Wilmington and the surrounding area are full of lively neighborhoods—from Mayfaire and the Historic District to cozy corners of nearby Wrightsville and Carolina Beach.
But for one Wilmington-based company, the concept of a neighborhood spans wider than a secluded collection of streets and cul-de-sacs. OpiAID, a data science company that uses data-driven insights and AI to improve addiction treatment, sees everyone in the Wilmington community as their neighbors: especially those who are struggling most.
Wilmington has the highest opioid abuse rate of any city in the country. Currently, 11.6 percent of the working population in Wilmington is misusing or abusing an opioid, and opioid-related overdose deaths in North Carolina have doubled in the past 10 years, according to New Hanover County Health & Human Services.
In 2018, OpiAID Founder David Reeser saw the dire crisis in Wilmington. He started meeting with community members—clinicians, experts, police officers, school counselors, people in treatment—to understand the problems around opioid addiction. Reeser said he realized that people in recovery weren’t being treated with the acceptance and kindness that comes with loving one’s neighbor.
A Conscientious Approach To Addiction Treatment
“It just became very clear to me that my neighbors were being treated as ‘less than,’” Reeser said. “A lot of the standards of care that were being utilized were extremely ineffective, because they weren’t putting in the time, resources—and treating that person like they were infinitely valuable.”
To bridge that gap, Reeser built up a team of 33 people and incorporated OpiAID in 2021. The Wilmington-based company works with clinics that are providers of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), a specialized treatment plan that uses FDA-approved medications to help people reduce or stop opioid usage. Although these clinics provide the gold standard of care, Reeser said that they are missing something.
“What they lack is timely insights. They’re caring for these individuals, but they’re working with old data,” Reeser said. “So what we do is we collaborate with these clinics to make the best use of the data that they have, and then we provide insights they didn’t have.”
To access the data, OpiAID integrates into clinics’ electronic health records, extracting relevant insights and applying machine learning to understand things like relapses, withdrawal responses and indicators of treatment success. Reeser said that these insights can help support better medical decision making.
Another way OpiAID collects data is through common wrist worn devices, like Samsung or Apple watches, that use algorithms to personalize treatment based on an individual’s biometrics. The technology is provided free of cost for any patient who is interested, Reeser said.
“I started this company because I wanted to remove the barriers of care, both from a cost and from a physicality standpoint,” Reeser said. “I believe that basic health care is a human right, and I’ve been part of care where your insurance dictated what you were allowed to have done. I’m not okay with that, so this will be accessible to all neighbors, regardless of your ability to pay.”
The company developed its algorithms using three and a half million dollars won from non-dilutive grants. Those grants came from a variety of state and federal programs, including NC IDEA, SBIR, NSF’s I-Corps program and NIH grants.
OpiAID offers data intelligence to clinics through a SaaS business model. The company is currently working with two clinics and one large telehealth provider, and Reeser said that they are looking to continue closing contracts and slowly take on larger clients. Outside of growing their client base, OpiAID’s next big step is to secure an FDA mark that approves their software as a medical device.
QUICK BITS
Startup: OpiAID
Founder: David Reeser (CEO)
Founded: 2018
Location: Wilmington
Website: opiaid.ai
Funding: Grants and Angel
In the meantime, the company will continue to foster dialogue and meet with the community. Reeser said that he wants to provide more education around addiction treatment, battling the stigma that keeps many people with substance use disorder from seeking care.
“There are lots of people holding that facade up that just need to know that it’s okay to get treatment, and their life is going to be so much better on the other side of it—they just don’t have hope because they’re afraid to make the leap,” Reeser said.
From years of watching individuals battle addiction, Reeser said that the rest of society has a lot to learn from their resilience and strength.
“When people really get their heads around this, they realize that folks who’ve gone through this become the greatest asset that they could have in their community, if they’re willing to trust them and get behind them,” Reeser said. “And in doing that, the community becomes stronger, because addiction is a disease of loneliness, and the opposite of addiction is community.”
For more information about OpiAID, readers can visit https://opiaid.ai/.
