Nu Eyne said Tuesday that it has been selected for the “Technology Research and Development (R&D) Project to Respond to Social Problems Related to Mental Health such as Drugs and Suicide” pushed by the Mental Health Research and Development Project of the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The project is designed to develop treatment technologies for short-term medication and rehabilitation to help patients with substance use disorders return to their daily lives to overcome the rapidly growing problem of drug addiction and misuse in Korea and the lack of treatment environments (evidence-based treatment technologies, specialized personnel, and treatment centers) for patients with substance use disorders, it explained.

The project is promoting three programs:

● The development of Korean standard guidelines for substance use disorders and the development of psychosocial treatment programs.

● The development of noninvasive medical devices for substance use disorder treatment.

● The development of screening tools and early intervention technologies for high-risk groups (including drugs) for substance addiction.

Developing noninvasive medical devices for treating substance use disorders involves creating digital therapeutics with electroceuticals and smart devices utilizing neuromodulation (a procedure that regulates brain function through electrical stimulation). Over the next five years, up to 3.8 billion won ($2.76 million) in research funds will be provided to the participating institutions.

Participating organizations must include companies with relevant technologies for medical device development, and institutions that have secured relevant technologies for medical device development and clinical trials must participate as joint research institutes.

Nu Eyne has eight pipelines related to electroceuticals. It has noninvasive trigeminal nerve stimulation technology used in migraine treatment electroceuticals that have secured domestic and foreign licenses, and ADHD treatment electroceuticals that have secured U.S. FDA approval, as well as noninvasive trigeminal nerve stimulation technology that has completed prototype development and aims to develop electroceuticals for treating substance use disorders by applying these noninvasive neuromodulation technologies in this project.

In addition, the company plans to conduct basic and clinical research to develop electroceutical technology for treating substance use disorders through a consortium with Professor Lee Tae-young of the Department of Psychiatry at Chonnam National University Hospital, Professor Jeon Se-jin of Hallym University Department of Medicine, and Professor Jang Dong-pyo of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Hanyang University.

To develop noninvasive medical devices for treating substance use disorders, the project will select two organizations, conduct a targeted reassessment in the second year of the five-year grant period, and support one company's final product from the third year.