In the past decade, dig­i­tal health­care has been get­ting big — and now it’s sad­dling up with Big Phar­ma. As the lat­est phar­ma to take a swing at dig­i­tal ther­a­py, Bio­gen has li­censed an in­ves­ti­ga­tion­al pre­scrip­tion ther­a­py meant to help pa­tients with mul­ti­ple scle­ro­sis (MS) im­prove their gait from MedRhythms, a Port­land, ME-based biotech.

For the ther­a­py, dubbed MR-004, MedRhythms is re­ceiv­ing $3 mil­lion up­front and can get up to $117.5 mil­lion more in down­stream mile­stones, ac­cord­ing to the press re­lease.

The dig­i­tal ther­a­py “us­es a com­bi­na­tion of sen­sors, soft­ware, and mu­sic” to im­prove walk­ing for peo­ple with MS. Gait prob­lems are one of the most com­mon symp­toms of MS, and cur­rent treat­ment op­tions in­clude phys­i­cal ther­a­py as well as an oral med­ica­tion known as Ampyra (dal­fam­pri­dine), which aims to help the nerves con­duct sig­nals through the body.

Mar­tin Dubuc

“As part of our as­pi­ra­tion in dig­i­tal health, to­geth­er with MedRhythms we aim to ad­vance a new, in­no­v­a­tive treat­ment op­tion for peo­ple liv­ing with MS that may help ad­dress walk­ing im­pair­ment, a com­mon is­sue that im­pacts their over­all qual­i­ty of life,” Bio­gen’s head of dig­i­tal health Mar­tin Dubuc said.

While the dig­i­tal MS ther­a­py is still in fea­si­bil­i­ty stud­ies, if it reach­es ap­proval, it would be the first pre­scrip­tion dig­i­tal ther­a­py for a con­di­tion that af­fects many pa­tients who have MS.

Bio­gen is not the on­ly phar­ma com­pa­ny try­ing to get in­to dig­i­tal ther­a­peu­tics. Just last week, Sanofi penned a mul­ti-year deal with Dar­i­o­Health, which is push­ing AI-based apps for man­ag­ing a va­ri­ety of chron­ic health con­di­tions.

MedRhythms’ ap­proach fo­cus­es most­ly on pre­scrip­tion treat­ments for con­di­tions re­lat­ed to neu­ro­log­i­cal dis­eases, lever­ag­ing a form of mu­sic ther­a­py known as “Rhyth­mic Au­di­to­ry Stim­u­la­tion.” The com­pa­ny al­so boasts a dig­i­tal walk­ing ther­a­py for pa­tients re­cov­er­ing from stroke, which re­ceived a break­through de­vice des­ig­na­tion from the FDA in 2020.

Otonomy may be shutting down, but the lessons learned there will live on at another biotech working on new treatments for hearing loss.

San Francisco-based Spiral Therapeutics has bought certain assets related to three of Otonomy’s programs, ranging from data, patent rights, and know-how to inventory. That includes data around Otonomy’s twice-failed lead program, OTO-104 (Otividex), a sustained-exposure formulation of dexamethasone.

Paul McKenzie took over as CEO of Australian pharma giant CSL this month, following in the footsteps of long-time CSL vet Paul Perreault.

With an eye on mRNA, and quickly commercializing its new, $3.5 million-per-shot gene therapy for hemophilia B, McKenzie and chief medical officer Bill Mezzanotte answered some questions from Endpoints News this afternoon about where McKenzie is going to take the company and what advances may be coming to market from CSL’s pipeline. Below is a lightly edited transcript.

Boehringer Ingelheim reported human pharma sales of €18.5 billion on Wednesday, led by type 2 diabetes and heart failure drug Jardiance and pulmonary fibrosis med Ofev. Jardiance sales reached €5.8 billion, growing 39% year over year, while Ofev took in €3.2 billion, notching its own 20.6% annual jump.

However, Boehringer is also looking ahead with its pipeline, estimating “In the next seven years the company expects about 20 regulatory approvals in human pharma.”