Patient pain medication monitoring has taken a big step forward with new measuring technology developed by two Marshfield Clinic pain specialists.
The new technology will allow clinicians to measure pain medication adherence with greater certainty and to determine the likelihood that a patient is taking more or less drug than is prescribed.
The technology developed by Michael Larson, Ph.D., a Pain / Clinical Psychologist, and Thomas Richards, D.O., FAAO, of the Neuromusculoskeletal/Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine Department was patented by Marshfield Clinic and has been licensed to Baltimore, Maryland-based Ameritox, the nation’s leader in pain medication monitoring. Ameritox will further develop the technology for potential commercialization as well as support research and development to further expand the scope of the technology and its usability in pain medication monitoring.
“The technology developed by Drs. Larson and Richards is a significant step forward in the adherence monitoring field and its applications are significant and are highly complementary to our current technologies,” said Harry Leider, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Ameritox. “Ameritox is a pioneer in providing data to clinicians who treat chronic pain patients through the use of our proprietary and patented technology. We are thrilled to be working with the outstanding research and clinical team at the Marshfield Clinic to enable this new technology to realize its full potential to offer critical information to clinicians who treat patients with chronic pain.”
Larson and Richards developed the technology after being frustrated with standard medication monitoring tests that could only indicate the presence or absence of pain medication in a patient. Thanks to the new measuring technology, clinicians will have a better understanding of a patient’s adherence to the prescribed regimen, which provides the clinician with another tool to improve patient safety. This is incredibly important for medications that can be abused or diverted, such as opioid pain medications but also the technology may have application to other medications.
The test can be instrumental in addressing the very real problem of prescription drug abuse that Larson and Richards were experiencing in their respective practices. There is significant opportunity for drug abuse. According to a 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, 15.2 million Americans over age 12 had taken a prescription pain reliever, tranquilizer, stimulant or sedative for nonmedical purposes at least once in the prior year.
Clinical Use
Larson and Richards have been using the test clinically for six years.
“The benefit with this technology is that it gives us more information about how the patient is using the medication,” Richards said. “As a medical provider, it allows me to ensure that medications I prescribe are used correctly and consistent with how I prescribed them. If I find that the patient is not using the medication as I prescribed it, I am able to intervene quickly to prevent any potential threats to patient safety (i.e., overuse, drug interaction) or to the community (i.e., diversion of medication).”
Larson said that once armed with confirmation about use of the medication in a manner different than it was prescribed, “often the patient tells us exactly how they were taking the medicine, confirming what the test told us.” This allows the physician to intervene on behalf of the patient. Of the thousands of drug screens done at Marshfield Clinic – Minocqua Center, Larson said 28 percent showed the patient was not taking the medication as prescribed and allowed for the opportunity to intervene and improve patient safety.
Technology development and patent process
As clinicians, Larson and Richards benefitted from involvement of several organizations in the patent process. Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation was instrumental in developing the technology and in recognizing it as a game-changer in the drug-testing category. Marshfield Clinic’s Applied Sciences Division, which houses the office of technology transfer, facilitated the patent process that allowed this technology to be available for license. Once the technology patent was secure, WiSYS (www.wisys.org) contacted the appropriate drug testing company, Ameritox, which will bring this technology to market.
As part of the agreement between Marshfield Clinic and Ameritox, Marshfield will continue to conduct research with the new technology and retain rights to use the technology for patients seen within the Clinic system.
Date: July 2, 2010
Source: Ameritox
Filed Under: Drug Discovery
