Millennium Health and CDC Collaborate on Detecting Drug Use Trends Using Testing Data

Millennium Health’s real-time data and analytics is designed to help the agency prevent fentanyl and other drug overdose deaths.

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Millennium Health, a leading drug testing company, announced a multi-year contract to support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in their efforts to save lives and prevent fatal drug overdoses.

Millennium Health will provide CDC aggregated real-time data, as well as technical and scientific support, to help determine where drug misuse may be occurring. This information will enhance CDC’s existing surveillance data and will help the agency in its efforts to identify drug use trends and support overdose prevention activities.

“Timely drug testing data allows us to rapidly assess drug use patterns, regional differences in drug use, emerging threats, and determine whether prescription drugs are being misused,” said Grant Baldwin, PhD, MPH, director of the Division of Overdose Prevention, CDC. “Access to such allows for an improved ability to tailor prevention and response efforts.”

The work described in today’s announcement expands on the existing collaboration between Millennium Health and the US Department of Health and Human Services to provide Millennium Health’s Emerging Threat Intelligence™ Report, which outlines the current drug trends for substances at the national, state, and county level.

“CDC is getting a powerful tool to help supplement its existing surveillance data. We anticipate being able to provide results the agency can use to better understand drug use trends and, more importantly, reduce fatal overdoses,” said Millennium Health CEO Scott Walton.

Millennium Health processes thousands of urine drug tests every day from every corner of the United States. With data that refreshes nightly, the company will crunch millions of data points for CDC and supplement them with the technical and scientific support it needs to determine where illicit drug use and prescription drug misuse may be occurring – including at the county level.

“Our testing and lab results help guide critical decisions for thousands of individuals every day,” Walton added. “We are also very proud of the fact that these same results, in aggregate, can help direct the public health response to the overdose crisis. We look forward to applying our data and analytics capabilities in this important effort.”

About Millennium Health

Millennium Health is an accredited specialty laboratory providing definitive urine and oral fluid drug tests to support improved clinical decision-making as part of treatment for millions of Americans with chronic pain, mental illness, and substance use disorders, and tracks drug use trends to help address escalating drug overdose deaths.