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EDDIE MARTUCCI, CEO, AKILI INTERACTIVE - SOFTWARE THAT IS THE MEDICINE

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SEASON 2, EPISODE 10

EDDIE MARTUCCI, CEO, AKILI INTERACTIVE -
SOFTWARE THAT IS THE MEDICINE

 

 

What if software could actually treat a disease? That’s the question that Eddie Martucci, a biochemist and biophysicist whose focus is in drug design, wondered 10 years ago. It’s also the question that set his digital therapeutics company, Akili Interactive, into motion. Today, as Co-Founder and CEO at Akili, Eddie and a diverse team of cognitive neuroscientists, data scientists, software engineers, and video game designers (who’ve worked on games like Medal of Honor, Plants vs. Zombies, and Bejeweled) have developed EndeavorRx, the first-ever FDA-approved prescription video game to treat kids 8-12 with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Eddie joins the podcast to talk about the new and growing field of medicine called digital therapeutics and share how “software that is the medicine” is innovating and disrupting traditional medicine as we know it. He explains how software has the potential to treat a range of health conditions like depression, anxiety, insomnia, chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, Long COVID brain fog, and more and how digital therapeutics are on track to becoming “a brand new pillar of medicine.”

 

What we're realizing in medicine today is that we need more options…What we're doing at Akili is creating a brand new pillar of medicine that people can discuss with their doctor and that doctors now have access to. You go from a singular option to now combinatorial options with this brand new type of medicine. 

Eddie MartucciCo-Founder & CEO, Akili Interactive

LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE TO LEARN:

  • What digital therapeutics are, what they aren’t, and how they aim to create better relationships, better outcomes, and a more patient-centric approach to treatment
  • What sets EndeavorRx apart from your average video game, and the “active ingredient” that makes it so effective in improving attention function in children with ADHD
  • How EndeavorRx uses algorithms that adapt to a user’s gameplay in real-time, along with sensory and motor stimuli designed to activate and build the midline prefrontal cortex (the brain’s “attention muscle”) 
  • Why the clinical trial and FDA approval process for digital therapy technology is as rigorous as it is for any other drug
  • How Akili is testing its core technology in different immersive gaming environments to potentially treat patients with a range of cognitive conditions, including depression, multiple sclerosis, adult ADHD, and Long COVID brain fog
  • Why both Big Pharma and insurers are starting to acknowledge digital therapies as a serious and viable option in medicine 
  • The advantage of being able to collect lots of data from patients using digital therapies and how that data can be used to iterate and improve the experience patients have with their treatment (e.g., collecting frame rate data, finding and fixing software bugs, uncovering user onboarding issues)

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