Less than one week after the FDA cleared Innovative Health Solutions’ NSS-2 Bridge, the company announced it will expand its payroll to include a number of new businesses.
Less than one week after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared Innovative Health Solutions’ NSS-2 Bridge, a device to help with opioid withdrawal, the company announced it will expand its payroll to include a number of new businesses.
With the expansion, Innovative Health Solutions said it will create up to 32 new jobs, a significant growth over the handful of employees it now has. Inside Indiana Business reported the company will begin hiring by the end of 2017 for various positions that include executive roles, customer service and nursing positions. The average salary associated with these positions is expected to be more than 60 percent higher than the state average, IIB said.
The company is investing approximately $500,000 in the expansion. In addition to hiring, Innovative Health Solutions will move into a larger office facility in Carmel, Ind. The expansion is being supported in part by economic support from the Indiana Economic Development Commission. IIB said the IEDC offered up to $275,000 in conditional tax credits as well as $150,000 in training grants.
The expanded space will likely allow Innovative Health Solutions to ramp up production of NSS-2. The device is placed behind the ear of patients. It has micro-needle arrays that percutaneously implant in and around the ear. Studies have shown that patients who use the NSS-2 Bridge device experiences an 84.6 percent reduction of withdrawal symptoms in as little as 60 minutes. Withdrawal symptoms from opioids can manifest quickly and include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, anxiety and sleeplessness. The symptoms can be overwhelming to patients and many return to using opioids as a form of relief.
When the FDA approved the device last week, Brian Carrico, president of Innovative Health Solutions, said the technology provides opioid addiction sufferers with an easier transition to all forms of medically assisted treatment.
“Our vision is for every person in withdrawal, preparing for withdrawal, or suffering from post-acute withdrawal symptoms to have access to this technology,” Carrico said in a statement. “Significantly reducing withdrawal symptoms lessens the dependency on opioids, allows for easier transition to Medically Assisted Treatment and ultimately works as another tool to combat the opioid epidemic facing our country.”
With the FDA approval, physicians can prescribe the treatment and paves the way for insurers to cover the costs as soon as states and commercial carriers adopt the technology.
Opioid addiction has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 78 Americans die daily from opioid overdoses. Several companies have been at the center of public concerns of opioid-based drugs, including Purdue Pharmaceuticals the maker of OxyContin -- a drug that has become one of the most abused pain treatments in the United States. Arizona-based Insys has also seen its share of problems over allegations of corrupt marketing practices to push Subsys, the company’s fentanyl-based pain medication.
