GAIA’s AI-driven products based on proven, powerful benefits for physicians and patients

Privately-held company GAIA has had more than a front-row seat to observe the arrival of digital therapeutics and applications of AI in pharma over the past quarter century.

Instead, the company - which is focused on the development of evidence-based, safe and accessible AI-powered DTx products that help patients restore and maintain their mental and physical health - has played a major role in driving the emerging field.

This is evident from GAIA’s range, which contains in excess of 25 DTx products that have been examined in more than 25 finalized randomized clinical trials (RCTs), across more than 7,000 patients, and appeared in leading medical journals.

Its digital therapeutics are developed as therapeutic solutions for physicians, psychotherapists and payers who require reliable effect sizes and cost savings.

GAIA’s broca platform is an AI engine using machine learning and probability models, and was originally developed in collaboration with the aerospace corporation Airbus.

The company’s team of around 250 multidisciplinary experts includes physicians, psychotherapists, software engineers and legal and regulatory staff, as well as market access specialists.

Potential to add revenue streams and differentiate

Having led all of this since GAIA was set up 25 years ago, chief executive and founder Mario Weiss (pictured, above) has seen the emerging potential of this AI-powered technology in the pharma industry, including its capacity to open new revenue streams.

“Several countries are treating digital therapies like drugs, meaning full reimbursement if they’re proven to be effective in RCTs and prescribed by physicians,” Dr Weiss said.

“Secondly, where our partners were co-promoting our software together with the drugs, they saw an increase in drug sales. It seems to be a kind of halo effect of innovation - the sales force talks about something innovative, and it falls back also on the drug. And the sales reps get easy access with a new story to tell the physician.

“One of our partners said 'We have a holistic offer now, so we’re seen as more trustworthy by the physician, offering both sides, the molecule and the digital therapeutic in this indication, tackling a burden the physician has'. Then, of course, you can develop digital therapeutics that have the objective of enhancing drug compliance.

“If I have a drug and a digital therapeutic, and I provide a better outcome to the physician, to the patient, I have a better value offer. I can differentiate.”

To learn more about GAIA’s products and partnering opportunities, please visit the  company’s partnering page.

Clear, tangible benefits in an uncertain field

With so much talk about AI and its potential, an important start when working in the field is having a clear definition of what the term actually means, along with seeing the advantages and challenges of deterministic versus generative/probabilistic AI.

“We’d like to stick with one of the first definitions, which is that AI is something that a human would feel as human - the computer interacts in a way that the patient has the feeling “this feels like a good physician, a good physiotherapist” - that’s our definition,” Dr Weiss said.

“In a deterministic world, you have the advantage that you can control the outcome very well, and the disadvantage that it’s not super-adaptive to edge cases.

“With generative/probabilistic AI, the large language models, you can tailor it very well to the very specific situation, to the environment, to edge cases but you can’t control it in the same way, which then leads to regulatory problems, and potential side effects in particular.”

At the crux of all this is a multi-billion dollar question: what functions in healthcare will AI take over in the near future?

“When you look at physician work, a lot is behavioural change with patients,” Dr Weiss said. “You talk to your patient, you want to change the things they do, how they take their drugs, lifestyle change, you want to reduce their fears around the therapy. This is, of course, very time-intensive, very emotion-intensive work, sometimes with very emotional patients, and physicians are not so well trained to do this, especially under time pressure. There, I think AI will play a crucial role.

Innovation rooted in research

Having been in the field since the start, Dr Weiss saw a lot of resistance and rejection of the technology from physicians to begin with.

“This has changed totally, they see us as their tool now,” he said.

Jesse M Ehrenfeld, president of the American Medical Association stated recently: “AI will not replace physicians. But physicians that do not use AI will be replaced - by physicians that do.” It describes very well the current attitude of physicians who use our software.

“So, we see a lot of support from physician organizations, they say “This is better than many humans, better than my overworked junior physician. I can treat more patients and go home earlier.” It’s definitely disruptive - but in a very positive way.

GAIA wants to partner with pharma in three major ways.

“One is where we have fully developed products, and it’s about marketing them in Europe and globally,” Dr Weiss said. “Secondly, we run R&D projects in several areas, and we want to create a more holistic offer - a drug software combination would be a perfect fit. The third one is we’re looking for a partner to develop in the field of compliance enhancement, someone interested in boosting drug compliance.”

GAIA currently is developing new products in dermatology, autism and ADHD.

Existing products provide therapy in depression, anxiety, borderline personality disorder, and in neurological indications like multiple sclerosis and epilepsy. In addition, compliance enhancement products are in development.

The company’s assets in mental health offer a form of psychotherapy, providing a treatment relating to cognitive and emotional processes, and given alongside drugs, which address the chemical side.

Overall, GAIA’s approach is to embrace a future where healthcare is not just a treatment, but a holistic and empowering experience. Through patient-centered innovation and collaborative partnerships, the company is confident in having a lasting impact on the global healthcare landscape.

Dr Weiss is positive of this impact, even in a field where new players can be quick to make bold and unsubstantiated claims.

“If you look at the real strong track record of successful research, that’s us,” he said. “We are scientifically super-solid - it’s about long-term data, top analysis, strong foundations and continuous optimization. That’s GAIA, 25 years of solid research.”