Ohio Awards Latest Prizes in Opioid Science Challenge

Julie Carr Smyth, Associated Press

updated

9:48 PDT, Wednesday, September 12, 2018

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Ohio on Wednesday awarded another $ 2.4 million prize package as part of its global technology challenge to seek scientific breakthroughs to solve the opioid crisis in the United States.

The dozens of winners from six states and Canada were judged to be the most promising of the approximately 60 proposals submitted during the second phase of the Ohio Opioid Challenge.

Each winning team receives $ 200,000 to advance its technical solution. Among the winning ideas was a device for treating withdrawal symptoms in opioid-dependent infants and a glove that changes color when first responders come in contact with an opioid.

Ohio Third Frontier Commission President David Goodman, whose high-tech development group is leading the effort, said that since its launch last fall, the competition had attracted attention of the whole world.

"We asked the world to think outside the box, to be creative and to send us their ideas," Goodman said. "They came from average citizens, researchers and health professionals, as well as people personally affected by opioid addiction."

The challenge came under the impetus of Ohio Republican Governor John Kasich, a potential presidential candidate in the 2020 presidential election who called in his speech on the state of the art. 39; State last year to invest 20 million dollars to generate scientific and technological ideas to combat this scourge. Ohio and other US states

What the panel proposed was a two-pronged effort, which included the $ 8 million Ohio Opioids Technology Challenge and a research and development grant program. The commissioners allocated up to $ 12 million in grants and awarded $ 10 million.

The winners announced Wednesday are eligible for four $ 1 million scholarships that will be available in the final phase of the challenge. Focused on refining and priming technical concepts for the market, the latest phase begins immediately and continues until September 2019, officials said.

The winners of the second phase were:

– Apportis LLC, Dublin, Ohio: for an integrated platform that allows patients to connect electronically to licensed healthcare professionals and opioid-dependent resources. The platform would be accessible in clinics, hospitals, shelters and kiosks.

– Brave Technology Coop, Vancouver, Canada: For an online platform, including a mobile app, for remote monitoring of people who use drugs in isolation, providing community support and access to prevention and response overdoses.

– DynamiCare Health, Boston: for a digital platform using incentives that support recovery to help patients with opioid dependence.

– Innovative Health Solutions, Versailles, Indiana: For a device using electrical nerve stimulation behind the ear of a patient to treat opioid withdrawal symptoms.

– InteraSolutions, Orem, Utah: For an opioid risk screening application that identifies patients with risk factors for opioid abuse.

– OpiSafe.com, Denver, Colorado: For an automated patient monitoring system for opioid prescribers providing alerts related to factors such as opioid dosage, pain levels and toxicological findings.

– Prapela, Inc., Concord, Massachusetts: For a vibrating pad specifically designed to help treat opioid-exposed newborns with postnatal withdrawal syndrome.

– relink.org, Aurora, Ohio: For a website that allows people with addictions to find recovery service providers and develop databases and pilot studies.

– University of Akron, Akron, Ohio: For a specially designed glove that will change color upon contact with an opioid first responder.

– University Hospitals, Cleveland: For computer-aided dispatch technology for real-time monitoring and monitoring of opioids.

– University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin: For a smartphone app that uses a suite of tools to increase the patient's coping ability, recovery motivation, and emotional support to prevent relapse of patients. 39, opioid abuse.

– Vuronyx Technologies, Woburn, Massachusetts: For portable, stand-alone paper testing test cards that allow first responders, law enforcement officers, health professionals, and investigators to test quickly and reliably the presence of opioids.