Federal Grant Award Summary

Pillsmart Inc. received a $399,993 Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) under the Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs (CFDA 93.279), awarded June 1, 2026, with completion targeted for May 31, 2027. The company is developing LEVL, a clinical decision support (CDS) system designed to identify early relapse risk among adolescents with substance use disorders. The platform integrates physiological markers including heart rate, heart rate variability, and sleep data alongside behavioral and environmental context through a FHIR-compliant architecture that delivers proactive clinician alerts when elevated relapse risk is detected, complemented by an adolescent-facing mobile application to facilitate timely intervention and self-management.

This Phase I feasibility study focuses on establishing technical viability, prototype usability, clinician adoption rates, and preliminary validation of the predictive risk model through structured expert consensus via Delphi process, proprietary analytics development, iterative usability testing, and a 90-day pilot trial. The project directly addresses the critical gap in adolescent substance use disorder treatment, where over 60% of patients relapse within 90 days of completing treatment due to fragmented data systems and delayed intervention. By enabling earlier clinical intervention with significant potential healthcare cost savings—given that untreated or recurrent substance use disorders may incur lifetime healthcare expenditures exceeding $30,000–$40,000 per adolescent—LEVL aligns with federal priorities emphasizing evidence-based care and targeted cost reduction.