Treatment Innovation

Advocating for Long-Acting Injectables (LAIs)
in Addiction and Mental Health Treatment

FAM  is working to improve access to innovative LAI treatments for substance use disorders and mental health, empowering patients, caregivers and advocates with the information and support to make informed decisions.

The path to care is too often hindered by barriers to treatment and adherence. Social stigma and negative perceptions around mental health and addiction can make getting the right care even harder. These patients and those who care for them deserve a choice in their treatment — and a system that supports it

LAIs are a powerful innovation that can help put effective treatment and long-term recovery in reach for people living with conditions like opioid use disorder and schizophrenia. And advocating for expanded access can help make it possible.

We are providing families with the resources they need to understand and explore LAIs as a potential treatment option. By uplifting real stories of positive experiences with LAIs, developing tools to help navigate treatment decisions, and convening a community of support and advocacy, FAM is helping expand access and reimagine mental health treatment and addiction recovery.

Together, we can help get LAI treatments to those who need them most.

12 million+ Americans

live with mental health/substance use disorders that may benefit from LAI treatments.

Source: SAMHSA, LAOP

What are LAIs?

Long-acting injectables (LAIs) are a category of medication delivery that provides extended, sustained release of a treatment over weeks or months, eliminating the need for daily oral medication.

They have been used to treat conditions across disease states, including diabetes and HIV prevention. Additional innovations have the potential to change the treatment landscape of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and OUD for millions.

LAIs are already providing families with stability, consistency, and peace of mind in the face of mental health and substance use issues, By helping to stay on track with treatment, LAIs not only support the individual but also empower their loved ones.

In treating both mental illness and OUD, LAIs have been shown to:

  • Increase medication adherence1,2
  • Reduce hospitalization rates and improve patient outcomes2,3
  • Lower overall health care costs4,5

Webinar

September 30, 2025

Substance Abuse and the Workplace: How Employers, Families, and Caregivers Can Help

During National Recovery Month, FAM will host a “Recovery Friendly Workplaces” webinar to bring together voices with lived experience and workforce leaders to spotlight policies and organizations around the country making a real impact in recovery.​

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  1. National Library of Medicine. (2018). Relationship between buprenorphine adherence and relapse, health care utilization and costs in privately and publicly insured patients with opioid use disorder, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6165853/
  2. JAMA Network. (2022). Association of Long-Acting Injectable Antipsychotics and Oral Antipsychotics With Disease Relapse, Health Care Use, and Adverse Events Among People With Schizophrenia,  https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2794734
  3. Journal of Substance Use & Addiction. (2022). Long-acting injectable buprenorphine for opioid use disorder: A systematic review of impact of use on social determinants of health, https://www.jsatjournal.com/article/S0740-5472(22)00058-7/fulltext
  4. Avalere Health. (2025). The Cost of addiction: Opioid use disorder in the United States, https://advisory.avalerehealth.com/insights/white-paper-the-cost-of-opioid-use-disorder
  5. JMCP. (2024). Adherence, health care utilization, and costs between long-acting injectable and oral antipsychotic medications in South Carolina Medicaid beneficiaries with schizophrenia,  https://www.jmcp.org/doi/10.18553/jmcp.2024.30.6.549