Prescribing Personalized Nutrition: Defining Digital Therapeutics

The co-founders discuss their backgrounds and interests. For Dr. Schröder, this was clinical medicine and biomedical research. On the other hand, Dominik had prior experience with finance, law and e-commerce. Their combination of skills made it possible to establish Perfood as a startup and run successful clinical trials. Perfood seeks to empower consumers to learn more about their own glycemic reactions that result from different types of foods in their diet. The components of the product include a continuous glucose monitor and access to an app that will make dietary recommendations with the goal of lowering a patient’s glycemic index. This idea was spurred by the recognition of a link between blood glucose and various chronic diseases, as well as a lack of access to nutritional therapy.

We discuss the true meaning of a “digital therapeutic,” which is a software (which has been clinically evaluated and regulated) that can induce a treatment effect. With Perfood, the intended treatment effect is to help patients modify their lifestyle and lower blood glucose levels. Due to Germany’s centralized healthcare system, Perfood can be prescribed by any physician and patients will be fully reimbursed for the cost. So far, it has been approved in Germany for treatment and prevention of migraines. Dr. Schröder emphasizes that patients who experience the most success with Perfood are people who are motivated and able to make changes to their diet. The company aims to conduct more clinical trials that explore nutrition as a treatment for diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases, chronic inflammatory diseases, and malignancy. Perfood takes a patient-first approach by collaborating with patient advocacy groups and soliciting feedback from early users. Perfood is also exploring new markets in the United States and looking to partner with institutions to start pilot projects.