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Implantable device detects opioid overdose and automatically administers
naloxone in animal trials | The device, which the researchers call
"iSOS", has not been tested in humans, but was able to successfully
revive 24 out of 25 overdosed pigs within 3.2 minutes.
(URL) https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/implantable-device-detects-opioid-ove... (https://www.scimex.org)
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|u/Usual_Safety - 1 month
|
|I understand and appreciate the testing process using pigs. It’s still
|odd to think of getting 25 pigs loaded on opioids until they overdose.
|u/Here4uguys - 1 month
|
|Times are hard for everypig
|u/UufTheTank - 1 month
|
|I don’t think that’s an Animal Farm reference, but it FEELS like an
|Animal Farm Reference.
|u/CodyTheLearner - 1 month
|
|I was thinking maybe 1984?
|u/incubuster4 - 1 month
|
|I don’t think ‘odd’ is an adequate enough descriptor for that.
|u/swissamuknife - 1 month
|
|they probably do it under anesthesia and don’t wake them up after,
|like most medical experiments involving pigs
|u/Zelcron - 1 month
|
|OD levels of opiates is usually sufficient anesthesia.
|u/TheRealRanchDubois - 1 month
|
|They actually put the implants in 150 pigs and just waited until 25
|started using again.
|u/thecelcollector - 1 month
|
|A better life than the average pig. 
|u/Altostratus - 1 month
|
|Probably a better death than the average pig too.
|u/Johnny_Poppyseed - 1 month
|
|People didn't make the choice to have sex? Is herpes the #1 killer
|of young people in the US?
|u/uphucwits - 1 month
|
|Good point. opiates #1 killer is a sad commentary on the nations
|youth especially in a nation that lives in a state of constant and
|instant gratification. What’s more my point was that all the
|resources to address the drug epidemic would be better spent
|elsewhere, perhaps in systems that result in drugs not being the
|path folks take when they feel that’s the only choice. Choice
|theory.
|u/Appropriate_Power216 - 1 month
|
|This comment says everything we need to know about you.
|u/th3rmtv - 1 month
|
|Who would have this implanted? Would it be willingly? Who would pay for
|it? Insurance? I see many real world problems
|u/phoenix25 - 1 month
|
|This is exactly the problem. We have long acting opioid antagonists
|that stop you from getting high, that last in your system for 3 days.
|No one wants to take them, and no one is going to submit to have this
|implanted in them.
|u/Symbolis - 1 month
|
|>that stop you from getting high Well there's the problem. They
|don't want to _not_ get high. They want to get high without dying.
|u/egoncasteel - 1 month
|
|Am I evil if I point out that if it can detect an overdose it could
|just be set to detect any dose and go off. So you could just implant
|one in someone and the couldn't get high any more, and where that line
|of thinking leads. I am honestly not sure but the idea is right there.
|u/Bibblejw - 1 month
|
|Except that it administers a finite drug. So what you’re doing isn’t
|setting up a permanent immunity, it’s giving an indeterminate number
|of hits before it works. That would basically just guarantee that
|the first dose that they took after they ran out would be an OD.
|u/ShakaUVM - 1 month
|
|Embed Bluetooth and have it send a notification when it stops an
|OD
|u/Bibblejw - 1 month
|
|To what end? If there was the resources to provide all drug
|addicts personalized care, then it would be significantly less
|prevalent. It’s also not a personality trait that would be
|amenable to either keeping connections on their phone that
|prevent them from getting high, or for maintaining a charged
|phone when dosing.
|u/AgentTin - 1 month
|
|Yep. You'd have guys wrapping the injection site with tin foil
|to block the signal
|u/ShakaUVM - 1 month
|
|> To what end? To save lives. Nalaxone does not remove
|opiates from the system it just keeps them from killing you.
|Even with a dose administered, you are still supposed to go to
|the ER. Having a notification that someone is currently
|ODing, or that the implant is out of medicine would be
|literally life saving. Would be good for addicts looking to
|recover as well.
|u/Bibblejw - 1 month
|
|But this is a notification that is from the users device.
|Honestly, there’s value to this if you take out the Nalaxone
|administration. A ping to a local phone that an OD was
|happening would be good. Adding that to an unattended
|implant that attempts to counteract it would seem to be
|detrimental.
|u/Croceyes2 - 1 month
|
|It's likely detecting you dying, not the opiates. Everyone would od
|at different conentrarions.
|u/SoulFanatic - 1 month
|
|Nevermind the fact that it would likely be easier and more cost-
|effective to sink all that money into options like improving mental
|healthcare to prevent people from developing drug addictions in the
|first place
|u/N_T_F_D - 1 month
|
|I’d have this implanted, I like dope and I like being alive I always
|carry Narcan and tell people I have it with me so they can use it on
|me, but if one day I’m alone and I fall asleep before realizing I’m
|too deep I’ll die
|u/Altostratus - 1 month
|
|I’m not sure where you live, but some places have an app for
|reducing harm for those using alone. If you don’t respond in x time
|after dosing, they will automatically call 911.
|https://news.gov.bc.ca/stories/new-lifeguard-app-launched-to-help-
|prevent-overdoses
|u/torturedcanadian - 1 month
|
|Don't use unsafe doses alone. Test your drugs too.
|u/N_T_F_D - 1 month
|
|I can’t exactly nod in front of my family, but I test my dope for
|fent
|u/torturedcanadian - 1 month
|
|Well glad you're being safe about it. Does family know?
|u/N_T_F_D - 1 month
|
|They know i’m on methadone, and I showed them my pre-packaged
|naloxone syringe kits and how to use them, but I don’t know if
|they’d have the presence of mind to remember it in the heat of
|the moment
|u/torturedcanadian - 1 month
|
|Could you do practice training every now and again?
|u/TheBadNewsIs - 1 month
|
|I could see this being useful but resulting in unintended consequences.
|Specifically, users will end up taking larger quantities of opioids if
|the know they can survive an overdose. You may actually see an I crease
|in overdose and exacerbation of addiction if it encourages people to
|push there use to the limit.
|u/biscovery - 1 month
|
|No addict wants to get hit with Narcan. It blows your high first off,
|second you go into immediate withdrawal, and not just normal
|withdrawal its significant more intense. It's extremely unpleasant
|and I promise you, not too many addicts are going to push the limit
|because of this though they certainly will push the limit in spite of
|it because well they are dope heads.
|u/N_T_F_D - 1 month
|
|Getting hit with precipitated withdrawals (same thing that happens
|with Narcan, except it lasts 48h and not 30mn) was the worst 2 days
|of my life, the first and last time I actually wanted to die
|u/puesyomero - 1 month
|
|Ehhhhh maybe?  naloxone crash is incredibly harsh and completely ruins
|the high,  so it might just remain a last line of safety instead of a
|tool for thrillseekers
|u/Usual_Safety - 1 month
|
|You make a great point. A safety net for some addicts
|u/NessyComeHome - 1 month
|
|No, not really. Think about it, why would someone who has a daily,
|or multi daily addiction use more than necessary, regardless of
|"safety net". Opioid addicts walk a fine line between enough and
|dead. Why would you use more than necessary to achieve a desired
|effect when that means you run out quicker, and have to come up with
|money sooner than anticipated to meet that need? On top of that,
|precipitated withdrawls suck 10x worse than normal withdrawals. Your
|bones will feel like they're on fire. Why would an addict willingly
|put themselves in that situation because of a "safety net". It's a
|brutal "safety net".
|u/Jason_Batemans_Hair - 1 month
|
|This is a strange perspective on how drug addiction works, and how
|it progresses. And it treats all users the same, when they aren't.
|The prior comment referred to "some addicts", not all addicts.
|u/PolyDipsoManiac - 1 month
|
|Street opioids are of unknown and often quite high potency, it’s
|why most of the 100,000+ annual overdose deaths involve opioids,
|81,000 in 2023. [Prohibition also ensures that the smuggled
|narcotics will be of ever-increasing potency, which is now why
|people are dying to fentanyl and carfentanyl (which is 100 times
|more potent than fentanyl) that have taken over the supply
|routes.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_law_of_prohibition)
|The situation was much better when people could get pharmaceutical
|oxycodone (either from their doctor, a pill mill, or the black
|market), the annual death toll was about a quarter of today’s.
|u/PlayfulRocket - 1 month
|
|Why would addicts hurt themselves?
|u/torturedcanadian - 1 month
|
|Untreated trauma mostly.
|u/Rick_e_bobby - 1 month
|
|Exactly. Some of these users literally take the max they can to get
|to that level without OD, then their fellow users narcan them thinking
|they are and they get pissed because their high just got ruined.
|u/B0vice - 1 month
|
|We will do literally anything but address the systemic issues that push
|and keep people in addiction. Can we not just get these people the help
|and support they need to get clean? I get that you can lead a horse to
|water but can't make them drink, but there are so many people suffering
|who can't even access basic help, let alone have their basic needs met. 
|u/romansparta99 - 1 month
|
|The research on this doesn’t overlap with the research on preventing
|addiction in the first place. I see this (if it proves helpful in
|humans) as a fantastic way to help people on the path to recovery from
|avoiding death if they relapse I completely agree we need to address
|systemic issues, but positive developments in peripheral areas
|shouldn’t be diminished because they don’t fix the whole problem
|u/B0vice - 1 month
|
|I think people see this as analogous to an insulin pump but diabetes
|and opiate addiction are two very different diseases. I see your
|point but I worry that this is seen as a reason not to invest in
|getting people proper treatment. There are many, many unknowns on
|all sides but this is dystopian as hell by my take. 
|u/Jason_Batemans_Hair - 1 month
|
|*'Deaths from drug ODs went to zero, we've fixed the problem!'*
|u/RetiredNurseinAZ - 1 month
|
|The alternative stops people in their tracts from ever getting help.
|u/Defiant-Elk5206 - 1 month
|
|So many people never even get the chance to make that effort.
|u/Altostratus - 1 month
|
|I too think it’s important that we put more effort toward improving
|the root causes as well. For instance, affordable housing, access to
|mental health care.
|u/chrisdh79 - 1 month
|
|From the article:
|[Researchers](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.device.2024.100517) have
|developed an implantable device that can detect an opioid overdose and
|automatically administer the life-saving drug naloxone. The device,
|which the researchers call "iSOS", has not been tested in humans, but
|was able to successfully revive 24 out of 25 overdosed pigs within 3.2
|minutes. Opioid overdose from both prescription and illicit drugs can
|cause permanent brain damage within three minutes and death within four
|to six minutes. Naloxone is an effective treatment for opioid
|overdose, but it usually requires a bystander to step in and administer
|it because the person with the overdose is likely to lose consciousness.
|The implant continuously monitors the users respiratory rate, heart
|rate, body temperature, and blood oxygen saturation and uses this data
|in an algorithm to determine if an overdose is occurring. Going forward,
|the researchers plan to continue to optimise and miniaturise the device,
|which currently measures 8mm x 12mm x 78mm.
|u/NovaBloom444 - 1 month
|
|What if we invest in affordable housing and treatment centers instead?
|I’d like to live in a world where people are enriched enough that doing
|hard drugs isnt the only high point in their life..
|u/Nukem_extracrispy - 1 month
|
|We already have affordable housing (the projects) and treatment
|centers (jails).  Synthetic opioids should be designated as chemical
|weapons of mass destruction. We should respond with Prompt Global
|Strike; launch Trident D5 SLBMs with low yield W76-2 warheads at the
|precursor chemical factories in Guangdong. This would eliminate the
|global supply of opioids for several years at least.
|u/GPQ70 - 1 month
|
|It is beyond horrifying that pigs would be abused and tested on for this
|reason. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
|u/Manofalltrade - 1 month
|
|I respect the good intentions but I can’t see this taking off. What
|junkie is going to spend drug money on this or tell their insurance that
|they need it? Plus, have you seen how mad some of them get when their
|high gets wasted?
|u/spletharg - 1 month
|
|Is this some kind of marketing strategy by ham producers? I didn't even
|know there was an opioid problem in the pig population!
|u/Submissive-whims - 1 month
|
|How is it reloaded or removed? Does a surgeon have the option to disable
|the device to do their job? How easily can someone else disable the
|device and can an addict use the same method a surgeon uses to get their
|fix?
|u/UEF-ACU - 1 month
|
|Quick Revive Perk-A-Cola but implantable… cool
|u/Blarghnog - 1 month
|
|While it will save lives the ethical challenges of putting a surgically
|implanted opioid reversal device into addicts is intense to contemplate.
|I wish we could find a way to reverse the dopamine effects and make
|taking opioids unpleasant for addicts so they could get free.
|u/Warm_Iron_273 - 1 month
|
|It's all fun and games until this thing leaks in your body. But yeah,
|this is backwards thinking and will simply encourage harder drug abuse.
|u/lonepotatochip - 1 month
|
|I’d also want to know about the false positives the device has. If it
|often wrongly detects an overdose then no addict would ever use it
|because it would just make it impossible to get really high.
|u/MissionCreeper - 1 month
|
|I can't open the link... does this mean that the device detected only
|when the pigs were about to die, or do they kick in at a certain dose of
|opioid
|u/predat3d - 1 month
|
|Wouldn't pig detox therapy be more humane?
|u/626leaddit - 1 month
|
|Great support drug abuse.
|u/vibratorystorm - 1 month
|
|I’m totally all for involuntary human implants, what a great idea
|u/Great_Examination_16 - 1 month
|
|Why do I feel like people will overdose more often if they have them in
|a paradoxical effect
|u/Chom_Chom22 - 1 month
|
|Why would someone MAKE this ? If a tweaker is overdosing on a combo of
|heroin and fentanyl, surely it's much, MUCH better to just let them die
|and stop costing the rest of society more money over x amount of years ?
|u/Metafield - 1 month
|
|That is a fucked up thing to say
|u/IempireI - 1 month
|
|Who's going to pay for this. The tax payers. That's crazy.
|u/romansparta99 - 1 month
|
|I’ll happily pay a few cents a year to prevent thousands of deaths,
|and I’d seriously have questions for anyone who wouldn’t Why does a
|life saving technology immediately go to “who’s going to pay for
|this?” In your mind?
|u/IempireI - 1 month
|
|I'm not. You're going to take drugs willingly. Then continue to use
|it even though it will kill you. I'm not paying for that. Rehab yes.
|Other programs to help prevent or help innocent family members, ok.
|But you needing an implant to save you from continually overdosing.
|Nah.
|u/romansparta99 - 1 month
|
|And if these people relapse, they should just die? You’ll pay for
|them on the road to recovery, but not for if they slip? What a
|cruel mentality
|u/IempireI - 1 month
|
|A slip is different than deciding to continually use and die and
|be brought back then die again then back to life again, then die
|again, then be brought back to life again and other people have
|to pay for it, that's crazy. People don't understand this but
|the country doesn't have unlimited money.
|u/romansparta99 - 1 month
|
|You think every single person will just use it as a free pass
|to OD as much as they want? Getting naloxone is an incredibly
|unpleasant experience, as is ODing in the first place, they’re
|not gonna just do it over and over for fun And yes, like any
|system it has vulnerabilities that can be abused, but that
|doesn’t mean we should deprive well meaning people from
|something that could save their lives Just like food stamps,
|if an asshole takes advantage of the system the solution isn’t
|to ban everyone from food stamps, it’s to build a better
|system This isn’t perfect, but if it proves an effective way
|to reduce deaths without raising addiction rates, then why not
|celebrate it? And as for money, your government almost defo
|purely can afford it, a huge amount of money gets wasted
|globally, so rather than getting mad at potentially helpful
|things for costing money, focus your attention on the spending
|that does nothing but cause harm
|u/IempireI - 1 month
|
|Um, who do you think this would be for. Not your weekend
|party 20 something. I don't know where you live but I've
|been to SF. I've been to LA. Where I live and the
|experiences I've had, I've lived through this time of life.
|Yes I see people repeatedly overdose. That's the whole
|reason for a product like this, no?
|u/SpreadEagle48 - 1 month
|
|Helping junkies be more effective at being drug addicts is not a
|solution.
|u/theoutlander523 - 1 month
|
|So what the hell is the end game for this? Are they thinking druggies
|are going to just sign up for this willingly? If they do then they know
|they can take as much as they want without risk of death. Alternatively,
|they don't want to get it because they won't be able to get high. The
|only use case I can imagine is someone forcibly made to get it, like
|from a judge order or something like that.
|u/ordinaryretreat - 1 month
|
|Implant this in my body? When pigs fly! Wait....
|u/ayleidanthropologist - 1 month
|
|Calling them pigs is a little dramatic, but I get it
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