£20m funding for tech to tackle drug and alcohol addiction
Dr Zubir Ahmed, health innovation and safety minister (Credit: Department of Health and Social Care)
The government is offering innovators £20 million in grants for MedTech, digital tools and medicines to tackle drug and alcohol addiction.
Around 15,000 people die each year in the UK due to alcohol and drugs and hundreds of thousands more suffer the effects, costing England an estimated £47bn annually.
Grants will be delivered through Innovate UK to support the development and deployment of technologies, such as wearable tech, AI-enabled tools, apps and virtual reality projects to improve treatment, strengthen recovery and reduce harm from addiction.
Zubir Ahmed, health minister, said: “Addiction ruins lives and we need to look at any way we can help ease the suffering and aid the recovery of hundreds of thousands of people.
“Embracing new technology will help supplement all the work this government is already doing including expanding access to vital drugs and providing billions in funding for drug and alcohol prevention treatment and recovery.
“Finding new ways to combat the scourge of addiction could save thousands of lives and billions of pounds.”
Awards of up to £10m are available through the AHG Catalysing Innovation Awards to support late‑stage projects which can demonstrate real‑world effectiveness, UK market readiness and progress towards regulatory approval.
A second strand will support earlier-stage innovations, with awards of up to £1.5m to help demonstrate initial effectiveness, and strengthen business planning.
The awards are part of the Addiction Healthcare Goals programme led by the Office for Life Sciences.
Professor Anne Lingford‑Hughes, chair of Addiction Healthcare Goals, said: “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.”
Winning innovators will receive access to an education session from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to help them navigate evidence requirements and the pathway to UK certification, approval and roll-out.
Lord Vallance, science minister, said: “Cutting-edge medicines and technologies could save thousands of lives lost to alcohol and drug addiction while improving outcomes for hundreds of thousands more.
“Backing both late‑stage technologies and earlier‑stage innovations means we are creating a clear and rapid route from breakthrough ideas to real‑world impact.
“This is about using the UK’s scientific excellence to prevent avoidable deaths and support recovery, while helping innovative companies to grow and thrive in the UK at the same time.”
Innovators can apply until 6 May 2026. An online briefing event will be held on 19 February to guide organisations through the application process.
Meanwhile, former health minister Dr Dan Poulter has called for the urgent introduction of digital pathways to tackle unprecedented capacity pressures on alcohol-related services in the foreword to a white paper by addiction charity Adfam, the University of Sussex, and social enterprise Clean Slate Clinic.
