Youngstown Daily Legal News

Four opioid challenge winners awarded $1M for tech solutions

KEITH ARNOLD
Special to the Legal News
Published: September 6, 2019

Cleveland-based University Hospitals represented the Buckeye State this week in the state's award of four $1 million prizes to Ohio Opioid Technology Challenge winners.

The hospital's team developed an app, UH Care Continues, intended to prevent abuse and addiction, and overdoses related to opioids.

According to state development officials, the app creates a safety net for patients as they leave the hospital and return to their communities by providing them access to the hospital's resource network.

Specifically, the app streamlines workflows and interventions to ensure care is provided at the right time, place and cost.

Since its introduction, University Hospitals estimated that it has kept 12,000 opioid pills out of the community in eight months.

"As our state and country continue to battle the opioid epidemic, Ohio is dedicated to advancing bold, creative, innovative technologies that attack this devastating issue head-on," said Lydia L. Mihalik, director of the Ohio Development Services Agency and chair of the Ohio Third Frontier Commission.

Launched nearly two years ago, the challenge, devised by the Ohio Third Frontier and global science and tech network NineSigma, made an $8 million commitment to advance new ideas in the battle against opioid drug abuse and addiction.

Twelve finalists each were awarded $200,000 last year to further develop their innovations, and the competition phase ended with today's $1 million prize winners chosen from the finalists.

Development officials anticipated formation of a new company by year's end to support the commercialization of UH Care Continues.

Additionally, the health system is working with Bush Consulting to replicate the immediate impact on the opioid crisis among other Ohio-based health systems and hospitals.

Other challenge award winners included:

• Brave Technology Coop of Vancouver, British Columbia, for development of its Brave Button, a device that can be installed in the home of a person struggling with addiction or opioid use. When activated, the quarter-sized button immediately requests supervision or support in response to opioid overdose or other emergency situations. The device aims to reduce overdoses and deaths from opioid use by providing a safe and trusted way to ask for help.

• DynamiCare Health of Boston for its app, DynamiCare, which facilitates testing, medical support, scheduling and more. Patients are scheduled for breath or saliva tests and self-administer and submit them through the app over selfie video. The program can be used for recovery from drugs and opioids, alcohol or tobacco.

• Prapela of Concord, Mass., for development of the Stochastic Vibrotactile Stimulation, a small mattress that generates a gentle, random vibration that replaces rapid breathing and irregular heart rates of opioid-addicted infants. The treatment is non habit-forming and doesn't disrupt sleep schedules of the babies.

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