Lumis Corp Continues Developing an Opioid Use Disorder Treatment and Harm Reduction Training with awarded Phase II SBIR Grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse




(PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania, October 2021) – In June 2021, Lumis Corp was awarded a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIH NIDA) to continue the development of an Augmented Reality (AR)-based opioid use disorder treatment and harm reduction training curriculum. This continuation of Phase I has a two-year budget totaling nearly $1.7M.

Phase I was completed in March 2020 and resulted in a prototype curriculum called ART-OD that was built within Lumis’s existing InSight Platform. ART-OD, or Augmented Reality Training for Overdose, was developed for a wide audience of lay people, clinicians, and first responders, and was evaluated for feasibility and efficacy. The Phase I pilot study showed positive results in ART-OD participants’ competency development, specifically with regard to improved knowledge and attitudes for recognizing and responding to an opioid overdose situation.

In Phase II, Lumis will expand the training curriculum and further evaluate its efficacy by using evidence-based research strategies and gathering insights from diverse subject matter experts with backgrounds in healthcare, harm reduction, and policy. To meet the goals of the project, Lumis has partnered with researchers at the University of Central Florida (UCF) College of Medicine (COM) who have previously developed an Immersive Learning Simulation (ILS) for Opioid Risk Management (ORM) training in a virtual interprofessional environment. The Lumis and UCF COM teams will develop a comprehensive integrated solution, leveraging ART-OD and ILS for ORM. They will also engage with cross-sector stakeholders working to address the opioid epidemic, which has been significantly exacerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The comprehensive solution offers the potential to provide engaging and efficient training tailored to various learner audiences, reduce stigma surrounding opioid use disorder and overdose, and ultimately help address the national opioid crisis.

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