£20 million in government funding is being made available in the form of grants for innovators tackling drug and alcohol addiction, looking to develop digital tools such as wearables, apps, and VR as part of the Addiction Healthcare Goals programme.
The grants are being made available through Innovate UK, for innovations and technologies focusing on improving treatment, aiding recovery, and reducing harms associated with addiction.
Applications for grants of up to £10 million are already open for late-stage innovations that can demonstrate market readiness and progress toward regulatory approval, with a second strand catering for earlier-stage innovations, offering up to £1.5 million to help demonstrate initial effectiveness.
Successful applicants will gain access to an education session from the MHRA and NICE to support them with evidence requirements, certification, approval, and rollout.
Applications are due to close on 6 May 2026, with an online briefing event scheduled for 19 February to help guide innovators through the application process.
Earlier funding through the £5 million Reducing Drug Deaths Innovation Challenge and the £10 million Addiction Healthcare Goals: Innovation for Treatment and Recovery i4i awards is said to have already helped to support 16 innovations, including AI-enabled tools, VR therapy for cocaine dependence, and app-supported prison release care.
Science Minister Lord Vallance noted how innovations could save thousands of lives and improve outcomes for hundreds of thousands more, adding: “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.”
Wider trend: Innovation across the health sector
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has launched a consultation on its proposals to extend existing transitional arrangements and continue to recognise medical devices approved in the EU “indefinitely”. The proposals put forward look to support the extension of measures put in place in 2023 to recognise CE marked medical devices on the British market to 2030, in a move the MHRA states is aimed at protecting patient access and ensuring continued supply of “safe and effective” medical technologies.
A new national health tech access programme has launched, expanding NICE’s tech appraisals programme to make selected technologies, identified for their potentially high impact, eligible for reimbursement and roll-out across the whole health service. The programme, a collaboration between NICE, DHSC, NHSE, MHRA, and the Office for Life Sciences, will first focus on early diagnosis for cancer in the form of capsule sponge tests for oesophageal cancer and AI tools for identifying prostate and breast cancer. These tools include algorithms capable of analysing images and highlighting areas of suspicion to support pathologists, with hopes of reducing workload and allowing for higher risk cases to be prioritised.
The Scottish government has shared how the objectives set out in its Women’s Health Plan for Scotland are to be achieved across two phases. The first phase sets out priority areas to: ensure women have access to specialist menopause services for advice and support on the diagnosis and management of menopause; access to information for girls and women on menstrual health and management options; access for women to appropriate support, speedy diagnosis and best treatment for endometriosis; access to abortion and contraception services; rapid and easily accessible postnatal contraception; and to reduce inequalities in health outcomes for women’s general health, including work on cardiac disease.
