NIH HEAL is still the biggest addiction-tech grant pool no one applies for

The NIH HEAL Initiative — jointly run by NIDA and NINDS — disbursed <span class="stat">$355 million</span> in FY24 across <span class="stat">280+</span> active research projects supporting more than <span class="stat">250</span> investigators. Cumulative since 2018: <span class="stat">$3.9 billion</span> across <span class="stat">2,200+</span> projects in all <span class="stat">50 states + DC</span>. Every one of those numbers is bigger than the entire venture-capital category for addiction-tech.

The SBIR/STTR door

The piece of HEAL most relevant to recovery-tech founders is NIDA’s Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs. These are non-dilutive, contract-based federal awards — Phase I typically <span class="stat">$300K</span> over <span class="stat">6–12 months</span>, Phase II <span class="stat">$2M+</span> over <span class="stat">2 years</span> — designed for exactly the kind of FDA-regulated digital therapeutic, mobile health platform, or health-IT solution that fits the recovery-navigation thesis. NIDA’s Strategic Plan Priority Area 5 — “Translate Research into Innovative Health Applications” — explicitly elevates this pathway as a strategic priority.

The cautionary tale is right next door. Pear Therapeutics — the FDA-approved digital therapeutic for SUD that went bankrupt in 2023 — built on top of NIH-funded science but staked its commercial model on payer reimbursement that never materialized. The lesson is not “skip federal funding”; it is “use federal funding for what it is good for (validation, evidence base, regulatory preparation), and build a commercial model that does not require single-payer adoption to survive.”

The FY27 fight

The administration’s FY27 budget proposal would merge NIDA and NIAAA into a “National Institute of Substance Use and Addiction Research” with roughly <span class="stat">$165M</span> in net cuts versus FY26 enacted levels. Congress rejected the more aggressive FY26 reorganization (NIDA + NIAAA + NIMH → “National Institute of Behavioral Health” with a <span class="stat">40%</span> NIH discretionary cut). The FY27 fight is now beginning, and the addiction-tech founder community is largely absent from it.

For Rize specifically: the SBIR/STTR pathway is on the near-term roadmap as a non-dilutive parallel to the pre-seed raise. We are tracking PA-25-302 (Translational Research) and NIDA’s Avenir Award for FY27 deadlines.

→ How NIH funding fits the Rize roadmap (founder perspective)