# Opioid Support and Risk Reduction Online Platform

> **NIH NIH R43** · ELEVATEU · 2021 · $238,994

## Abstract

Project Summary
 This proposal seeks to determine the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of developing an
online support and risk reduction platform to prevent opioid misuse and abuse. This is an urgent area of
research; opioid misuse/abuse has reached epidemic proportions in recent years. It is linked to causing the
largest drug epidemic in the history of the United States and has become the top priority of the US Surgeon
General. Because the opioid crisis (including heroin use) is believed to have largely originated from chronic
pain patients' opioid prescriptions, this application will initially focus on the needs of chronic pain patients on
opioids who are high risk for addiction and overdose. Later versions of the technology will expand to the
broader population of people affected by the opioid crisis, including heroin users.
 Although low cost, novel interventions are needed to reduce opioid misuse and abuse, before they lead to
addiction and fatal overdose, only 6 behavioral (non-pharmacological) randomized controlled trials have been
successfully conducted in this area to date (with our group having conducted one of them), creating a
tremendous need for solutions to the opioid crisis. Building off extensive preliminary research that our team
conducted, including piloting technology-based behavior change interventions among chronic pain patients,
and developing artificial intelligence (AI)-based prediction models of opioid outcomes, we propose to design
and test the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of an online peer social support and clinical
counseling community to reduce opioid misuse/abuse among chronic pain sufferers.
 This is a highly innovative product with scalable commercialization potential and impact as 1) no
software platform exists that has been shown to reduce opioid misuse/abuse risk factors, 2) it is evidenced-
based, supported by more than a decade of scientific research conducted by our team, and 3) is highly
accessible, helping to address the time, cost, and stigma that are constant barriers to opioid prevention and
treatment.
 Our team includes the former CFO of Epic Systems (and two-time successful entrepreneur), the Associate
Chief Medical Information Officer for Cedars-Sinai, a patent attorney at a large Silicon Valley intellectual
property firm specializing in digital health portfolios, as well as clinical, data science/statistical, and research
experts who conducted more than a decade of formative research leading up to this application. Funding for
this Phase 1 SBIR is needed before scaling development and testing more widely among potential health
system and insurer customers.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10013077
- **Project number:** 1R43DA049606-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** ELEVATEU
- **Principal Investigator:** Renee Garett
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $238,994
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-01-01 → 2022-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10013077

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10013077, Opioid Support and Risk Reduction Online Platform (1R43DA049606-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10013077. Licensed CC0.

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