Digital therapeutics (DTx) has moved from a niche category into one of the most closely watched segments in healthcare innovation. As regulators begin to define clearer pathways, payers push for outcomes-based care, and providers face mounting pressure to scale treatment beyond traditional settings, software-driven interventions are stepping into a critical gap. Unlike general wellness apps, digital therapeutics are designed to deliver clinically validated outcomes, often targeting chronic conditions that account for the majority of global healthcare spending.
What makes this moment particularly important is convergence. Advances in behavioral science, AI, remote monitoring, and regulatory acceptance are allowing founders to build companies that function more like pharmaceutical platforms than apps. From FDA-authorized treatments to payer-reimbursed care models, the leaders below are shaping what a software-first healthcare system could look like in practice.
Kevin Appelbaum
Co-founder & Former CEO, Better Therapeutics
Kevin Appelbaum helped position Better Therapeutics at the forefront of prescription digital therapeutics by focusing on cardiometabolic diseases, one of the most expensive and pervasive categories in healthcare. The company’s approach, delivering cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) through software to treat conditions like type 2 diabetes, marked a shift away from symptom management toward root-cause intervention.
Under his leadership, Better Therapeutics advanced products through FDA pathways, signaling growing regulatory acceptance of software-based treatments. His work reflects a broader industry shift: digital therapeutics are no longer experimental; they are entering the same clinical and commercial arenas as traditional drugs.
Frank Karbe
CEO, Better Therapeutics
Frank Karbe brought deep biopharma experience into the digital therapeutics space, previously serving as CFO of Myovant Sciences. His transition into DTx underscores a growing trend of pharmaceutical executives moving into software-driven healthcare models.
At Better Therapeutics, Karbe is focused on commercialization and scaling, particularly navigating reimbursement and payer adoption. His role highlights a key inflection point for the industry: clinical validation alone is no longer enough; distribution and economic alignment are becoming the defining challenges.
Peter Hames
Co-founder & CEO, Big Health
Peter Hames co-founded Big Health to address mental health conditions through scalable, non-drug interventions. Its flagship products target insomnia and anxiety using evidence-based techniques delivered digitally.
Big Health’s partnerships with employers and health systems reflect increasing demand for accessible mental health solutions. Hames’ work highlights a key advantage of digital therapeutics: the ability to deliver consistent, high-quality care without the bottlenecks of traditional provider networks.
Debra Reisenthel
Founding CEO, Palo Alto Health Sciences (now Freespira)
Debra Reisenthel has focused her efforts on addressing addiction and behavioral health through digital therapeutics. Her work reflects a growing recognition that some of the most complex and underserved conditions may benefit from software-based interventions.
By targeting areas where traditional treatment models often fall short, Palo Alto Health Sciences is part of a broader movement to expand the scope of what digital therapeutics can address, moving beyond common chronic diseases into more nuanced behavioral conditions.
Where Digital Therapeutics Goes From Here
The digital therapeutics sector is entering a more disciplined phase that is defined less by experimentation and more by execution. Clinical validation, regulatory clarity, and payer adoption are no longer future milestones; they are present-day requirements. The founders leading this space are not just building products; they are redefining how treatment is delivered, measured, and scaled.
As healthcare systems continue to shift toward outcomes-based models, digital therapeutics is likely to play an increasingly central role. The question is no longer whether software can treat disease, but how broadly and effectively it can be deployed.
For more on emerging leaders shaping healthcare innovation, see our related listicle on rising digital health founders to watch.
