The federal government wants to develop a smartphone application to connect people overdosing on heroin with people nearby carrying naloxone, the drug that can save overdose victims.
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This competition builds on work announced in the FDA’s Opioids Action Plan and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Opioid Initiative (PDF – 350KB) to take concrete steps toward reducing the impact of opioid misuse, dependence and overdose on American families and communities by making naloxone more accessible. Final app prototypes are due by November 7, at which point a panel of judges from the FDA, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will award $40,000 to the winning app.
A report published in The Hill informed, “The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Monday that it is looking for computer programmers, public health advocates, clinical researchers, entrepreneurs and innovators to develop a mobile phone application that can connect an opioid user experiencing an overdose with a nearby carrier of Naloxone, a prescription drug that acts as an overdose antidote”.
To be blunt, From 2000 to 2014 almost half a million people in the US died from drug overdoses. and these numbers include heroin and prescription opioids, with the majority, six out of 10, being overdose deaths from opioid pain relievers.
To that end, the FDA just announced the 2016 Naloxone App Competition.
Naloxone is now only available in the U.S.by prescription, but many states have taken steps to make it more readily accessible to first responders, community-based organizations and laypersons, including friends and family of opioid users. The FDA contends that many of those deaths could have been prevented if people experiencing an overdose had immediately received naloxone to stop or reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. The FDA will host a two-day code-a-thon virtually and on its campus October 19-20, where participants will develop early concepts. All code from the competition will be made open-source and publicly available.
It’s part of a partnership with police, Denver Health and other groups fighting a crisis that’s seen more than 6,900 drug overdose deaths in Colorado since 2006. The highest- scoring entrant will receive an award of $40,000. The FDA fast-tracked the review of a nasal spray form of the antidote, called Narcan, which first responders were more easily able to deliver as opioid overdoses rapidly rose across the country. The drug also is available in NY without a prescription at pharmacies.
In his interview with the LA Times, Lurie acknowledged the app idea does not come without challenges, particularly legal ones because the drug can only be obtained through a prescription in some places.
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This summer, health and law enforcement officials have been overwhelmed by staggering numbers of heroin overdoses in cities across the country, made worse by the risky new opioids with which it’s being cut.
