With the pedal firmly to the metal in its U.S. business—thanks in no small part to rival CPAP machine maker Philips’ ongoing recall—ResMed has begun looking beyond its home turf to extend that winning streak.
Its first target? Germany, where the San Diego-based company has said "guten tag" to a pair of local tech developers to give its growth plan a boost.
It made the first move in mid-June with the $1 billion acquisition of Medifox Dan, a software developer based in Hildesheim, Germany, with offerings that help medical facilities manage their patients and practices as well as train and educate both professional and family caregivers.
Now, ResMed is opening up its wallet once again, this time to buy out Mementor, a Leipzig-based company that’s building digital therapeutics with a focus on sleep medicine. Its flagship product is Somnio, a prescription-only app designed to help treat insomnia.
ResMed announced the acquisition Tuesday, a day after it closed. The financial terms were not disclosed.
With the deal complete, Mementor will now operate as a standalone segment within ResMed’s German business. It’s co-led by Mementor CEO Noah Lorenz and Katherina Jekerle, formerly the senior marketing director of ResMed Germany.
Using the Somnio app—which is already permanently approved as a prescription digital therapeutic in Germany—as a jumping-off point, ResMed will build on Mementor’s technology to develop other digital health tools.
Meanwhile, the Mementor segment will also take advantage of ResMed’s already sizable presence in Germany to get the Somnio app into the hands of more people across the country.
The app relies on cognitive behavioral therapy techniques to help treat insomnia. Users are led through a series of modules that teach them relaxation techniques, offer tips to change daily behaviors and thought processes that may be contributing to sleeplessness and help them track their sleep time and quality.
A 2019 study (PDF) of the digital therapeutic found that after just a few months of consistently using the app, users experienced a 50% reduction in their insomnia symptoms—with additional cuts to related symptoms of depression. They also lowered their nightly wake time by an average of 31 minutes and were able to fall asleep about 18 minutes faster than before beginning treatment with Somnio. Additionally, those effects were found to last for at least a year after beginning to use the app.