TaperMate: Australian pharmacist develops app to ease medication cessation
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Alicia Martin, an Australian community pharmacist, created TaperMate after observing patients struggle with intense withdrawal symptoms when discontinuing antidepressants.
Through her pharmacy work, Martin noticed a lack of support for people wanting to stop long-term medications, prompting her to develop a solution. TaperMate is now a mobile app that helps people track and adjust hyperbolic tapering plans. Martin’s work began after she questioned a doctor’s instruction to a patient to abruptly reduce antidepressant dosage, recognizing the potential for severe withdrawal.
She researched existing guidelines and connected with online communities, discovering widespread issues with medication discontinuation and a lack of effective advice. This led her to develop a personalized tapering approach, focusing on smaller, percentage-based reductions in dosage, which aligns with recent research into brain receptor occupancy during tapering. Currently, TaperMate also offers pharmacist-led telehealth services in Australia, providing patients with personalized tapering plans and support.
Martin hopes to expand the service internationally and is working to streamline the process by establishing referral pathways with mental health practitioners and compounding pharmacies, ultimately aiming to make TaperMate a comprehensive, one-stop resource for safe and effective medication tapering.
