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Commission Takes First Steps Toward High-Tech Solutions For Fighting Opioid Crisis

Karen Kasler
/
Statehouse News
The Third Frontier Commission meets to discuss Gov. John Kasich's $20 million opiod abuse, prevention and treatment technology initiative.

In his State of the State speech last month, Gov. John Kasich announced he wants the state’s Third Frontier commission to spend $20 milliontoward high-tech solutions to the deadly opioid crisis. The panel has taken the first step toward doing that.

The commission will spend $12 million on what it determines through a competitive process are the best devices, drugs, medical products, tests or other ideas that are in development but need some more funding to get them to market.

And Norm Chagnon with the Ohio Development Services Agency says it’ll also spend $8 million on a challenge to bring in new ideas.

“As a result of collecting those ideas, we are going to formulate specific challenges from that input, driving towards actual technical solutions to those," Chagnon says.

The challenge will be competitive as well, with the best proposals also receiving small financial awards.