DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE - CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED MEDICAL RESEARCH PROGRAMS
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NEWS RELEASE

Released: February 11, 2010

Department of Defense Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Research Program
Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2010

The Fiscal Year 2010 (FY10) Defense Appropriations Act provides $7.5 million(M) to the Department of Defense ALS Research Program (ALSRP) to find and fund the best research to improve treatments and find a cure for ALS. This program is administered by the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command through the Office of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP).

The FY10 ALSRP encourages proposals that focus research on ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, specifically on the pre-clinical development of novel therapies to treat this disease. While a number of drugs are in clinical trials, no effective treatments exist now to combat the effects of this neurodegenerative disease. Military service members are more likely than the general public to develop ALS; in addition, veterans of the 1990-1991 Gulf War are twice as likely to be diagnosed with ALS.

FY10 ALSRP program announcements and application instructions for the following award mechanisms (including deadlines) are anticipated to be posted and available for downloading on Grants.gov in March 2010.

Award Mechanism

PI Eligibility

Key Mechanism Elements

Funding

Therapeutic Idea Award

Independent investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent)

  • Fund innovative basic research studies focused on the ultimate development of new therapies for ALS
  • Preliminary data are not required
  • LOI must be submitted

  • Maximum funding of $400K for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Period of performance up to 2 years
  • Anticipate 1 - 2 awards

Therapeutic Development Award

Independent investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent)

  • Fund pre-clinical studies to develop new therapies for the treatment of ALS
  • Specific focus areas will be listed, including development of high-throughput screens up to the submission of IND for later clinical trials
  • Preproposal is required; proposal submission is by invitation only

  • Maximum funding of $1.5M in direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Smaller, more cost-effective proposals below the maximum funding limit are encouraged
  • Period of performance can be up to 4 years
  • Anticipate 2 - 3 awards

A pre-application is required and must be submitted through the CDMRP eReceipt website (http://cdmrp.org) prior to proposal submission. Proposals must be submitted through the federal government's single-entry portal, Grants.gov. Individual program announcements and required forms will also be found on the Grants.gov website.

Information in this pre-announcement is being provided to allow investigators time to plan and develop proposals. All proposals submitted must conform to the final program announcements, which will be posted on Grants.gov and the CDMRP website (https://CDMRP.HEALTH.MIL) at a later date. The number of awards anticipated in each mechanism is based on available funds, average cost of proposals, and quality of proposals received. The ALSRP reserves the right to make awards in greater or lesser numbers than anticipated.

Requests for email notification of the release of program announcements may be sent to Help@cdmrp.org. For more information about the ALSRP or other CDMRP-sponsored programs, please visit the CDMRP website (https://CDMRP.HEALTH.MIL).

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