A smartphone app called “SmartQuit,” proven in clinical studies to help people stop smoking, will be brought to market after landing a $250,000 grant from the Washington Life Sciences Discovery Fund, and reaching an exclusive licensing agreement with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
The agreement was announced this morning, and the app is slated to be available by late 2014.
The SmartQuit app, developed by Seattle startup 2Morrow Inc., is based on research by Jonathan Bricker, PhD., who works in the Public Health Sciences Division at Fred Hutch and led the first randomized, controlled trial comparing the effectiveness of smoking cessation apps. SmartQuit uses “acceptance and commitment therapy,” or ACT, in which people are helped to accept their urges and let them pass.
“There are more than 400 quit-smoking apps on the market and none of those apps are backed by research that proves they work. We have to do better,” Bricker said in a statement. “In a world where many people prefer a do-it-yourself approach, it is becoming increasingly important to test the programs being delivered via these new technologies.”
Under the licensing arrangement, 2Morrow will use the results of Bricker’s research to create version of the app that’s ready to bring to market by the end of the year, targeted to companies, health plans and states. Licensing proceeds will benefit the Hutch and its programs.
