Phenomenal review, @Owen. It would be great if you could focus on the role of telehealth in the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD of children and adults, especially the latter. The recent CDC Report published in MMWR (before the MAHA folks shut it down) revealed that 46 percent of adults with ADHD used telehealth.services. We need to ensure that telehealth for diagnosing and treating ADHD in adults is here to stay. The restrictive DEA proposed Rules for telehealth prescribing of controlled substances, along with the MAHA Commission position on ADHD and psychiatric medications, would effectively shut down telehealth to treat ADHD. This would effectively deny millions of Americans with ADHD and related disorders from receiving the treatment they need.
By way of disclosure I’m a Stanford-trained Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist who is Chief Medical Officer of ADHDOnline/ Mentavi Health, a national telehealth company that offer both diagnostic and treatment services to people with a broad array of mental health conditions, including ADHD and related disorders. I’m also co-founder of Thynk, Inc. that has developed a brain-to-computer interface-driven video game, Skylar’s Run, to improve focus and attention.
I’ll say a few things about both companies. At Mentavi, we just completed a real world observational study to demonstrate that our asynchronous online diagnostic assessment is both valid and reliable in diagnosing ADHD in adults when compared to the current gold standard for diagnosing ADHD (which you point out), the clinical interview. The results of the study were published in a recent press release by Mentavi (Mentavi.com) which we are pretty damn proud of. This will hopefully move the field forward for both telehealth and diagnosis of ADHD in adults. We’re presenting the data at the upcoming World ADHD Congress in Prague in May. Co-authors include Steve Faraone, Jeff Newcorn and Andy Cutler. We will also publish the study in a peer-review journal. Folks can read the press release on our website.
Thynk, Inc’s Skylar’s Run video game has been in development for more than a decade. We have a slew of clinical data, especially studying Skylar’s Run for the treatment of ADHD in school-age children. Those studies showed consistent improvement in the core symptoms of ADHD as measured by the ADHD-RS. At one time we were going to seek FDA clearance, but we saw what happened to other companies that pursued this route, eg, AKILI’s EndeavorRx, and decided to commercialize our product for a broader range of health and wellness benefits. Recently we have been conducting small pilots at a large school district and a local YMCA and have demonstrated significant improvements in academic performance in many kids who play Skylar’s Run as measured pre and post by the subtests of both verbal and math fluency on the Woodcock-Johnson Test. This is obviously early data which we have replicated but blows us away to be able to demonstrate far transfer to improved academic achievement in as little as 5 weeks time. Neuroplasticity!! We’re also piloting Skylar’s Run with an adult population. We are currently manufacturing our first 1000 EEG headsets, so we are finally having a soft commercial launch! Folks can learn more about Thynk and Skylar’s Run at Thynk.com.
Lots of excitement in the ADHD space for both children and adults. As you indicated, ADHD can be effectively treated. We need more options, including non-pharmacological ones. I am really excited about the future and innovation in this space.
Phenomenal review, @Owen. It would be great if you could focus on the role of telehealth in the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD of children and adults, especially the latter. The recent CDC Report published in MMWR (before the MAHA folks shut it down) revealed that 46 percent of adults with ADHD used telehealth.services. We need to ensure that telehealth for diagnosing and treating ADHD in adults is here to stay. The restrictive DEA proposed Rules for telehealth prescribing of controlled substances, along with the MAHA Commission position on ADHD and psychiatric medications, would effectively shut down telehealth to treat ADHD. This would effectively deny millions of Americans with ADHD and related disorders from receiving the treatment they need.
By way of disclosure I’m a Stanford-trained Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist who is Chief Medical Officer of ADHDOnline/ Mentavi Health, a national telehealth company that offer both diagnostic and treatment services to people with a broad array of mental health conditions, including ADHD and related disorders. I’m also co-founder of Thynk, Inc. that has developed a brain-to-computer interface-driven video game, Skylar’s Run, to improve focus and attention.
I’ll say a few things about both companies. At Mentavi, we just completed a real world observational study to demonstrate that our asynchronous online diagnostic assessment is both valid and reliable in diagnosing ADHD in adults when compared to the current gold standard for diagnosing ADHD (which you point out), the clinical interview. The results of the study were published in a recent press release by Mentavi (Mentavi.com) which we are pretty damn proud of. This will hopefully move the field forward for both telehealth and diagnosis of ADHD in adults. We’re presenting the data at the upcoming World ADHD Congress in Prague in May. Co-authors include Steve Faraone, Jeff Newcorn and Andy Cutler. We will also publish the study in a peer-review journal. Folks can read the press release on our website.
Thynk, Inc’s Skylar’s Run video game has been in development for more than a decade. We have a slew of clinical data, especially studying Skylar’s Run for the treatment of ADHD in school-age children. Those studies showed consistent improvement in the core symptoms of ADHD as measured by the ADHD-RS. At one time we were going to seek FDA clearance, but we saw what happened to other companies that pursued this route, eg, AKILI’s EndeavorRx, and decided to commercialize our product for a broader range of health and wellness benefits. Recently we have been conducting small pilots at a large school district and a local YMCA and have demonstrated significant improvements in academic performance in many kids who play Skylar’s Run as measured pre and post by the subtests of both verbal and math fluency on the Woodcock-Johnson Test. This is obviously early data which we have replicated but blows us away to be able to demonstrate far transfer to improved academic achievement in as little as 5 weeks time. Neuroplasticity!! We’re also piloting Skylar’s Run with an adult population. We are currently manufacturing our first 1000 EEG headsets, so we are finally having a soft commercial launch! Folks can learn more about Thynk and Skylar’s Run at Thynk.com.
Lots of excitement in the ADHD space for both children and adults. As you indicated, ADHD can be effectively treated. We need more options, including non-pharmacological ones. I am really excited about the future and innovation in this space.
Great overview here. I didn't know about the Monarch device, excited to read more about it.