You’re managing director of the digital therapeutics startup Sympatient and one of its three co-founders. You take a technology people might associate with gaming, namely virtual reality, and apply it to treat anxiety. When you explain to someone what you do, do you encounter skepticism?
For some people that aren’t very much into technology, I have to explain a bit more first. Our software runs on the private smartphone of a patient. The smartphone displays the virtual reality content, it just needs to be introduced into a device coupled with headphones that we provide. Hence, we make it very easy for everyone to use VR. As soon as people hear that, they understand how easy it will be to get treated at home going forward.

“We make it very easy for everyone to use VR”

Do you have all the virtual reality content in place already?
Yes, we cover the indications of social phobia, agoraphobia and panic disorders with our content already. In Germany alone, there are 5.2 million people with one of these indications. And it goes a lot further than just VR. Our therapy comprises several hours of psychotherapy that is delivered by videos, texts, and audio file. For every indication that we treat, we have developed unique content to provide the best care possible.

Sympatient announced a partnership with Techniker Krankenkasse at the end of January 2020. What is it about?
This is a world premiere. Techniker Krankenkasse, the biggest health insurance in Germany with more than 10 million clients, and the University Medical Center Schleswig Holstein are launching our digital anxiety therapy. Sympatient provides the therapy, including the VR solution that treats patients according to the gold-standard of care. The health insurance covers the whole cost. The offer starts in Northern Germany with two centers and will be rolled out across German subsequently. We already have interest from other health insurances and other clinics that want to offer our virtual reality-based solution as well.

Sympatient has less than a dozen employees, Techniker Krankenkasse has over 14000. How hard was it for David to work with Goliath?
I hope you’re not disappointed when I tell you that TK is no slow corporate giant but moves with surprising agility. TK is willing and well organized to push and promote novel digital care concepts. TK and Sympatient defined the service delivery for the Invirto therapy together. This process was a lot smoother than we initially expected.

Will it be much work to establish partnerships with other health insurers?
We receive many inbound requests these days of health insurances that want to work with us. The reason is that we’re the only firm worldwide offering CE-certified digital anxiety therapy that works at home, uses VR for exposure, and thus is in accordance with medical standards. This is a world first. Our solution solves the two most important problems for health insurances and patients: the long waiting time that patients had until now and we also lower the cost associated with a single patient significantly.

What will you focus on as managing director of Sympatient this year?
The acquisition of new health insurances who pay for our treatment is but one element, equally important is the acquisition of new clinics and practitioners and doctors that can prescribe our solution. And we also want to raise awareness among the patients, a majority of which aren’t even treated yet.

Will Sympatient be available just in Germany?
We see big potential in other European countries as well. Anxiety is one of the most prevalent mental health issues, and there is no solution comparable to ours on the market. The good thing is that our product is already approved as a medical device for the whole of Europe.

Virtual reality has been around for ages. If anxiety is such a large problem with millions of patients just in Germany, why has nobody tried to use virtual reality to treat it before?
Because it is incredibly challenging to solve this problem sustainably. We didn’t just create an app. We’ve come up with a solution that integrates psychotherapists and changed the delivery of high quality therapy. And this kind of innovation you cannot do as a startup alone. You need the support of established partners in the healthcare sector. Luckily, being innovative is part of the corporate identity of Techniker Krankenkasse. They have understood that we want to democratize high-tech therapy for all anxiety patients and are invaluable in supporting this healthcare innovation.

Well, now you have shown that VR makes sense in anxiety therapy. Are you not scared of copycats?
We have a really big competitive advantage. We were able to certify our medical product according to the old medical device directive in Europe. A new competitor would have not only to develop an own device first but also get it certified under the new medical device regulation, which is much more complicated. They would need to do lengthy clinical studies before they could even enter the market. Even if someone were to join the market, they would still need to reach reimbursement, which is going to be difficult in Germany, where health insurances always focus on the first mover. We have a really nice headstart.

Sympatient was just awarded EUR 1.5 million from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and was chosen amongst the 60 most promising medtech startups. What are you going to do with this money?
A part of the money is earmarked for our clinical trials at two University clinics. The biggest part of it will go into Sympatient’s product development and increase our technical competitive advantage even more.