Project description
Innovative therapies for substance use disorder recovery
Substance use disorder is a pervasive health issue, contributing to 5.4 % of all disability-adjusted life years lost globally due to alcohol and illicit drugs. Its complex multimorbidity, including polysubstance use and mental health conditions, presents significant treatment challenges. While music therapy shows promise in enhancing motivation and reducing craving, its long-term effects remain unclear. Addressing this gap, the EU-funded FALCO project consortium is conducting a multinational clinical trial with 600 participants to assess the efficacy of active music and listening groups compared to standard treatment. FALCO aims to revolutionise SUD care with innovative, cost-effective therapies, improving recovery outcomes and quality of life across Europe.
Objective
Objectives and ambition: Substance use disorder (SUD) is associated with a high global burden of disease, with 5.4% of all disability-adjusted life years lost due to alcohol and illicit drugs. Highly prevalent multimorbidity includes polysubstance use, mental health conditions, and other non-communicable and infectious diseases. Where traditional treatments are insufficient alone, music therapy (MT) is highly engaging and improves motivation and craving, but its long-term effects are unknown.
Methodology: In a diverse group of people with SUD across a wide range of age, gender, socioeconomic, and cultural background, a parallel 3-arm assessor-blinded pragmatic multinational randomised clinical trial with embedded exploratory trials and mechanistic studies will determine long-term effects of active music groups (AMG) and music listening groups (MLG) versus treatment as usual (TAU) on addiction severity (primary: 1 year), recovery, and other health and socioeconomic outcomes. Embedded trials will examine short-term effects of individual components of TAU combined with AMG or MLG to determine the best combinations of interventions. Experimental studies will examine mechanisms using neuropsychological tests and brain imaging. With 600 participants in 7 countries randomised, the trial has 80% power on the primary outcome. Patient representatives, HTA bodies, and interventionists have been involved from conception and will ensure feasibility and applicability across Europe.
Impact: FALCO will reduce disease burden through innovative, effective, and affordable treatment and will strengthen research and innovation expertise. Recommendations from FALCO will inform intervention delivery across Europe and beyond, leading to increased safety, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, and improved quality of life for people with SUD. Stakeholders will be involved in communicating findings in all European countries and regions and ensuring that findings are effectively implemented.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.2.1 - Health
MAIN PROGRAMME
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HORIZON.2.1.3 - Non-Communicable and Rare Diseases
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-HLTH-2024-DISEASE-03-two-stage
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
5838 BERGEN
Norway
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.