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This is part of a series giving you an insider’s view of the products coming out of Pittsburgh to change the world.
According to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, three out of 10 people know someone who is affected by opioid addiction, and half of those people know somebody who died from opioids.
A relative of Brad Holden died from an opioid overdose. A Carnegie Mellon University-trained engineer with a Harvard MBA who also served as a Marine leader, Holden had a background that uniquely prepared him to create technology to detect overdoses.
He recruited Charlie Proctor, a Yale-trained computer scientist, and the two founded Resilient Lifescience. Proctor had been a Google software engineer before working with Holden at Infinitus, a company that uses AI to automate phone calls in the health-care industry.
Bridging the gap
When administered promptly, the drug naloxone can prevent death from an opioid overdose. There also are treatment interventions for opioid dependence that can decrease the risk of overdose. Yet, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), less than 10% of people who need treatment for drug dependence receive it.
The problem affects a swath of individuals who develop addictions after being prescribed opioids by a doctor, typically for pain. Proctor says that the potency of opioids alters the way our brains experience pain, which makes them so addictive.
In 2021, legal settlements related to overprescribing opioids required opioid creators, distributors and pharmacies to provide a $26 billion fund administered through states from which 70% will fund future opioid-remediation efforts.
Resilient Lifescience wants to reach people whose opioid problem stems from doctor-prescribed medications and use the settlement funds to get the Resilient System in the hands of the people who need it.
Early warning system
The key to Resilient Lifescience’s solution is to detect an overdose in its early stages by monitoring the individual’s vital signs through a device placed on a patient’s abdomen. It works the way a FitBit or Apple Watch does to monitor your fitness based on your activities.
Holden and Proctor note that 48.6% of opioid overdose deaths occur when there is nobody around to help, so they wanted a device that worked independently. The first version of the product, expected to be released to the market in mid- to late-2025, will create a warning system that could alert friends, family and caregivers of the impending or actual overdose, allowing them to immediately get help for the person in need.
Future versions of the product will administer naloxone to the person experiencing the overdose as it alerts others that the wearer needs immediate attention. Holden and Proctor want to have that version in the market in 2028.
Releasing the product in these two phases, according to Proctor, allows them to get through the FDA approval cycle faster. Regulations differ for the two types of products, which affect how long it will take to get the approvals.
Earlier this year, North Side-based Resilient Lifescience received $500,000 for finishing first in the Richard King Mellon Foundation’s Social-Impact Investment Pitch Competition.
Proctor expects potential wearers to initially obtain the product from treatment centers that have specialized skills to deal with opioid addictions.
He says payments for the device should come from the opioid settlement funds, making it easy for almost anybody to obtain it.
Know of a product or service being developed in Pittsburgh or by a Pittsburgh-based company that is cool, is creating growth or will change the world? Let David know via email.
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