NEWS RELEASE

Released: January 31, 2018

Defense Health Program
Department of Defense Multiple Sclerosis Research Program
Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18)

Due to the current Continuing Resolution, the Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18) Defense Appropriations bill has not been passed. Although funds have not been appropriated for the Department of Defense Multiple Sclerosis Research Program (MSRP), the MSRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to the anticipated FY18 funding opportunities.

FY18 MSRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms are anticipated to be posted on Grants.gov in April 2018. 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, and funding of research projects received in response to these Program Announcements is contingent on the availability of Federal funds appropriated for the MSRP.

As directed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Defense Health Agency (DHA), J9 Research and Development Directorate manages the Defense Health Program (DHP) Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation. The managing agent for the anticipated Program Announcements/Funding Opportunities is the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP).

Applications submitted to the FY18 MSRP must address at least one of the following Focus Areas:

1) Obstacles to Remyelination and/or Obstacles to Axonal Protection in MS

• Examples of acceptable studies include, but are not limited to, the roles of inhibitory factors, trophic factors, cell-cell interactions, and cell intrinsic factors.
• Utilization and/or development of models that reflect the disease progression and translational approaches to evaluate benefit are encouraged.

Note: Projects addressing the basic mechanisms of demyelination and neurodegeneration, inflammation or prevention of secondary injury following inflammation will not be considered for funding.

(2) Correlates of Disease Activity and Progression in MS

Studies may identify or validate correlates of disease activity and progression using pre-existing specimens and/or data acquired from well-characterized, adequately controlled, and sufficiently powered patient cohorts.

• Correlates include clinical outcome measures, patient self-reported measures, and imaging and non-imaging biomarkers.
• Examples of acceptable cohorts for study include controlled clinical trials, observational studies, and registries. Analyses may utilize existing clinical data and outcome measures, specimens, and/or imaging data.

Note: The study must leverage pre-existing specimens and/or data that are available at the time of application submission; collection of additional data on the existing cohort is allowed.

(3) Biology and Measurements of MS Symptoms (Exploration – Hypothesis Development Award ONLY!)

• Symptoms may include pain, fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, visual impairment, motor impairment, impaired mobility, loss of bladder control, sexual dysfunction, depression, and anxiety.
• Examples of acceptable studies include, but are not limited to, the following: development of measurements for future interventional studies to alleviate symptoms, rehabilitation, mechanisms underlying symptoms of MS, development and/or validation of outcome measures and tools for symptoms, and observational studies on the prevalence or significance of symptoms.

Note: Studies of disease-modifying or regenerative therapies that secondarily impact symptoms will not be considered for funding.