Doctors Are Now Prescribing This Videogame To Children To Treat ADHD

The future of digital medicine has arrived, and doctors, clinicians and parents are already impressed by the results.

EndeavourRx isn’t just any video game, it’s a groundbreaking, history making, theraputic marvel – and that’s because it’s the first videogame in history to be approved by the FDA as a prescription medication, in the treatment of attention defecit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD].

After undergoing seven years of clinical trials, the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] has given Akili Interactive’s videogame, EndeavourRx, approval to be marketed and prescribed to children with ADHD. This landmark decision marks the first digital medicine to be approved as a clinical treatment.

According to one of the studies conducted by Akili Interactive, one in three children participating in the study “no longer had a measurable attention deficit on at least one measure of objective intent”, after playing the game for 25 minutes a day, five days a week, over a course of four weeks.

Check out the official trailer for EndeavourRx below

“Improvements in ADHD impairments following a month of treatment with EndeavourRx were maintained for up to a month,” the company has cited, and they state that the only side-effects that have been uncovered are a mild headache and frustration – noting that these are side-effects from all videogames.

For now, EndeavourRx is only approved for the treatment of ADHD in children between the ages of eight and 12 years old, and it’s yet to see a wide, public release. However, a limited number of families have been trialling it in their homes since April, according to a statement made to The Verge earlier this year.

The benefit that such a treatment could see in the classroom is an exciting prospect for teachers and students alike. Parents, teachers and clinicians wanting to trial this new frontier in digital medicine can enrol on the official waitlist here.

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