[Edaily Reporter Kim Seung-kwon ] “We are moving from an era of manufacturing products to an era of creating intelligence. While global Big Tech companies, including Google, are intensifying their push into large language models (LLMs), Welt is building digital therapeutic intelligence using real, patient-centered data accumulated from actual prescribing practices.”

Kang Seong-ji, CEO of Welt, has highlighted “patient data” as a survival strategy for digital therapeutic devices amid the surge in generative artificial intelligence (AI). Unlike general-purpose large language models (LLMs) trained on academic papers and online information, the company plans to develop “therapeutic intelligence” that predicts diseases and intervenes based on patient-specific data accumulated in actual clinical settings.

Welt expects sales of 5 billion won this year. SleepQ is designed for insomnia patients to use for six weeks with a single prescription, and the prescription price is approximately 250,000 won. According to the company, some subscribers to indemnity health insurance can reduce their out-of-pocket costs through insurance coverage. As of July of this year, the number of healthcare professionals registered with the National Evidence-based Healthcare Research Institute (NECA) who are authorized to prescribe SleepQ exceeded 1,000. The company is dispelling industry concerns that an initial market launch would be difficult and is proving a new formula for success as a leading domestic digital therapeutic. PharmDaily met with CEO Kang Seong-ji to hear specifics about this year’s business performance.

A Survival Strategy Learned from the Downfall of Akili and Fair… “We Set Aside Autocracy and Built an Ecosystem”

The reason Welt was able to establish itself in the prescription market in such a short time and reach a clear turning point was that it learned from the painful failures of leading global DTx companies. CEO Kang closely interacted with first-generation global entrepreneurs—such as Professor Adam Gazali, founder of the U.S.-based company “Akili,” whose corporate value skyrocketed to the trillions after receiving U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval—and observed their rise and fall firsthand.

CEO Kang attributed Akili’s failure to the “lack of a fertile ground (ecosystem)” and “autocratic management.” He recalled, “I’m close enough with Akili’s founder to spend weekends together whenever he visits Korea. However, observing their business approach taught me the hard lesson that ‘they likely failed because they couldn’t build an industry ecosystem.’”

His analysis is that, at a time when they should have been building partnerships and laying the groundwork for the entire industry, they instead pursued a “one-man show” by unilaterally shifting to the B2C (business-to-consumer) market—a move that led to the market rejecting them. Market acceptance was woefully insufficient for consumers to pay over 100,000 won and purchase the app on their own, without a doctor’s prescription or institutional backing.

Taking this as a lesson, CEO Kang implemented a localization strategy centered on thoroughly building out the ecosystem. He chose to work together to cultivate the barren soil of the domestic digital therapeutic device industry, even willingly ceding the prestigious title of “Korea’s First” to competitors. CEO Kang emphasized, “While a single company may achieve fleeting success, solid ground is essential for a paradigm shift. To nurture that ecosystem, Welt has boldly shared its know-how with competitors.”

In particular, Welt opened up a blue ocean by creating a perfect revenue model that benefits both hospitals and patients. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), traditionally recommended for insomnia patients, requires doctors to conduct weekly one-hour consultations with patients; however, with reimbursement rates of only around 400,000 won, it was effectively shunned by domestic university hospitals, where patient turnover is critical. In response, Welt set the prescription fee for SleepQ’s 6-week program at around 250,000 won, creating a niche market where doctors could generate a solid profit with just a 3-minute consultation. At the same time, patients were able to receive high-quality treatment with a minimal out-of-pocket cost of about 20,000 won thanks to coverage under their health insurance, leading to an explosive increase in prescriptions in actual clinical settings.

The company also demonstrated bold decisiveness by seizing the opportunity presented by the bankruptcy of a global industry leader. When Fair Therapeutics—which had commercialized the world’s first prescription-based digital therapeutic device—went bankrupt, CEO Kang immediately jumped into the Delaware court auction. After paying 100 million won just for the auction entry fee, he personally verified the global-scale data and swiftly acquired the migraine-related pipeline assets for a mere $50,000. CEO Kang hinted, “The migraine pipeline we acquired at that time was an asset we secured by anticipating a future of explosive advancements in AI technology, and now is the time to combine that asset with AI to demonstrate its value to the market.”

Navigation Beyond Paper Maps (CBT)… Taking on Google and Big Tech with ‘Clinical Smart’

Currently, Welt is attempting a quantum leap from simple CBT software for overcoming insomnia to “AI therapeutic intelligence” integrated with large language models (LLMs). CEO Kang likened existing standardized cognitive behavioral therapy to a static “paper map” and declared a groundbreaking paradigm shift.

He emphasized, “If traditional CBT is a static paper map that simply copies textbook content verbatim, the AI therapeutic intelligence we are developing is a navigation system that reflects the patient’s real-time variables and daily life to guide them along the optimal path.” He continued, “Patients with insomnia aren’t lacking sleep itself; rather, they are unable to get good sleep during the ‘golden time’ when they should be sleeping. Just as a navigation system alerts users to real-time traffic congestion and roadwork, Welt’s AI analyzes a patient’s real-time daily routine to proactively predict and guide them—for example, by saying, ‘It looks like you won’t be able to fall asleep tonight, so take your medication at exactly this time.’”

To this end, Welt has pioneered the introduction of “Dr. Seom,” an AI assistant that communicates in a friendly manner via KakaoTalk with patients prescribed SleepQ. Patients use the familiar KakaoTalk platform to chat with the AI—sharing everything from a record of the cup of coffee they drank the previous afternoon to their current fatigue levels. Based on this information, the AI meticulously learns the patient’s lifestyle patterns and suggests the optimal time to take their medication. Thanks to this close monitoring, the patient dropout rate in actual prescription settings has been a mere 2%, resulting in an overwhelmingly high rate of treatment adherence.

CEO Kang asserted that this “real-world data,” accumulated layer by layer from clinical settings, is Welt’s unique and powerful patent barrier capable of fending off the fierce onslaught from Big Tech. CEO Kang emphasized this clear distinction, stating, “If the AI developed by general-purpose AI companies like Google is what we call ‘Book Smart’—having studied only academic papers and medical textbooks—then Welt’s AI is ‘Clinical Smart,’ having completed a hospital residency program while monitoring actual patients up close.” This is a meticulous strategy to win the global platform competition by leveraging intelligence that provides specialist-level insights.

Ultimately, Welt’s main competitors are not startups in the same industry but global Big Tech companies, including Google. Welt has embarked on a massive “reimagining” of its business, expanding its pipeline beyond insomnia to include all diseases, such as binge-eating disorder and migraines. To this end, it is building a converged ecosystem with leading pharmaceutical companies like Handok and Ildong Pharmaceutical and accelerating the development of combination therapies that create synergies with existing drugs.

CEO Kang outlined the company’s vision, stating, “Our core goal is to become the company that best understands and predicts patients’ diseases worldwide.” He added, “To compete head-on with global pharmaceutical companies and big tech firms, we plan to proceed without a hitch with securing substantial capital through a KOSDAQ initial public offering (IPO) next year.”