Who are Big Health, and why do we exist?

Welcome! You’ve found this page,so you’ve found Big Health. We’re glad to have you with us.

You might already be familiarwith Big Health - we are a UK-founded SME that develops evidence-based digitaltreatments for common mental health conditions like insomnia, anxiety, anddepression. But in case you don’t know the full story, here’s a short explainerof who we are and why we exist. 

Let’s start at the beginning.

Big Health was founded in 2010by clinical psychologist Professor Colin Espie (now Professor of Sleep Medicineat the University of Oxford) and insomnia sufferer Peter Hames.

A few months earlier, Peterdeveloped insomnia out of the blue. It quickly turned his life upside down:from work to relationships to health to mood, insomnia affected everything inhis life. He felt lost and alone, and he knew he needed help.

Peter had studied psychology atuniversity, so he knew the recommended treatment for insomnia was somethingcalled Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBTi for short). It’srecommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE forshort, a.k.a. the UK’s health watchdog that writes clinical guidelines). Petermade an appointment with his NHS GP and asked for a course of CBTi. 

The GP informed Peter that CBTiwasn’t available in his area - in fact, it was scarcely available anywhere inEngland, with years of waiting lists - and instead prescribed a pack ofsleeping pills.

Peter didn’t want to take thesleeping pills. He’d read about the adverse side effects and the lack oflong-term effectiveness. So instead, he found a book on CBTi and committed toself-administering the course. Within 6 weeks of using the book, Peter’s insomniawas cured. He was back to a healthy sleep pattern, felt happier, and was ableto work.

At first, Peter thought: wow,this is amazing! Then: wow, why was that so hard? Why was it so easy to getsleeping pills but so hard to get CBTi? How can we make it easier for people toaccess the safe, evidence-based treatment they need?

Peter found the author of thebook - Professor Colin Espie - and together they decided to do just that.

They founded Big Health anddeveloped a digital treatment called Sleepio, which delivers clinical-gradeCBTi via a smartphone app or online programme - whichever a patient prefers.The company’s first act was to conduct a randomised controlled trial (RCT forshort, a.k.a. the gold-standard for clinical trials) on Sleepio, to testwhether it was safe and effective. This was not about making any old app - thiswas about developing a proven, clinical-grade treatment that GPs and patientscould trust.

The results were clear: 76% ofpoor sleepers achieved healthy sleep after using Sleepio.

15 years and another 12 clinicaltrials later, here at Big Health we remain committed to answering that samequestion Peter asked: How can we make it easier for people to access the safe,evidence-based treatment they need?

We have expanded the treatmentswe offer to help more people suffering from common mental health conditions.Alongside Sleepio for insomnia, we have developed Daylight, a digital treatmentfor anxiety, and SparkRx, a digital treatment for depression. Daylight andSparkRx are following the same path as Sleepio: co-development with clinicalexperts and patients, followed by rigorous testing in clinical trials to provethey are safe and effective.

Lastly, you might be wondering -why the name Big Health?

For the past few decades, wehave lived in an era dominated by a different industry: Big Pharma. Often,pharmaceuticals do a lot of good and help a lot of people. However, there hasbeen a problem: psychological treatment has not progressed at the same rate.

Pharma companies have had amonopoly on treatments that are evidence-based (i.e. proven in clinicaltrials), easy to scale (i.e. possible to mass-manufacture and distributeworldwide), and reimbursable (i.e. funded by healthcare systems). Psychologicaltreatments such as CBT have struggled to compete: there is a lack of trainedtherapists to meet the scale of demand for mental health services, so waitinglists grow longer and longer, and people can’t access the care they need. 

This often leads to a situationwhere pharmaceuticals are the default, even if it’s not the best option foryour health.

Digital treatment changes this.At last, psychological treatment can be tested in clinical trials, proven towork, and made available to millions of people at the touch of a button. Thatmeans no more monopoly for Big Pharma, no more overreliance on pharmaceuticals,no more conversations like the one Peter had with his GP. Finally, people havethe choice to access the treatment that’s best for their health.

That’s why we’re called BigHealth. We exist to make psychological treatment just as accessible aspharmaceuticals, so that Big Pharma isn’t the only option.

This is a new era of healthcare,with your health at its heart, and we’re proud to be a part of it.