Advancing innovation in drug and alcohol addiction healthcare

Key Features

Organisations can apply for a share of £20 million across two competitions. Projects will advance development of pharmaceutical, digital and MedTech tools to improve treatment recovery and prevention of harm and deaths from drug and alcohol addictions.

Programme:     Innovate UK

Award:     Share of up to £20 million

Opens: 16th Feb 2026

Closes: 6th May 2026

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Grant Overview

Innovate UK on behalf of the Office for Life Sciences Addiction Healthcare Goals programme are investing a share of up to £20 million in innovative CR&D projects.

Grant Scope

This competition is to progress innovations that improve treatment outcomes, reduce harm, enhance recovery and death in drug and alcohol addiction healthcare. Funding is for pharmaceutical, MedTech and digital interventions that show real world effectiveness and progress towards UK market use. By the end of the funded project innovations should have achieved:

  • Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 8 or 9
  • Necessary regulatory approvals and certification, or work already underway to get them
  • Full market readiness analysis and clear plans for manufacturing and UK rollout

Projects must focus on ways to address illicit drug or alcohol use, on improving treatment outcomes and enhancing recovery, reducing harm and death in drug and alcohol addictions. Be either a pharmaceutical, digital health or MedTech solutions for the treatment, recovery, or harm and overdose prevention in drug or alcohol addictions. Please see full briefing for complete list.

Substances in scope include those treated in typical services including:

  • Cannabis
  • GHB
  • Opioids
  • Stimulants
  • Ketamine
  • Gabapentinoids
  • Benzodiazepines

Eligibility Criteria

Grant funding is limited to no more than £3 million for each business and each project. Projects must have a total eligible cost of between £250,000 and £10 million for MedTech, pharmaceutical or digital intervention. Projects last between 24 and 36 months and start on 1st December 2026 and end by 30th November 2029.

  • Lead: Organisati9ons must be a UK registered business of any size. Academic institutions and RTOs cannot lead.
  • Project Team: To collaborate with the lead, organisations can be a business of any size, academic institutions, charities, not for-profit, public-sector or research and technology organisations. Each partner must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service by the lead.
  • Non-funded partners: Projects can include organisations who do not claim funding for their work on the project. Their costs need to be covered from their own resources.
  • Subcontractors: Are allowed in this competition and can be from anywhere in the UK. Overseas subcontractors can be used but you must make the case in your application as to why UK subcontractors couldn’t be used.
  • Number of Applications: Businesses can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in two further applications.
  • Previous Applications: Previously submitted applications can be used for this competition.

Exclusions 

The following projects are excluded from funding:

  • Not original scope and duplicate someone else’s work
  • At feasibility stage
  • Not pharmaceutical solutions, MedTech or digital health tools
  • Not have clear commercial potential
  • Prevent initiation of addictive substance use
  • Focus on early substance use inventions, prior to addiction diagnosis
  • Not have clear commercial potential
  • Not have a clear plan to engage with people with lived experience, treatment or relevant services throughout the project
  • Primarily target the following: nicotine addictions; gambling or behavioural addictions
  • Don‘t engage with statutory bodies, where relevant to identify a pathway to secure regulatory approvals, certification, and assessments

Grant Funding

Up to £20 million of grant funding has been allocated across two competitions under the AHG Catalysing Innovation Awards scheme. Funding supports development of pharmaceutical, digital and MedTech tools to improve treatment and recovery, and reduce harm and deaths linked to drug and alcohol addiction.

You can apply for Grant Funding of no more than £3 million for each business/project. For industrial research projects, you can get funding for eligible project costs of:

  • Up to 70% for micro or small organisations
  • Up to 60% for medium sized organisations
  • Up to 50% for large organisations

Research Organisations

Organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 30% of the total eligible project costs. Consortiums containing more than one research organisation undertaking non-economic activity, this maximum is shared between them.  Of that 30%, you can get funding for your eligible project costs of up to:

  • 100% of your eligible project costs if you are an RTO, charity, not for profit organisation, public sector organisation or research organisation
  • 80% of full economic costs (FEC) if you are a Je-S registered institution, such as an academic

Eligible criteria for claiming 80% of FEC funding 

  1. Research organisations using the Je-S system must submit their costs through the Je-S system, which calculates the 80% FEC figure.
  2. On IFS, only the 80% FEC output should be entered at 100% funding.
  3. Applicants do not need to show the remaining 20% on the finance table.

For further information on this competition, please see full details. 

Full competition details

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Book an appointment to speak to one of our advisors to discuss your eligibility to apply for this Grant Funding opportunity.