Dallas-based Sonara Health, an innovator in remote methadone treatment, has received a $2.5 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The company said the funding will help further its mission to support opioid treatment program patients with a remote dosing solution that simplifies adherence to methadone treatment programs.
Sonara—which is backed by Mark Cuban—said this is its second NIDA grant of the 2024 fiscal year. Recently, Sonara’s advocacy efforts also resulted in the state of New Jersey allocating funding in its FY25 budget to support a remote observation pilot program for take-home methadone.
“Securing the NIDA grant and expanding our services in New Jersey brings us one step closer to our mission of supporting Opioid Treatment Program (OTP) patients through advanced technology,” Sonara founder and CEO Michael Giles said in a statement. “We are committed to continuing our efforts to improve patient outcomes and foster trust between patients and their care teams.”
How the funds will be spent
The $2.5 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant awarded by NIDA will fund the second phase of Sonara’s Remote Observed Methadone Evaluation (ROME) study, the company said. It said that Phase I successfully integrated a measurement-based care (MBC) tool into Sonara’s web-based app and demonstrated the feasibility of the approach.
Phase II, which launched on Oct. 7, will utilize a randomized design to:
- Assess Sonara’s impact on treatment retention and opioid use
- Evaluate the effectiveness of the MBC tool
- Test the influence of Sonara on patient, program, and payer costs, as well as health-related quality of life
Collaborators in this study include Chestnut Health Systems and Family Guidance Inc.
Sonara expansion and New Jersey program
Since launching in 2020, Sonara said it has expanded from 10 to more than 40 locations across 11 states and the company has shown a 30x increase in revenue and dramatically increasing patient access to take-home medication.
Most recently, the State of New Jersey allocated funding in its FY25 budget for Sonara to support a remote observation pilot program for take-home methadone. Sponsored by New Jersey Assemblyman William F. Moen Jr., the initiative seeks to increase equitable access to take-home methadone, demonstrating its clinical and cost-effectiveness and improving patient satisfaction.
“The inclusion of this pilot program in New Jersey’s budget underscores our commitment to adopting innovative solutions that provide equitable access to treatment for all residents affected by the opioid epidemic,” Moen said.
Sonara will administer the program in partnership with the NJ Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence and various OTPs across the state.
“Outpatient clinics usually dispense methadone over a few hours time span. Allowing residents to have increased access to their medicine with remote therapeutic monitoring allows them to have more time to focus on their recovery,” said New Jersey Sen. Nilsa Cruz-Perez, who co-sponsored the budget resolution.
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