DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE - CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED MEDICAL RESEARCH PROGRAMS
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NEWS RELEASE

Released: March 16, 2015

Defense Health Program
Department of Defense Multiple Sclerosis Research Program
Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2015 (FY15)

The FY15 Defense Appropriations Act provides $5 million (M) to the Department of Defense Multiple Sclerosis Research Program (MSRP) to support innovative, high-impact multiple sclerosis research. As directed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Defense Health Agency, Research, Development, and Acquisition (DHA RDA) Directorate manages and executes the Defense Health Program (DHP) Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation. The executing agent for the anticipated Program Announcements/Funding Opportunities is the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP).

The MSRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop applications. FY15 MSRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms are anticipated to be posted on Grants.gov by early April 2015. Pre-application and application deadlines will be available when the Program Announcements are released. This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the Government.

All applications for the FY15 MSRP funding opportunities are expected to address at least one of the following aspects of MS Symptoms: Pathophysiology, Measurement, and Treatment/Patient Care.

Symptoms may include pain, fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, visual impairment, motor impairment, impaired mobility, loss of bladder control, sexual dysfunction.

Research should focus on at least one of the following:

  • Development of technology to measure symptoms
  • Outcome measure development and/or validation
  • Rehabilitation
  • Mechanisms underlying pathophysiology
  • Interventional studies of symptomatic therapies
  • Observations on the prevalence or significance of symptoms

The following will not be considered for funding:

  • Studies of disease-modifying therapies that secondarily impact symptoms
  • Regenerative therapies

Award Mechanism Principal Investigator (PI) Eligibility Key Mechanism Elements Funding
Pilot Clinical Trial Award (New for FY15) Independent investigator at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent).
  • Pre-application submission is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Supports early-phase, proof-of-principle clinical trials to investigate hypothesis-based, innovative interventions that have the potential to result in a profound impact on the management of multiple sclerosis (MS).
  • Scientific rationale and/or preliminary data required.
  • Investigational New Drug or Investigational Device Exemption approvals, if applicable, must be in place before an award will be made.
  • Preclinical and correlative studies are not allowed.
  • Anticipated that budgets will not exceed 600,000 in direct costs (plus indirect costs).
  • Period of performance not to exceed 3 years.
Investigator-Initiated Research Award (New for FY15) Independent investigator at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent).
  • Pre-application submission is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Supports highly rigorous, high-impact research with the potential to make an important contribution to MS research and/or patient care.
  • Preliminary and/or published data required.
  • Clinical trials are not allowed.
  • Anticipated that budgets will not exceed $600,000 in direct costs (plus indirect costs).
  • Period of performance not to exceed 3 years.

A pre-application is required and must be submitted through the electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP) at https://eBRAP.org prior to the pre-application deadline. All applications must conform to the final Program Announcements and General Application Instructions that will be available for electronic downloading from the Grants.gov website. The application package containing the required forms for each award mechanism will also be found on Grants.gov. A listing of all CDMRP funding opportunities can be obtained on the Grants.gov website by performing a basic search using CFDA Number 12.420.

Applications must be submitted through the federal government's single-entry portal, Grants.gov. Submission deadlines are not available until the Program Announcements are released. Requests for email notification of the Program Announcements release may be sent to help@eBRAP.org. For more information about the MSRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (https://CDMRP.HEALTH.MIL).

Point of Contact:

CDMRP Public Affairs
301-619-9783
usarmy.detrick.medcom-cdmrp.mbx.cdmrp-public-affairs@mail.mil