Games just became medicine!

The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) just approved the first prescription video game for kids with ADHD. Akili Interactive’s EndeavorRX, formerly Project EVO, may go down in history: it’s the first video game that can legally be marketed and prescribed as medicine in the US.

The FDA is authorizing doctors to prescribe the iPhone and iPad game for kids between ages eight and 12 years old with ADHD. The trial that showed most success was conducted by doctors working for Akili, scepticism is warranted. But the legitimacy of the project is not the key point here. Rather, what’s most interesting about this innovation is that it’s a signal of an emerging trend for digital interventions in mental health and wellbeing.

The collision between digital tech and a cluster of fundamental human needs – health, wellness, self-actualization – has been a fertile space for the emergence of new trends across the last two decades. There are clear signs that digital services for mental wellbeing are now emerging into the mainstream. 

At Alexandria,  we believe that any meaningful trend has its basis in a fundamental human need.