DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE - CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED MEDICAL RESEARCH PROGRAMS
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Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

NEWS RELEASE

Released: January 4, 2016

Defense Health Program
Department of Defense Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Research Program
Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2016 (FY16)

The FY16 Defense Appropriations Act provides $7.5 million (M) to the Department of Defense Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Research Program (ALSRP) to support innovative and high-impact research into pre-clinical development of therapeutics for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. 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 the Defense Health Program (DHP) Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation. The managing agent for the anticipated Program Announcement/Funding Opportunity is the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP).

The ALSRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop applications. FY16 ALSRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms are anticipated to be posted on the Grants.gov website in February 2016. 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.

Award Mechanisms: The following mechanisms are planned for release:

Award Mechanism Eligibility Key Mechanism Elements Funding
Therapeutic Development Award Independent investigators at all academic levels
  • Pre-application is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Supports post-discovery, preclinical development of therapeutics for ALS
  • Preliminary data relevant to the phase of preclinical development are required
  • Types of efforts that will be supported include:
    • Development of pharmacological agents up to IND submission
    • Demonstration of target selectivity and mechanism of action, optimization of potency and pharmacology, studies of formulation, stability and production methods based on Good Manufacturing Practices
    • Development of biomarkers to confirm action on specific molecular targets or biomarkers of clinical progress
  • Collaboration with industry is encouraged
  • Clinical trials are not allowed
  • Maximum funding of $1,000,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance is 2 years
Therapeutic Idea Award Independent investigators at all academic levels
  • Pre-application is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Supports hypothesis-driven drug discovery efforts focused on ALS therapeutics
  • Preliminary data are not required
  • Types of efforts that will be supported include:
    • Novel exploitation of pathways known to be relevant to ALS for the purpose of improving treatment and/or advancing a novel treatment modality
    • Development, validation and use of novel of high-throughput screens and model systems based on novel targets or innovative drug systems
    • Development of methods for measuring engagement of mechanistic targets by drug candidates
  • Innovation in technologies and techniques is an important criteria
  • Characterization of mechanisms for the purpose of identifying new targets is outside of the scope of this announcement
  • Maximum funding of $500,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance is 2 years

Submission deadlines are not available until the Program Announcements are released. A pre-application is required and must be submitted through the CDMRP electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP) at https://eBRAP.org prior to the pre-application deadline. Full applications must be submitted through the federal government's single-entry portal, Grants.gov. All applications must conform to the final Program Announcements and General Application Instructions that will be available for electronic downloading from Grants.gov. 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.

Requests for email notification of the Program Announcement release may be sent to help@eBRAP.org. Email notifications of funding opportunities are sent as a courtesy and should not be used as a sole source of notification; applicants should monitor Grants.gov for official postings of funding opportunities.

For more information about the ALSRP 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


Last updated Thursday, December 5, 2024