Purdue Pharma, the company that has been blamed by many for the ubiquity of OxyContin and the ensuing opioid epidemic, has partnered with Geisinger Health System to study a medical app created with ResearchKit that could help patients wean off of the medication.
We’ve previously reviewed a number of health apps for opioid prescription and a CDC guideline app for clinicians to help promote safer and generally more limited opiate prescription.
Geisinger Health is located in Pennsylvania, a state that has become central in the U.S.’s fight against opioid addiction. With prescription and non-prescription opioid abuse at an all time high, companies and government agencies are seeking new ways to mitigate, if not alleviate, the problem. This will take cooperation between healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies, and, especially, patients on the medication.
The aim of researchers at Purdue Pharma and Geisinger Health System is to test the viability of apps on iPhones and Apple Watches for patient tracking by doctors. The study will run for a year with a cohort of around 200 with chronic pain conditions who are given iPhones and Apple Watches to monitor health metrics and self-reported data on mood and their adherence to medicine. The general idea is that this data would be shared with treating clinicians who can work monitor response to therapy, encourage non-medication strategies for pain management, and ultimately de-escalate therapy.
If your eyebrow is raised at the idea of a company, blamed for the death and misery of thousands, would only now seek a solution after decades, you’re not the only one. Even Purdue Pharma admits that it may sound strange, but Tracy Mayne, an executive director of medical affairs strategic research, maintains to Buzzfeed News that it “comes from that level of commitment to addressing the problem in the U.S.” That eyebrow raise might turn into a full eye roll once you realize that Purdue recently made a global push for OxyContin.
The study will be run through the Geisinger pain management clinic and, given the scope of the problem, we can only hope that it delivers some positive results.
