In the world of pharmaceuticals, building habits is key for supporting patient outcomes, and digital health solutions can support patient behaviour change. Whether it’s taking medications, going to appointments or maintaining a healthier lifestyle, positive long-term habits support overall health. However, when aiming to achieve health goals, making long-term changes is a challenge. This is because building habits is hard. While habits rely on consistency, our intentions are easily derailed by predictable behavioural biases. These are: -Present Bias: we often prioritize immediate relief over long-term goals, choosing short-term comfort instead of the behaviour we’re trying to build. -Moral Licensing: we tell ourselves stories that justify inconsistency (e.g., “I will just skip this one dose” or “I was too busy today”) These two forces make habit formation not just a matter of discipline, but a challenge of overcoming our own cognitive tendencies. Perhaps then it’s unsurprising that many pharmaceutical companies are turning to digital solutions to help their customers build lasting habits, to be used alongside pharmacology and sometimes even instead of. In this thought piece, HRW Digital and HRW Shift, our in-house behavioural science team, look at three real-world examples across different therapeutic areas, where digital tools are used to build habits that last. Case-study 1: GLP-1s are booming – but digital tools build lasting change GLP‑1s are everywhere, reshaping how we talk about weight and health. These medications suppress appetite and drive rapid weight loss, but many people regain weight once they stop taking them. Appetite returns, weight creeps back on, and the benefits fade. The reason is simple: GLP-1s alone do not build habits and encourage healthier living. While GLP‑1s quiet short‑term “food noise,” digital tools are emerging to build the long‑term habits needed to maintain weight loss. Let’s dive into an example: Juniper in the UK is a medically supervised programme that pairs GLP‑1 prescriptions with a digital platform designed to support sustainable lifestyle change. This includes: -Medication habits: logging your GLP-1 injections and tracking side effects -Weight loss habits: tracking your weight, tracking your waist measurement and food intake -Lifestyle habits: access to recipe ideas and exercise videos and educational content about how and why these habits are key to build Tracking and reminders help counter present bias by creating positive feedback loops that boost motivation, reinforce healthier routines and encourage long-term behaviour change. Juniper also offers on‑demand health coaching and a supportive community, another important way of encouraging the user to stick with their changes. Here, GLP-1s are communicated as part of the puzzle, not the main solution. This is a fantastic example of how digital tools can be built to work alongside pharmacology and build lasting habits long after the medication is stopped. Case study 2 – Digital solutions that build mental health habits Mental Health is a space where pharmacology can’t plug all the gaps. While medication can certainly give a patient enough relief to start to see a difference, the real change often comes from the patient themselves making changes. The key is embedding lasting, healthy habits that build both routine and self-esteem. In this case, the habits and routine themselves are the solution. And again, we are seeing digital solutions as a tool for building these habits. Let’s look at another example: Rejoyn is an FDA-approved digital therapeutic for Major Depressive Disorder, developed by Otsuka and Click Therapeutics. Rejoyn is designed to be used alongside taking an anti-depressant and includes brain-training exercises that tap into the brain’s neuroplasticity, to form new pathways that help to address depressive symptoms. This digital tool is designed to be a 6-week programme, including: -Engagement with therapy lessons 3 x per week -Engagement with brain-training exercises 3 x per week Users set their own schedule, encouraging regular engagement and integration into daily life. The programme also offers nurse support calls and motivational text messages to keep users on track. Beyond its clinical mechanism, Rejoyn helps patients build the habit of showing up for themselves, carving out time for structured exercises and experiencing small wins. Here we see that the habit and routine this solution encourages, is the remedy. Building in these exercises across the week and fostering a sense of achievement are the building blocks of improving mental health. Case study 3 – Contraceptive tools that empower women By 2026, many women are seeking contraceptive options that avoid synthetic hormones and their side effects. With limited innovation in pharmacology, many are turning to digital solutions that rely on daily habit‑building to deliver personalised contraception. Let’s look at our final example: Natural Cycles is an FDA cleared birth control app which claims 98% effectiveness with perfect use (very similar odds to the typical contraceptive pill). This ‘perfect use’ relies on the user building daily habits and engaging with the app in the same, consistent way each day, including: -Temperature tracking: Users ta0ke their basal body temperature at the exact same time each morning, which is then synced to the app -Symptom tracking: Users log moods and physical symptoms throughout the month as supportive data -Period tracking: Users log the days of their period With consistent use, the app’s algorithm identifies fertile and non‑fertile days, becoming more accurate over time. To support habit formation, Natural Cycles provides reminders, educational content around the benefits of long-term use, quizzes, and guidance to keep users engaged. User feedback revealed that daily physical temperature tracking was difficult to maintain (tracking temperature required the user to reach for their thermometer before even opening their eyes). So Natural Cycles has since integrated with wearables like Oura Ring, Apple Watch, and Fitbit. These devices automatically capture temperature data, making the habit effortless. This showcases an example of how digital tools are being optimised to support habit formation – our brains are hardwired to avoid difficult tasks – a principle called cognitive load, so having an app that automatically tracks and syncs data effortlessly means it’s easy to integrate into daily life. Conclusions: Digital tools are increasingly helping patients build better habits by countering the cognitive biases that often derail behaviour change. Through tracking, guided support, quizzes, gamification, positive reinforcement, education, and easy access to resources, these tools make long‑term habit formation more achievable. Most importantly, they reduce reliance on motivation alone. By adding structure, reminders, and built‑in support, digital tools help overcome the behavioural forces that typically cause healthy habits to fade. At HRW, we are experts in understanding what makes and breaks habits. We love working with brands to promote healthier habits and improved patient outcomes. Get in touch with our expert teams to learn more and see further case studies. Digital Health Experts HRWDigital@hrwhealthcare.com Behaviour Change Specialists shift@hrwhealthcare.com To learn more about the psychology behind habit building, check out our webinars below: -Interested in some of the psychological tricks that health apps use to keep you engaged? This webinar could be of interest -Do you want to become superhuman and build unbreakable habits? This habit hacking webinar might be for you By Alicia Henderson and Tony Jiang Apply Now!