APDI offers $200,000 in grants to advance pediatric substance use dysfunction gadgets

Sep 4 2024

The Alliance for Pediatric System Innovation (APDI), a nonprofit consortium led by Kids’s Nationwide Hospital and funded by way of the Meals and Drug Administration (FDA), broadcasts in the present day the recipients of grants totaling $200,000 to advance pediatric medical gadgets that enhance the monitoring, prognosis or remedy of youth affected by substance use dysfunction and dependancy. Chosen by a panel of knowledgeable judges, every awardee receives $50,000 and alternatives for APDI assist companies throughout all phases of the medical machine product lifecycle, together with facilitating entry to technical help from the Nationwide Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). 

The 4 pediatric improvements chosen for his or her potential influence on the problem of adolescent substance misuse are: 

AltruMed, Philadelphia, Pa. – Creators of DOVE, an modern, shoulder-mounted machine designed as a security software for these most in danger from overdose toxicity. Smaller than a matchbox, DOVE employs multi-modal sensing to detect extreme respiratory melancholy and alerts bystanders and first responders. 

Levl, Brooklyn, N.Y. – Growing a distant therapeutic monitoring platform designed to deal with the crucial challenges related to stimulant remedy remedy for adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity dysfunction, a bunch at better danger for substance abuse. Based mostly on collected affected person information, Levl’s proprietary, early danger detection mechanism is designed to reinforce the security and effectiveness of stimulant remedy remedies in response to the rise in misuse and diversion amongst youth. 

Sibel Well being, Chicago, In poor health. – Suppliers of the FDA-cleared ANNE platform that features superior wearable sensors, synthetic intelligence-enabled information analytics and an built-in cellular software program and cloud platform for adolescents ages 12 and up. Grant funds might be used to change the prevailing monitoring answer to be used by sufferers and healthcare suppliers to detect opiate-induced respiratory melancholy in high-risk adolescents. 

Toivoa, Washington, D.C. – Developer of an evidence-based digital therapeutic platform that goals to extend entry to care, cut back wait occasions, present caregiver instruments and provide customized psychological well being assist. Grant funds might be used for platform modifications that handle psychological well being challenges for adolescents with twin diagnoses, together with psychological well being and substance use dysfunction, and to deal with the assist wants of caregivers. 

ADPI developed this funding initiative in response to the alarming charge of illicit drug use by U.S. youth –- about 3.6 million amongst ages 12 to 17 in 2022, as reported by the Nationwide Institutes of Well being. That 12 months, fatalities from drug overdose averaged 22 per week amongst youth ages 12 to 18, with most having no historical past of remedy for a substance use drawback or prior nonfatal overdose. 

Recognizing that drug overdose is now the third main reason behind loss of life amongst adolescents, we see an pressing have to assist new applied sciences that may assist households and suppliers handle this drawback. We look ahead to working with these grantees and see nice potential within the lifesaving and life-changing influence that their applied sciences might make attainable.” 

Kolaleh Eskandanian, Ph.D., M.B.A., vp and chief innovation officer at Kids’s Nationwide and APDI principal investigator and program director

APDI’s grant awards observe the Nationwide Advisory Council on Drug Abuse (NACDA) approval in Could 2024 of the idea “Selling Medical System Growth for Youth Affected by Drug Habit and Substance Misuse,” which describes potential funding alternatives. APDI goals to offer early assist to promising improvements, recognizing that extra funding could also be accessible from NIDA sooner or later. 

APDI is one among 5 nonprofit consortia within the FDA’s Pediatric System Consortia grant program that receives funding to offer a platform of companies, experience and grants to assist pediatric innovators in bringing medical gadgets to the market that particularly handle the unmet wants of kids. Together with Kids’s Nationwide, APDI members embrace Johns Hopkins College, CIMIT at Mass Basic Brigham, Tufts Medical Middle, MedStar Well being Analysis Institute, MedTech Shade and OrthoPediatrics Corp.