Advancing innovation in drug and alcohol addiction healthcare

Overview

Innovate UK, on behalf of the Office for Life Sciences, is inviting UK organisations to apply for a share of up to £20 million to accelerate innovations that improve treatment outcomes, enhance recovery and reduce harm and deaths from drug and alcohol addictions. Funding is split across two strands:

·      CR&D industrial research (this strand)

·      Contracts for Innovation.

The programme targets pharmaceutical, MedTech and digital interventions that can demonstrate real-world effectiveness and a credible pathway to UK market adoption.

Projects must progress towards regulatory approvals and certification and achieve Technology Readiness Level 8 or 9 by project end. Innovate UK expects projects to include market readiness analysis, manufacturing and rollout plans, and active co-design and user acceptability work with people with lived experience.

Scope

The aim of this AHG Catalysing Innovation Awards scheme is to progress innovations for improving treatment outcomes, enhancing recovery and reducing harm and deaths in drug and alcohol addiction healthcare.

Funding is for pharmaceutical, MedTech and digital interventions that can show real world effectiveness and progress towards UK market use. Projects must also secure the regulatory approvals or certificates needed for rollout. 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:

• address illicit drug or alcohol use
• focus on improving treatment outcomes, enhancing recovery and reducing harm and deaths in drug and alcohol addictions
• be either a pharmaceutical, digital health, or MedTech solution for the treatment, recovery, or harm and overdose prevention for drug or alcohol addictions
• achieve a minimum Technology Readiness Level of 8 or preferably Level 9 by the end of the funded project
• establish and evidence user acceptability with people with lived experience, supporting co-design
• have co-developed project plans with the input of those with lived experience, relevant treatment or service providers in those settings in which the intervention will be tested
• engage with statutory bodies, where relevant, to identify a pathway to secure regulatory approvals, certification and assessments or to progress along an appropriate existing pathway
• complete a full market readiness analysis and deliver a comprehensive business model or plan
• have established plans for manufacturing and UK rollout
• create strong collaborations across healthcare, research, industry and the third sector
• test in real world scenarios

If your proposal is technological, you must include the design and features of your solution and how it will be applied.

It is recommended that projects, where appropriate:

• be designed in consultation with people with lived experience of addictions
• be designed in discussion with relevant treatment or service providers
• account for complex needs of individuals who are the target of the intervention, for example, mental health, housing, criminal justice
• demonstrate alignment to delivery of relevant UK Government missions and strategies

Substances in scope of this competition include those treated in typical services including:

• opioids (illicit and prescription)
• stimulants: cocaine, crack, amphetamine, and methamphetamine
• cannabis
• GHB
• ketamine
• benzodiazepines
• gabapentinoids

Applicants must define your goals in your application and your plan for this competition.

Applicants must demonstrate a credible and practical route to market, so your application must include a plan to commercialise your results.

Key themes and topics

Key themes include:

·       Pharmaceutical interventions for the treatment, recovery, harm reduction or overdose prevention of drug or alcohol addictions

·       MedTech solutions that improve treatment delivery, monitoring, harm reduction or clinical outcomes

·       Digital health tools that enhance recovery pathways, support adherence, prevent relapse or reduce overdose risk

·       Real world testing and validation in relevant healthcare or community settings

·       Securing regulatory approvals or certification, including engagement with MHRA, NICE or other relevant bodies

·       Achieving Technology Readiness Level 8 or preferably Level 9 by project end

·       Co-design and evidence of user acceptability with people who have lived experience of addiction

·       Integration with treatment services and statutory providers, including NHS and community services

·       Market readiness analysis, commercial planning, manufacturing and UK rollout strategies

Project duration

Projects must:

• last between 24 and 36 months
• start on 1 December 2026
• end by 30 November 2029

Award value

The grant funding you can apply for is limited to no more than £3 million for each business, for each project.

Funding rates

For feasibility studies, which evaluates a project’s potential by uncovering key factors and informing confident, well-founded decisions about moving forward, you can get funding for your eligible project costs of:

• up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
• up to 60% if you are a medium sized organisation
• up to 50% if you are a large organisation

For industrial research projects, purposeful research that builds new knowledge and skills to improve or develop products, processes, or services—often through prototypes or system components that validate ideas in realistic settings, you can get funding for your eligible project costs of:

• up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
• up to 60% if you are a medium sized organisation
• up to 50% if you are a large organisation

For experimental development projects, which use existing knowledge to shape and refine new or improved products, processes, or services—through prototyping, testing, and validation, not routine upgrades and are nearer to market, you can get funding for your eligible project costs of:

• up to 45% if you are a micro or small organisation
• up to 35% if you are a medium sized organisation
• up to 25% if you are a large organisation

Research organisations can share up to 30% of the total eligible project costs

Eligibility criteria

·      Projects must be collaborative and led by a UK registered business of any size

·      Projects must include at least one grant claiming SME

·      Collaborators can be a UK registered business of any size; an academic institution; a charity; a not for profit; a public sector organisation; or a research and technology organisation (RTO)

·      Subcontractors must be preferably UK-based with fully justified and appropriate costs

·      All funded project work must be carried out within the UK and intend to exploit the results from or in the UK

·      Subsidy control and state aid rules apply