Opioid use disorder — NIH Funding Overview

Why this matters now

Despite some recent declines, overdose deaths remain near historic highs, and synthetic opioids (fentanyl analogs, nitazenes) keep evolving the threat landscape. HEAL appropriations have continued through annual budgets, supporting non-opioid pain therapeutics, MOUD (medications for opioid use disorder) implementation, and overdose response.

How NIH funds this area

HEAL awards span U01, U19, U24, R01, and U54 cooperative agreements. NIDA-led awards focus on substance use disorder; NINDS-led awards focus on pain mechanisms and non-opioid analgesics. Data below covers all NIH awards mentioning opioid in title, abstract, or terms.

What the data shows

• Funding peaked in FY2023 at $1.7B. The FY2025 total of $1.6B is +0% versus FY2021.
• The number of awards fell about 9% in FY2025 even as total dollars grew — funding is concentrating in fewer, larger awards.
• About 83% of FY2026 dollars so far are non-Type-1 award actions, including competing renewals, supplements, non-competing continuations, and institutional changes. This is a descriptive record mix, not a measure of renewal activity alone.
• The average FY2025 award was $737K, and R01 was the most common mechanism in the recent window.

Yearly NIH Awards for Opioid use disorder

Counts and total funding per fiscal year from NIH RePORTER. Recent fiscal years may understate final totals because of reporting lag.

Open the full interactive trends view for Opioid use disorder →

Top NIH Institutes (last 90 days)

Which NIH institutes funded the most Opioid projects in the most recent 90-day window.

Common Activity Codes (last 90 days)

Which grant mechanisms (R01, R21, U01, P30, etc.) appeared most often for Opioid in the recent period.

Most Active Institutions (last 90 days)

Universities and research organizations with the most Opioid awards in the most recent 90-day window.

1. JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY — 18 awards
2. YALE UNIVERSITY — 18 awards
3. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR — 14 awards
4. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO — 14 awards
5. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY — 12 awards
6. UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON — 11 awards
7. MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL — 10 awards
8. UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA — 10 awards

Recently Awarded Opioid use disorder Grants

Twelve most recent awards mentioning Opioid, drawn from NIH RePORTER. Click through to Find PIs for the full investigator search.

• SGLT2i As Novel Gout Care (SAVE-Care): A Randomized Controlled Trial

  5R61AR084188-02
  HYON CHOI · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL, MA · $219,637 · awarded Aug 28, 2026 · R61

  Gout is the most common inflammatory arthritis, affecting >12 million US adults (5.1%); its global disease burden continues to increase. As a metabolic-inflammatory condition, gout is strongly associated with multiple cardiometabolic and kidney comorbidities. The ‘modern gout epidemic’ and suboptimal gout care contribute to high rates of recurrent gout…

• PERSON-CENTERED RESEARCH ON CULTURE AS HEALTH (PERCH) An Indigenous Model of Wellness

  3OT2DA061146-01S2
  Christina Denslinger · GREAT LAKES INTER-TRIBAL COUNCIL, INC., WI · $350,110 · awarded Aug 28, 2026 · OT2

  The Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council (GLITC), serving 12 member Tribes, is building Tribally governed research capacity to address substance use, overdose, and behavioral health among Native youth and families. In Phase I, GLITC is (1) engaging in community outreach, focus groups and networking with health and wellness professionals/knowledge holders/elders…

• Adding Bright Light Treatment to Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia to Prevent Chronic Post-Surgical Pain in Older Adults

  5R01AG085712-03
  Michael Smith · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, MD · $680,306 · awarded Aug 28, 2026 · R01

  Preventing Chronic Postsurgical Pain (CPSP) and reducing postsurgical opioid exposure is a public health imperative. Perioperative insomnia is an increasingly recognized modifiable risk factor for CPSP and opioid usage, but studies have yet to evaluate whether treating insomnia perioperatively reduces CPSP and opioid exposure. Insomnia has been linked to…

• Expanding Medication Assisted Therapies in Central Asia

  5R01DA054851-05
  FREDERICK ALTICE · YALE UNIVERSITY, CT · $383,358 · awarded Aug 28, 2026 · R01

  Central Asia (CA) represents the most rapidly growing HIV epidemic region worldwide, concentrated in people who inject drugs (PWID) and their sexual partners. Scaling up opioid agonist therapies (OAT) in CA is the most cost-effective strategy to prevent new HIV infections, and more effective when combined with antiretroviral therapy (ART). Like the US, CA…

• Understanding barriers and facilitators to pharmacogenomic testing in chronic pain care

  4R00HG013600-03
  Katherine Hendy · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR, MI · $247,039 · awarded Aug 27, 2026 · R00

  Individual differences in the safety and efficacy of pharmaceuticals are a significant barrier to treatment in pain medicine, where clinicians must balance safety concerns, particularly around opioids, with the undertreatment of pain. Pharmacogenomics aims to improve safety and reduce trial-and-error with medications by providing critical information about…

• Development and Implementation of a Community-Led Research Program in the Utah Navajo Health System

  3OT2DA061144-01S2
  Rick Hendy · UTAH NAVAJO HEALTH SYSTEM, INC., UT · $623,474 · awarded Aug 27, 2026 · OT2

  The Navajo Nation represents the largest Tribal community in the U.S. and experiences high rates of morbidity and mortality attributable to substance use. Rates of alcohol-associated mortality exceed the national rate by more than five times, and specific prevalence rates for substance use disorders (SUDs) such as stimulants and opioids among the Dine…

• Harnessing big data to arrest the HIV/HCV/opioid syndemic in the rural and urban South

  3R01DA057129-04S1
  Peter Rebeiro · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER, TN · $114,659 · awarded Aug 26, 2026 · R01

  Project Summary / Abstract The HIV, HCV, and opioid epidemics disparately impact populations in different regions of the US, with higher burden (51% of new HIV diagnoses in the US) and poorer outcomes (highest HIV mortality in the US, at 6-10 per 1,000 persons with HIV) in the South, particularly largely rural states. Southern states also rank among those…

• Developing high-precision epigenetic therapeutics for opioid use disorder

  6R43DA063250-02
  Soongang Choi · BOSTON INTERACTOME, INC., MA · $119,942 · awarded Aug 26, 2026 · R43

  Abstract Opioid abuse disorder (OUD) is a growing epidemic that disrupts numerous lives and local communities in the United States. No effective therapeutics exist to counter the addiction; current OUD therapeutics such as methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone are opioid mimetics, either exerting weaker potency or blocking the opioids from binding with…

• Examining the Feasibility and Effectiveness of an mHealth Solution Designed to Enhance Clinical Outcomes Among Patients Attending Physical Therapy for Musculoskeletal Pain

  4R33HS030158-03
  Kevin McLaughlin · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, MD · $196,022 · awarded Aug 26, 2026 · R33

  Musculoskeletal (MSK) pain is a major burden on the US population, representing the leading cause of disability and non-cancer reason for opioids prescriptions, as well as the top health care spending category in the country. Physical therapy (PT) has been shown to be effective in reducing pain and disability among patients with MSK pain. PT has also been…

• Heal(th) From Within: A Research Collaborative to Share our Journeys to Wellness

  3OT2DA061112-01S2
  Tara Ford · ALASKA NATIVE TRIBAL HEALTH CONSORTIUM, AK · $351,826 · awarded Aug 25, 2026 · OT2

  Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium’s (ANTHC) vision is that Alaska Native people are the healthiest people in the world. Alaska is homeland to an estimated 151,405 Alaska Native people who belong to culturally distinct communities in rural and urban areas of the state. The health and wellbeing of Alaska’s Indigenous peoples is linked to historical…

• Discerning the mechanisms by which TRPM3 inhibition by Gβγ contributes to central- and peripheral-opioid-induced pruritus

  1F30NS141489-01A1
  Carter Burton · RUTGERS BIOMEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES, NJ · $34,818 · awarded Aug 25, 2026 · F30

  Abstract Opioids, such as morphine, are potent analgesics commonly administered to perioperative and pregnant patients. A common adverse effect of opioids is pruritus (itch), which can be experienced by up to 85% of patients, depending on route of administration. Clinical management of opioid-induced pruritus includes pharmacotherapies such as…

• Development of the anti-fentanyl monoclonal antibody, CSX-1004, for prophylaxis against fentanyl and fentanyl analog overdose

  5U01DA063352-02
  Andrew Barrett · CESSATION THERAPEUTICS, LLC, CA · $2,089,891 · awarded Aug 25, 2026 · U01

  The opioid crisis in the United States has been dominated by illicitly manufactured fentanyl for a majority of the last decade, during which time over 400,000 Americans have died from unintentional overdose due to fentanyl or fentanyl analogs. The overdose reversal agent, naloxone, has been the cornerstone of opioid overdose management since 1971; however,…

Related topics

• Mental health and psychiatric research