Respiratory depression commonly occurs in opioid users, and without treatment it can cause life-threatening complications. PneumoWave aims prevent deaths and reduce hospital admissions from respiratory causes with its wearable digital technology. Its biosensor gathers real-time physiological data and provides digital biomarkers, although performance characteristics are not yet established, the company shared in a news release.

PneumoWave is collaborating with King’s College London on a clinical trial in which the company’s respiratory monitoring platform will collect breathing data from patients at risk of respiratory depression as a side effect of opioid medication.

A development-stage digital therapeutics company, PneumoWave is based in Scotland and the United States. The company hopes that findings from this trial will lead to the development of life-saving interventions to prevent drug-related deaths. According to the World Health Organization, more than 350,000 deaths are related to opioids worldwide, with more than 30% of those deaths caused by overdose. 

The trial is expected to be the first in an ongoing collaboration between PneumoWave and King’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London during the development and validation of PneumoWave’s core technologies. This trial is part of a national program of clinical research as the company develops digital health and therapeutic solutions for a range of respiratory conditions.

“The technology behind PneumoWave was specifically developed to reduce deaths from respiratory conditions," Dr. Bruce Henderson, founder and CEO of PneumoWave, explained in the company's news release. "The research facilities at King’s College London, and their highly skilled team, make it one of the few places in the world where the data we require can be safely captured.” 

Added Professor Sir John Strang, head of Addictions at IoPPN, King’s College London and theme lead for Substance Use at the NIHR Maudsley BRC: “Working together with my team, I am very excited about this new collaboration and its potential to apply science to make the world a safer place for one of our most vulnerable groups. With drug-related deaths at an all-time high in the UK and globally, we need to develop better ways to reduce this loss of life. It is essential that we drive new scientific studies and develop new technologies that have real potential to save lives.”