Actuated Medical Awarded Phase I SBIR for Alcohol Addiction Treatment

BELLEFONTE, PA – Actuated Medical Inc. has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health-National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIH-NIAAA) entitled “Oscillated Insertion Tool for Minimally Invasive, Low-Damage, Accurate Placement of Delivery Cannula to Improve Efficacy for DREADDS Therapy in Alcohol Addiction Treatment”.

Alcohol addiction is both a major public health burden and a complex neuroscience problem. Recently, the powerful research tools used to better understand neurological disorders like addiction have also gained interest as therapies. However, a crucial issue is that the medication used must be reliably and safely delivered to specific areas within the brain. The project will demonstrate feasibility of a vibrated tool to assist in the accurate placement of a very small delivery device that may ultimately improve alcohol addiction treatment.

“Actuated is focused on developing innovative medical devices to treat neurological diseases. The goal for this technology is to use our knowledge of vibrating needles to develop a medical device that reliably enables safer and more precise injections within the brain than is currently possible, paving the way for more effective treatments for conditions like alcohol addiction,” said Maureen L. Mulvihill, Actuated Medical President, CEO, and Co-Founder.