David Sarabia has sold two startups at the age of 26 and is sitting on enough money to never have to work for the rest of his life. He moved from Southern California to New York City and began to indulge in all the luxuries that his newly acquired millionaire status conveyed. Then everything changed and his life quickly fell apart.
“I became a cocaine addict,” Sarabia said. “It started out as just casual gatherings, but then escalated to pretty much anything I could get my hands on.”
At one particularly low time, Sarabia was homeless for three months, sleeping on public transport to keep warm. Sarabia said he lost the will to survive even with a lot of money in the bank. “I’ve given up,” he said.
He got back on his feet, and for the next three years he lived as a “functional cocaine addict” until his best friend, Jay Greenwald dies after partying all nightIn the end, Sarabia was rehabilitated in Southern California – ostensibly luxurious, though Sarabia didn’t think so.
Still, the place saved his life. Clinicians genuinely cared, he recalled, even though their efforts were hampered by clumsy technology and poor management. He has a feeling that the owner is more interested in profit than helping people recover.
Just a few days off cocaine, the tech entrepreneur is doodles for his next startup idea: a digital platform that would make paperwork easier for clinicians, combined with a mobile app to guide patients in recovery. After finishing treatment in 2017, Sarabia used his remaining wealth (about $400,000) to fund an addiction-tech company he named in “Recovery.”
As country’s opioid overdose epidemic hits record high 100,000 people will die in 2021, There is an urgent need for effective approaches to combat addiction and expand access to treatment. Sarabia and other entrepreneurs in what they call the field of addiction tech see $42 billion US market Because their products and the field of addiction treatment, in terms of technology, are ripe for disruption.
It has long been torn by opposing ideologies and approaches: medication-assisted therapy versus cold turkey detox; inpatient versus outpatient therapy; abstinence versus harm reduction; peer support versus professional help. Most people who report struggling with substance use have no access to treatment at all.
Technology is already helping some people.Those who can pay out-of-pocket or receive treatment covered by their employer or insurance company can access one of a dozen addiction telehealth startups that allow them to consult a doctor and get Medications like buprenorphine Mail directly to their home. Some virtual rehab centers offer digital cognitive behavioral therapy, monitoring adherence to sobriety by connecting devices or even mailing urine tests.
Plenty of apps provide peer support and guidance, and entrepreneurs are developing software for treatment centers to process patient records, personalize clients’ recovery times, and connect them to peer networks.
But while the founders of for-profit companies may want to end suffering, says Fred Muench, clinical psychologist and president of the nonprofit Partnership to End Addiction, it all boils down to revenue.
Start-up experts and clinicians working on the front lines of the drug and overdose epidemics wonder whether flashy Silicon Valley technology will benefit those in the throes of addiction, with precarious housing, struggling financially and on the wrong side of the digital divide.
“Those who are really struggling and really need access to medication use treatment don’t have 5G and smartphones,” said Dr. Aimee Mullin, professor and director of behavioral health in the Department of Emergency Medicine at UC Davis Health. “I’m just worried, When we start relying on these highly technical treatment options, we’re just creating a structure that allows us to really leave people who really need help behind.”
Investors willing to put millions of dollars into a start-up typically don’t invest in expanding treatment for vulnerable populations, Mullin said.
Also, making money in the addictive tech industry is hard because addiction is a stubborn beast.
Richard Hanbury, founder and CEO of Sana Health, a company that uses audiovisual stimulation to relax the mind as an opioid, said conducting clinical trials to validate digital therapeutics is challenging because users often make mistakes in medication adherence and follow-up. Alternative startups.
There are thousands of private, nonprofit, and government-run programs and drug rehab centers across the country. With so many small players and different programs, the startup faces an uphill battle to attract enough customers to generate significant revenue, he added.
After conducting a small study to ease anxiety about opioid detoxification, Hanbury delayed the next step, a larger study. Hanbury decided that, to sell his products to the country’s vast addiction treatment provider, he would need to hire a much larger sales force than his budding company could afford.
Still, huge demand is fueling enthusiasm for addictive technology.
only in San Francisco, More than twice as many people die from drug overdoses as from coronavirusd in the past two years. Unity Stoakes, president and managing partner of StartUp Health, said employers, insurers, providers, families and those with pre-existing addictions are demanding better and affordable treatment.
The investment firm has launched a string of seed-stage startups aimed at leveraging technology End addiction and the opioid epidemic. Stokes hopes the new wave of treatment options will reduce addiction stigma and increase awareness and education. Rather than trying to eliminate human care for addiction, the emerging tools “recharge the doctor or clinician,” he said.
While acknowledging that underserved populations are hard to reach, Stokes said technology can expand access and enhance targeted efforts to help them. He said there are enough startups experimenting with different types of treatments and delivery methods to hope for one or more to succeed.
Addiction telemedicine startups gain the most traction. Quit Genius, a provider of virtual addiction treatment for alcohol, opioid and nicotine dependence, raised $64 million from investors last summer, and in October, $118 million went to Workit Health, a virtual prescriber of medication-assisted treatment . Several other startups — Boulder Care, Groups Recover Together, Ophelia, Bicycle Health and Wayspring, most of which have nearly identical telehealth and prescribing models — have received significant funding since the pandemic began.
Some startups already sell to self-insured employers, suppliers and payers. Some sell direct-to-consumer, while others are in clinical trials for FDA approval, and they hope to take advantage of more stable reimbursement. But that route involves plenty of competition, regulatory hurdles, and the need to convince payers that adding another treatment would bring down costs.
Sarabia’s inRecovery program uses its software to help treatment centers run more efficiently and improve patient outcomes. The startup is partnering with Caron Treatment Centers, a high-end nonprofit treatment provider in Pennsylvania, to pilot an aftercare program designed to keep patients connected to prevent relapse after treatment.
His long-term goal is to reduce costs and serve county-level treatment centers, hoping to expand care to those who need it most. But for now, implementing the technology isn’t cheap, with treatment providers paying $50,000 to $100,000 a year to license the software.
“At the end of the day, for treatment centers with unstable incomes, those on the lower end of the spectrum, they may not be able to afford that,” he said.
This story is made by KHNrelease California Healthlineeditorial independent service California Healthcare Foundation.
Photo: TAW4, Getty Images
