The alarming scale of the opioid use disorder (OUD) epidemic has resulted in unprecedented human and economic devastation, and there is significant opportunity for digital tools to alter the gold standard of care to one that is ongoing and on-demand.
The epidemic has only worsened since the onset of COVID-19, given heightened economic instability, social isolation, disruption to transportation...
axialHealthcare, maker of a platform for managing substance use disorder (SUD) patients, has closed $15 million in Series C funding. The raise was headlined by the Nashville company's existing investors, a list that includes Oak HC/FT, .406 Ventures, BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners and Sandbox Advantage Fund.
WHAT THEY DO
Founded in 2012, axialHealthcare's earlier iteration focused on...
The opioid epidemic has devastated the US with soaring rates of overdoses. While the drug Narcan can be used as an antidote for opioid overdoses, if a patient is alone they cannot always administer the medication.
Now researchers from Purdue University are looking to tackle this problem with a wearable system that will release the antidote automatically.
“A lot of time patients who overdoes are...
Google has been busy recently. Just in the past week it has closed down its Google Fit website, launched a new drug disposal tool and announced the first clinical use of Verily’s machine learning tool for diabetic related diseases.
Below is a look at three of the company’s digital health announcements in the last week.
Addressing the opioid crisis
It started last Wednesday when Google...
Duke University has received about $500,000 in grant money from Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina to build an app designed to help doctors and patients work together to prevent opioid abuse.
The investment is part of $2 million in grants distributed earlier this week by Blue Cross NC across five organizations tackling the opioid crisis in different ways, which in turn is part of a $10...
About the Authors: Dan Gebremedhin (@dangebremedhin) is a Partner at Flare Capital Partners, a Healthcare Technology and Services focused VC Firm. He is a practicing physician at the Massachusetts General Hospital, previously served as a Medical Director at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Plan and spent time as an entrepreneur in the health IT industry.
Isobel Rosenthal (@isobelrosenthal) was a...
The FDA has announced the winners of the opioid addiction innovation challenge the agency launched last May. Out of more than 250 applications from medical device developers, the FDA selected eight winners.
"While these products will not automatically receive marketing authorization from the FDA, the device developers will receive increased interaction with CDRH experts, guidance for clinical...
Following in the footsteps of its parent company, Instagram is looking reduce its potential role in the ongoing opioid epidemic.
Whenever a user searches a drug or substance-related term on the platform, they will now be served a popup that includes a link to addiction and drug misuse resources. Should users click through the popup alert, Instagram redirects to a webpage asking users whether they...
The US’s struggle with opioid addiction rages on, and Facebook seems to have heard critics’ warnings about social media’s role in the epidemic. During an event yesterday, representatives from the company announced that users trying to purchase opioids or find addiction treatment through their platform will be redirected to information about a federal crisis helpline, according to reports from...
Treating the opioid epidemic has challenged researchers and providers for years. Looking at patient adherence — both to opioid substitutes and painkillers — has been an avenue several companies have begun to look at.
Recently Toronto-based nGageIT has unveiled its latest digital health product, NanoSmart, which can use a patient’s breath to determine their medication adherence. The platform...
