Sudents at Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Mellon have developed a wristband that sounds an alarm when its wearer is at risk of an opioid overdose, according to engineering magazine IEEE Spectrum.
The HopeBand shines LED light through the wearer's skin, which detects the changes in light absorption that monitor blood oxygen level. If it is too low, the wristband will alarm and send a text message with the wearer's location, the Pittsburgh Business Times reported.
The students developed the wristband after it was sponsored by pharmaceutical consulting firm Pinney Associated, based in Bethesda, Md. The HopeBand prototype won third place in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Opioid Challenge held during the Health 2.0 Conference last September in Santa Clara, Calif.
The HopeBand has not been tested on people, but there are plans to give out the bracelet through needle-exchange programs.
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