CMI deploys AI-powered digital intervention designed to increase consistent carriage of naloxone, a life-saving medication that reverses opioid overdoses.
BOSTON, MA, UNITED STATES, January 21, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Contingency Management Innovations (CMI) today announced a research collaboration with King’s College London (King’s) to develop and evaluate an AI-powered digital intervention designed to increase consistent carriage of naloxone, a proven, life-saving medication that reverses opioid overdoses.
While naloxone distribution has expanded significantly in recent years, real-world impact is often limited by inconsistent carriage. Naloxone frequently is not present at the moment an overdose occurs—even among individuals most likely to witness one, including people who use opioids, peers, family members, and frontline staff. Closing this gap between access and availability represents one of the most immediate opportunities to reduce overdose mortality.
The CMI–King’s initiative addresses this challenge by combining behavioral science, artificial intelligence, and evidence-based contingency management. The project will leverage CMI’s NIH-backed digital platform, enhanced with an AI-powered contextual agent that delivers personalized prompts, adaptive incentives, and real-time reinforcement to encourage routine naloxone carriage. The system dynamically adjusts engagement strategies based on behavioral patterns and contextual signals, promoting sustained behavior change while minimizing burden and stigma.
“This collaboration brings together implementation-ready digital technology and world-class academic research to address a critical harm-reduction challenge,” said Steven Jenkins, CEO of Q2i, CMI’s parent company. “Naloxone saves lives only when it is carried and available. Our goal is to make consistent carriage the norm, not the exception.”
Evaluation and implementation research will be led by investigators at King’s , drawing on the university’s internationally recognized expertise in addiction science, psychiatry, and public health. The study will examine feasibility, engagement, equity, and real-world effectiveness across diverse populations and settings, generating evidence to inform scale-up through health systems, community organizations, and public-sector programs.
“Naloxone is one of the most effective tools we have to prevent overdose deaths, yet it too often isn’t present at the critical moment,” said Professor Sir John Strang, Professor of Addiction Psychiatry at King’s College London. “This collaboration applies rigorous behavioral science and advanced AI to a real-world harm-reduction challenge—supporting people to carry naloxone consistently and without stigma. Improving carriage rates has the potential to translate directly into lives saved, which is the ultimate measure of impact.”
The initiative aligns with international and national public-health guidance. The World Health Organization has long endorsed community-based naloxone distribution and layperson overdose response as core harm-reduction strategies, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Surgeon General explicitly recommend that individuals at risk of witnessing an overdose carry naloxone and be prepared to use it. By focusing on sustained carriage—rather than access alone—the CMI–King’s collaboration directly operationalizes these recommendations through scalable digital technology.
Pending successful evaluation, the partners anticipate broader deployment across the U.K., U.S., and other jurisdictions seeking to strengthen overdose prevention efforts and reduce preventable loss of life.
About Contingency Management Innovations (CMI)
CMI develops AI-enabled digital contingency management platforms that improve engagement, adherence, and outcomes across substance-use and behavioral-health interventions.
About King’s College London and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience
King’s College London is amongst the top 35 universities in the world and top 10 in Europe (THE World University Rankings 2023), and one of England’s oldest and most prestigious universities.
Lawrence Klimczyk
Contingency Managent Innovations
Larry@contingency-management.com
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