This is the first FDA approved video game that can be marketed as treatment for ADHD kids

Akili Interactive’s EndeavorRX, formerly Project EVO, is the first video game that can legally be marketed and prescribed as medicine in the United States. Currently, it is the only FDA-cleared prescription treatment for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

EndeavorRX looks like an old PC video game from the 90s. Despite the old-school graphics, the game is a game-changer as it is indicated to “improve attention function as measured by computer-based testing” and is the “first digital therapeutic intended to improve symptoms associated with ADHD”.

Authorised doctors are able to prescribe game—which is playable on the iPhone and iPad—for kids between ages eight and twelve years old with ADHD. They were able to do this after the game underwent seven years of clinical trials, studied over 600 children.

While there were no serious adverse events reported, there were still disadvantages seen in their studies. The most common adverse events observed with EndeavorRx included frustration, headache, dizziness, emotional reaction, and aggression.

However, according to one the company’s five studies, one-third of kids treated “no longer had a measurable attention deficit on at least one measure of objective attention”. It was resulted after the kids played EndeavorRx for 25 minutes a day, five days a week for four weeks.

Akili Interactive has yet to launch the game, though it did open up enrolment for a limited number of American families in April. But if you’d like to sign up for their waitlist, be my guest.

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