The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched a competition focussing on innovative technologies to combat the rising problem of accidental opioid overdoses.
The FDA, supported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), hopes the 2016 Naloxone App Competition will attract entrants from a range of disciplines and sectors, include innovators, entrepreneurs, clinical researchers, public health advocates and computer programmers.
Link to antidote
The contest is focussed on the creation of a mobile phone app, which could connect overdosing opioid users with naloxone carriers nearby. The prescription drug naloxone is an antidote to opioid overdose.
The FDA hopes this app could hasten the administration of the overdose antidote, to prevent unnecessary deaths. App-based solutions could be released much faster than, for example, new drugs, which have to go through the FDA 510k clearance process, a process which is often speeded up by working with organisations such as www.fdathirdpartyreview.com.
Continuing efforts
The contest aims to build on work announced in the Opioid Initiative of the US Department of Health and Human Services, as described at http://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/Factsheet-opioids-061516.pdf, and the FDA’s Opioids Action Plan. These promote the benefits of improving naloxone accessibility in order to minimise the potential impact of opioid misuse.
The US has experienced a dramatic rise in deaths related to opioid overdoses and Doctor Robert Califf, the FDA Commissioner, believes that the new competition can allow innovators to help in the battle to find technological solutions to the problem.
SAMHSA data shows that almost two million American people were dependent on, or abused, prescription opioids during 2014, and deaths related to both illicit and prescription opioids have increased more than three-fold since 1999.
Around 28,000 people died during 2014 alone but many of these fatalities could have been prevented with immediate naloxone treatment to reverse or stop the effects of the overdose.
Naloxone is only available to people in the States by prescription but steps are being taken in many states to increase accessibility amongst opioid users’ family and friends, community-based organisations and first responders.
The number of ordinary people (laypersons) who were provided naloxone almost tripled from 2010 to 2014, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures show, but efforts are needed to link such people with overdosing users.