The state of Ohio announced five ideas that won a contest for a technology concepts that can reduce drug abuse and addiction. The winners were awarded $10,000 each for their ideas.
Harm Reduction Ohio entered the idea of developing fentanyl test strips to help users know how much fentanyl is in a drug mixture. Existing immunoassay fentanyl test strips tell users only whether fentanyl is present or not, even in trace amounts, but give no indication on the amount of fentanyl. Harm Reduction Ohio’s idea was not chosen. (Read HRO’s idea for a PREVENT-OD Drug Test Strip.)
The contest’s winners were:
Prize winners were:
- Kinametechs of Cincinnati, which proposed an augmented reality coaching system, using motion tracking technologies to customize a patient’s physical rehabilitation routine. The team believes enhanced physical therapy could reduce the need for prescription pain medication.
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Kelly Cashion of Dayton
The University of Dayton Research Institute, which pitched graduate student Kelly Cashion’s research in neurofeedback. The research is to be applied to technology that uses neurological sensors to provide real-time information to patients about their brain activity. Patients could be empowered to better understand the effects of addiction on the brain, take back control and accelerate their path toward recovery.
- Judson Brewer of Worcester, Massachusetts, who suggested a digital tool centered on mindfulness psychology that is based on his nationally known Craving to Quit program. Brewer wants to apply his program to opioid addiction.
- Lee Barrus of Orem, Utah, and his team at InteraSolutions’ idea of an opioids abuse risk assessment screening app. Medical professionals could flag at-risk patients and direct them toward alternative methods of pain management.
- The Edification Project in Boston, which suggested a virtual reality technology to make teens and young adults aware of dangers associated with opioid abuse. Virtual reality could frame attitudes toward drug abuse.
Read Harm Reduction Ohio’s Prevent-OD Drug Test Strip proposal.