A clinical trial is set to investigate whether a wearable device can reduce the growing number of fatal opioid overdoses in Scotland.
John Dillon, professor of hepatology and gastroenterology at Dundee University, will lead the RESCU trial of a PneumoWave-manufactured biosensor that alerts emergency services to overdoses in real-time to enable them to deliver a life-saving antidote.
The device works by sensing unusual changes in breathing.
Fatal respiratory depression can be caused by excess intake of prescription or illicit opioids.
Scotland has the worst rates of overdose deaths in Europe with 1,339 deaths in 2020, a five per cent increase on 2019.
Nearly all these deaths are preventable when a highly effective antidote, naloxone, is administered early enough, but currently this relies on coincidental discovery of those affected.
READ MORE: Scots back Naxolone kit drug death campaign
Professor Dillon said he hopes the trial will demonstrate that PneumoWave’s respiratory monitoring technology has the potential to save many lives.
He said: “Working in the field that I do, I see first-hand the devastation that opioid overdoses bring.
"Large numbers of my patient group die from overdoses every year and this is a major issue everywhere, but one that we in Scotland need to address particularly urgently.
“The bare statistics about drug-related deaths are there for everyone to see, but these do not tell the whole story – that of the many tragedies and lost opportunities that lie behind them and the heartbreak that they bring to families and loved ones.”
The RESCU trial is part of a wider program of clinical research that includes trials in King’s College London and the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.
Patient recruitment to RESCU has already begun.
PneumoWave’s founder and CEO, Dr Bruce Henderson, a physician working with patients at risk of overdose, said the trial “is critical in the development of this potentially life-saving technology.”
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