The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a video game to be legally marketed as a prescription.
According to The Verge, Akili Interactive’s EndeavorRX, which was formerly known as Project EVO, will be known as the first prescribed video game in the US.
The mobile game for iPhone and iPad users will be prescribed to kids ages 8 through 12, who are diagnosed with ADHD.
The game has certainly been through enough clinical trials for several years that included five studies done on over 600 children to see if a game could make a difference, the outlet reports.
The company reveals that the results of its favorite study showed that one-third of kids had been treated and “no longer had a measurable attention deficit on at least one measure of objective attention.”
The study consisted of the kids “playing the obstacle-dodging, target-collecting game,” for just 25 minutes a day, five days a week for a month.
“Improvements in ADHD impairments following a month of treatment with EndeavorRx were maintained for up to a month,” the company states.
Side effects of the game include frustration and a mild headache.
The studies were performed by doctors who work for the game’s developer who released disclosures about the study stating that the results “are not sufficient to suggest that AKL-T01 should be used as an alternative to established and recommended treatments for ADHD.”
The company hasn’t officially launched the game; however, back in April, Akili opened up enrollment to a limited number of families and currently has a waiting list on its official website https://my.akili.care/endeavor/enrollment.
Though this game will make history as it’s considered the first legally marked prescribed virtual medicine option, The Verge points out that back in 2010, Bayer revealed an FDA-approved glucose meter titled ‘Didget,’ which could be installed in the back of a Nintendo DS.
In 2009 Nintendo began to work on a Wii Vitality Sensor; however, the project was ultimately shelved altogether by 2013.
