Federal Grant Award Summary

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) awarded McLean Hospital a $451,000 Project Grant effective May 15, 2026, under the Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs (CFDA 93.279) to develop a biometrics-based platform for predicting opioid/opiate relapse. The project will leverage machine learning (ML) approaches to integrate physiological, behavioral, and subjective mood state data collected through wearable biosensors from two separate experiments and populations. The deliverables will include algorithms designed to identify craving indicators that often precede relapse events, enabling real-time prediction capabilities to prevent overdose deaths during high-risk relapse periods. This represents the first effort to apply wearable biosensor technology specifically toward relapse prediction in individuals recovering from opioid use disorder, addressing a critical gap in current clinical practice where relapse remains the primary treatment challenge despite successful initial abstinence.

The project will conclude by April 30, 2028, and builds upon emerging consumer-grade wearable technology while establishing foundational clinical biomarker tools for substance use disorder intervention. While existing wearable biosensors have documented acute opioid-related health events such as withdrawal and overdose, this development project uniquely targets the predictive identification of relapse vulnerability in real-time, with potential to inform timely clinical interventions for at-risk individuals in recovery.