The government has put up £20 million of funding to develop medicines, medical technologies and digital tools to tackle drug and alcohol addiction.
To help stem the flow of the thousands of people who die every year in the UK from substance misuse and addiction, the British government has put up £20 million of funding to develop medicines, medical technologies and digital tools to tackle drug and alcohol addiction.
Grants, delivered through Innovate UK, will support the development and deployment of new technologies designed to improve treatment, strengthen recovery and reduce harm from drug and alcohol addiction.
The AHG Catalysing Innovation Awards – part of the Addiction Healthcare Goals programme led by the Office for Life Sciences – will support those working on new medicines, medical devices, wearables, virtual‑reality therapies, treatment apps and AI‑enabled tools. These innovations have the potential to transform care for people with drug and alcohol addictions by improving treatment outcomes, preventing relapse and reducing the risk of overdose and death.
“Cutting-edge medicines and technologies could save thousands of lives lost to alcohol and drug addiction while improving outcomes for hundreds of thousands more,” said science minister Patrick Vallance.
Prevent deaths
Awards of up to £10 million available to support late-stage, high-impact projects that can demonstrate real-world effectiveness, UK market readiness and progress towards regulatory approval.
These grants will support projects expected to be close to deployment and capable of delivering impact within health and care services.
A second strand will support earlier-stage innovations, with awards of up to £1.5 million to help promising technologies demonstrate initial effectiveness, strengthen business planning and help them progress.
Successful projects will also receive exclusive access to an education session from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), supporting innovators to navigate evidence requirements and the pathway to UK certification, approval and roll-out.
“These awards will support UK companies and innovators to build the evidence needed to show what works in real services, ensuring innovations reach the people who need them sooner, prevent deaths and strengthen recovery,” said Anne Lingford-Hughes, chair of Addiction Healthcare Goals.
Other opportunities from AHG include the Addiction Healthcare Goals Research Leadership Programme, with more than £10 million of funding available, to support career development and training for a pipeline of future leaders in addiction research across the UK.
