Our Innovation Analysts recently looked into emerging technologies and up-and-coming startups working on solutions for the healthcare sector. As there is a large number of startups working on a wide variety of solutions, we decided to share our insights with you. This time, we are taking a look at 5 promising addiction management startups.
Heat Map: 5 Top Addiction Management Startups
Using our StartUs Insights Platform, covering 1.116.000+ startups & emerging companies, we looked at innovation in the field of healthcare. For this research, we identified 89 relevant solutions and picked 5 to showcase below. These companies are chosen based on a data-driven startup scouting approach, taking into account factors such as location, founding year, and relevance of technology, among others. Depending on your specific criteria, the top picks might look entirely different.
The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights 5 startups & emerging companies developing novel addiction management solutions. Moreover, the Heat Map reveals regions that observe a high startup activity and illustrates the geographic distribution of all 89 companies we analyzed for this specific topic.
zpharm – Natural Smoking Cessation
People trying to stop smoking tobacco face multiple challenges while breaking the habit. In several countries, tobacco products are usually cheap and highly prevalent. The addictive nicotine chemical is also hard to get over, leading to tobacco products becoming necessary for smokers to enjoy or process various life events. With high demand and business profitability for the tobacco industry, emerging addiction management solutions work hard to beat the odds and make users quit smoking.
Canadian startup zpharm offers Cravv, a natural health product for smoking cessation. The startup’s novel medication uses cytisine as a replacement for nicotine addiction. Cytisine aids cessation by reducing the severity of withdrawal and also the satisfaction associated with tobacco use. Moreover, cytisine-based tobacco addiction management offers a more affordable solution, which potentially benefits lower-income countries where most smokers live.
PursueCare – Telehealth Treatment For Opioid Addiction
Opioids are used in various pain and psychological medications, in addition to being widely available for purchase from local pharmacies. Improper use, substance abuse, and illegal drugs compound the problem of opioid use in many countries. The opioid addiction, in particular, is of concern for emerging HealthTech companies as it leads to physical and mental distress and even death.
The US-based startup PursueCare provides at-home telehealth treatment for opioid addiction. The startup combines telehealth technology with traditional medication treatment and counseling to help ensure a successful recovery. The mobile application allows users to explore medication-assisted treatment, addiction counseling, mental health therapy, toxicology screening, care coordination, and medication delivery. Users also have access to an addiction counselor who understands their story and virtually meets with you at any time.
Virtual Rehab – Psychological Rehabilitation
In many cases, addiction to substances and its abuse stem from underlying psychological conditions. Advancements in digital health, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR) help startups develop novel solutions for managing addiction. VR-enabled therapy allows people to overcome various psychological blocks, for example, the fear of heights, with the help of gamification to enhance user experiences.
Virtual Rehab is an Estonian MedTech startup combining VR and evidence-based solutions to improve mental health and well being. Showing high efficacy rates, this solution integrates VR, artificial intelligence (AI), and blockchain technology for pain management, prevention of substance use disorders, enhancement of communication skills for autistic individuals, and rehabilitation of repeat users. The startup currently works with rehab centers, hospitals, and correctional departments, as well as with other business-to-business (B2B) sectors.
Amygdala Neurosciences – Enzyme Inhibitor For Substance Abuse Disorder
Substance abuse disorders, which include improper use of alcohol, drugs, and pain medication, are highly prevalent in many countries globally. While sufficient treatments currently exist, only a small percentage of those who require it opt for treatment. Moreover, repeat users are less likely to seek treatment for a second time, due to various socio-economic reasons. This drives pharma startups working on addiction solutions to find effective treatments that have a lower chance of relapse.
Amygdala Neurosciences is a US-based startup developing ANS-6637, a new chemical entity selective and reversible mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) inhibitor. Acting in the brain, ANS-6637 prevents pathophysiologic dopamine surge, without changes to basal dopamine. ANS-6637 has the potential to prevent drug-seeking behavior, craving, and relapse. In preclinical studies, ALDH2 inhibition reduced self-administration, cue- and drug-primed relapse in nicotine, alcohol, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and binge eating models, while also demonstrating anti-anxiety properties in models of stress. This solution is currently undergoing Phase II Clinical Trials.
Kinoxis Therapeutics – Therapeutic Compound For Substance Use Disorder
Misuse of drugs is also a leading cause of suicides globally. Increasingly, pharma and biotechnology companies have developed a deeper understanding of psychological issues in humans. There are various factors affecting mental health and emerging startups are targeting specific triggers to improve the condition of those struggling with substance abuse.
Australian BioTech startup Kinoxis Therapeutics is working to develop a range of novel therapeutic compounds for the treatment of substance use disorders and other central nervous system (CNS) conditions. The startup aims at targeting the brain oxytocin system to treat addiction to all major addictive substance classes and also to intervene across all stages of the addiction cycle. Kinoxis utilizes small molecules that indirectly stimulate the brain’s oxytocin system. The startup’s lead candidate KNX100 is currently undergoing preclinical trials.
What About The Other 84 Solutions?
While we believe data is key to creating insights it can be easy to be overwhelmed by it. Our ambition is to create a comprehensive overview and provide actionable innovation intelligence so you can achieve your goals faster. The 5 addiction management solutions showcased above are promising examples out of 89 we analyzed for this article. To identify the most relevant solutions based on your specific criteria, get in touch.
