koh said she sees the emergence of the raft of new vendors as a clear signal of the opportunity in behavioral health and pointed to clinical validation and rigor as what could separate the space’s winners and losers.
Photo: phototechno, Getty Images
