Digital healthcare company Emocog is teaming up with Daewoong Pharmaceutical (069620.KS) to expand its digital therapeutics business for mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The two companies plan to use Daewoong's nationwide network of medical institutions to spread a digital cognitive health solution that runs from early screening for possible cognitive decline through to treatment prescribed by physicians.
Emocog said on the 22nd that it had signed a contract with Daewoong Pharmaceutical covering exclusive domestic sales, marketing and commercialization of Cogthera, a digital therapeutic for mild cognitive impairment, and Cogscreen, a digital memory test.
The partnership combines Emocog's digital cognitive health solution with Daewoong's sales and marketing capabilities across medical institutions nationwide to improve market access. The two companies plan to roll out a care pathway that extends from the early assessment of possible cognitive decline through treatment for mild cognitive impairment.
Under the contract, Daewoong Pharmaceutical will handle exclusive sales and marketing of Cogthera and Cogscreen for the next three years at domestic hospitals and clinics as well as at public health centers and other government and public institutions. The company will work to expand Cogthera prescriptions and Cogscreen testing by identifying new medical institutions, securing product adoption and providing product and academic information to physicians.
Emocog will be responsible for product supply, quality control, technical support, software upgrades, maintaining regulatory approvals and running patient support programs. The two companies will form a joint committee to set annual business plans and sales and marketing strategies, and to review adoption by medical institutions and prescription performance on a regular basis.
The core of the model the two companies aim to build is the link between early screening and treatment. After Cogscreen identifies a possible decline in cognitive function, patients who need treatment are connected to a Cogthera prescription following additional testing and a physician's assessment.
Cogthera is a physician-prescribed digital therapeutic approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for the MCI indication. It surpassed 2,000 cumulative prescriptions in August this year, about 10 months after the first prescription was written in October last year.
Indicators of repeat use after prescription are also improving. According to real-world data released by Emocog last month, 99.3% of patients in a group with an average age of 73 began training after receiving a prescription. Repeat prescriptions accounted for about 21% of all cumulative prescriptions, and the share rose to 30% in the second 1,000 prescriptions from 13% in the first 1,000.
"Cogthera has confirmed its potential for continued prescribing in clinical practice through more than 2,000 cumulative prescriptions, and our partnership with Daewoong Pharmaceutical has laid the foundation for nationwide expansion," said Lee Jun-young, co-chief executive of Emocog. "We will provide a cognitive health solution that connects early assessment through Cogscreen to treatment through Cogthera at more medical sites."
"Mild cognitive impairment is an area where early detection and a multifaceted treatment approach are very important," said Lee Chang-jae, chief executive of Daewoong Pharmaceutical. "We will draw on Daewoong Pharmaceutical's nationwide network of medical institutions and its sales capabilities to establish these products securely in clinical practice."
The two companies will begin full-scale sales and marketing activities targeting medical institutions on Oct. 1. They plan to expand the points of contact for Cogthera prescriptions and Cogscreen testing in stages by providing academic and product information to physicians and identifying new institutions that adopt the products.
