Startup Funding and Mission
Sonara, a startup focused on methadone management, has raised $3 million in venture funding from First Trust Capital Partners and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas. The company, which is also backed by a high-profile “shark” investor, was created to enable patients to take their methadone doses at home rather than traveling to a clinic daily. This innovation in at-home methadone treatment has the potential to transform how methadone treatment is delivered, improving access, convenience, and adherence for patients struggling with opioid use disorder (OUD).
The Role of Methadone in OUD Treatment
Methadone has long been a cornerstone in treating OUD. It works by stabilizing patients and reducing cravings and withdrawal symptoms, making it particularly effective for individuals with a higher tolerance to opioids. However, methadone carries significant risks of misuse, diversion, and overdose. For this reason, federal and state regulations typically require patients to take their doses under direct supervision at opioid treatment programs (OTPs). In practice, this has meant daily visits to a clinic, sometimes lasting hours, which can create barriers for patients trying to maintain employment, care for their families, or manage other responsibilities.
Regulatory Landscape
Under Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) guidance, patients can begin at-home methadone treatment after at least 30 days of in-person supervision. Despite this, many treatment programs continue to require supervised dosing for months or even years. This can hinder patient engagement and retention, leaving many individuals without consistent access to life-saving medication.
The Opioid Crisis
The opioid crisis continues to devastate the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were 91,799 overdose deaths in 2020, a 31% increase from 2019. Opioids were involved in nearly 75% of these deaths. The rise of potent synthetic opioids like fentanyl has increased the urgency for effective treatment options. Dr. Michael Giles, CEO of Sonara, emphasized the need for powerful opioid receptor agonists such as methadone.
“The importance of methadone is increasing because we need potent opioid receptor agonists like methadone to really combat these insanely powerful illicit opioids like fentanyl,” Giles told Behavioral Health Business. “Buprenorphine is an important treatment, and it helps many people. But it just doesn’t cut it for these patients using large amounts of fentanyl.”
Inspiration Behind Sonara
Giles was inspired to create Sonara after witnessing the challenges patients face while on methadone treatment during his medical residency. “All the patients had to come to the clinic six days a week for the first 90 days of treatment, waiting in line for minutes to hours just to receive a single dose of life-saving medication,” he recalled. “Many patients ended up leaving care because they had work obligations or childcare responsibilities, and daily clinic visits made maintaining treatment nearly impossible.”
How Sonara Works
With an initial $2.25 million in pre-seed funding from Mark Cuban and other investors, Giles and his team began building Sonara in 2020. The platform is designed to create trust between patients and providers while enabling safe at-home methadone treatment. According to Giles, the system allows providers to monitor how patients take methadone remotely, giving patients the opportunity to receive take-home doses earlier than they might under traditional models.
The Sonara system uses technology to maintain accountability. Each methadone bottle is fitted with a taper-aware label that tracks medication compliance. Patients log into the Sonara web application, which is compatible with low-quality smartphones, scan the QR code on the bottle before opening it, and record themselves taking their daily dose. This ensures adherence while providing flexibility, reducing the need for daily clinic visits. With this approach, at-home methadone treatment becomes safer and more manageable for both patients and providers.
Expansion and Value-Based Care
Currently, Sonara is contracting with OTPs to implement the system, but the company has plans to expand into partnerships with insurers and integrate into a value-based care model. “A fee-for-service model incentivizes physicians to have patients come into a clinic for supervised methadone treatments,” Giles explained. “Remote medication management tools like Sonara could provide more value to patients while also improving outcomes. We want to work with payers to create a reimbursement structure that allows for remotely supervised dosing, rewarding providers for improved quality of care and better patient results.”
Impact of Funding
The $3 million funding round will allow Sonara to scale its technology, expand its partnerships with OTPs, and continue developing tools to enhance treatment safety and accessibility. By combining technology, patient-centered design, and clinical oversight, Sonara aims to reduce barriers to at-home methadone treatment and help more people recover from opioid use disorder.
The Future of At-Home Methadone Treatment
As the opioid crisis continues to escalate, innovations like Sonara’s at-home methadone treatment system could play a pivotal role in saving lives and improving access to care. By leveraging remote monitoring technology, the startup is redefining what is possible in opioid treatment, offering patients greater flexibility and control over their recovery while maintaining safety and clinical oversight.
Ultimately, the goal is to make at-home methadone treatment a viable and widely available option for patients who previously had to visit clinics daily, helping ensure long-term recovery and better outcomes.
