Socializing a Science-based Digital Therapeutic for Substance Use Disorders

Digital therapeutics are redefining the future of medicineDigital therapeutics refer to the use of mobile technology to provide personalizeddigital health interventions to treat diseasesThese tools enable anytime and anywhere healthcareGiven that there are more mobile phones in the world than there are people in the worlddigital therapeutics offer the potential to be transformativeThe applicant team of this SBIR proposal developed the Therapeutic Education SystemTESwhich became the very first digital therapeutic approved by the U SFood and Drug Administrationunder a rebranded name inTES is the most empirically supporteddigital intervention for substance use disorderSUDtreatmentOur team has also been engaged in over two decades of NIH funded work developing and evaluating digital therapeutics for many populationse gpersons with chronic paindepressionalcohol use disordersWe have developed a unique mobile platformLaddrwhich integrates science baseddigital therapeutics for multiple health domainsLaddr includes the content of TESHoweverLaddr employs validatedscience based techniques to address a wide range of behavioral problems in the context of a single mobile platformThis platform offers the potential to revolutionize digital healthas it provides a scalable model for delivering digital therapeutics to treat any disease with a behavioral componentAndit allows for the concurrent treatment of more than one disease within a given individualDespite the strong empirical support for Laddr in impacting SUDs and other health domainsit does not enable end users to engage a social support network to help them as they use LaddrInterventions that leverage social support networks can help keep individuals engaged in treatmentreinforce their successesand help them troubleshoot challengesResearch has shown that engaging a support network of nonsubstance userse gfamily membersfriendsin one s SUD treatment can greatly enhance treatment outcomesHoweverprior attempts to implement social support into SUD treatment have been challenged byrequiring support persons to come to SUD treatment sites in personnot sharing actionable information with support persons in a timely manner andnot providing a structure process for support persons to provide effective supportIn this SBIR applicationwe propose to expand Laddr to allow its users to engage a support network of their choosing in their journey of behavior changeIndividuals can in real time share data from Laddr about their successes and challengesand their support network can offer anytime anywhere social supportSocial support will be embedded within a strongly science based digital therapeutic processthus providing support persons with a clear framework in which to offer supportWe will focus on the TES based SUD component of Laddr in this project and can later expand this social functionality to other health domains within LaddrTo our knowledgethis project will be the first to socialize science based digital therapeutics Project Narrative To our knowledgethis project will be the first to socialize science based digital therapeuticsIn a world that has used digital technology to create unprecedented models of social communication across the globethis project is distinct in that it uses digital technology to support science basedsocial communications to help treat diseaseLaddrcan provide scalablescience based solutions for substance use disorder care and may also inform generalizable and scalable solutions to the treatment of disease that transcend specific diseasespopulationsand contexts