Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA DA 25 053
The NIH funding opportunity titled "Harnessing Artificial Intelligence and Polypharmacology to Discover Pharmacotherapeutics for Substance Use Disorders (R41/R42 Clinical Trials Not Allowed)" (RFA-DA-25-053) is an SBIR grant solicitation aimed at small businesses developing early-stage discovery tools and experimental methods to speed up and improve the search for medications to treat substance use disorders. The central goal is to support projects that can identify or enable the identification of new pharmacotherapeutic candidates that are both safer (lower toxicity) and more effective (higher efficacy) than existing options, with a particular emphasis on approaches that account for polypharmacology, meaning drugs that intentionally influence multiple biological targets or pathways rather than acting on a single target.
A major focus is the development of artificial intelligence methods that can make drug discovery more predictive and efficient in the SUD space. This includes AI capabilities to propose combinations of biological targets that might be more therapeutically meaningful than single targets, to design or optimize new molecules that can engage those target sets, and to carry out virtual preclinical studies that estimate how well a candidate might work and how risky it might be before expensive lab work begins. The opportunity also highlights modeling that bridges in vitro and in vivo polypharmacology, which, in practice, means using computational methods to anticipate how multi-target activity observed in cell-based systems could translate into whole-organism effects, including both desired therapeutic outcomes and potential adverse effects.
Alongside computational development, the announcement explicitly encourages creation or refinement of experimental assays that can measure compound effects across multiple targets or biological functions. This is important for polypharmacology-driven discovery because standard single-target assays often miss the combined or interacting effects that multi-target compounds produce. Projects responsive to this area could involve assay platforms that profile compounds across panels of receptors, transporters, ion channels, signaling pathways, or functional phenotypes relevant to addiction biology, especially where the assays are designed to inform iterative AI-driven design cycles or to validate AI predictions. Overall, the solicitation is structured to promote tight integration between AI prediction and experimental measurement so that computational hypotheses can be tested efficiently and used to improve subsequent prediction accuracy.
The mechanism is R41/R42, which corresponds to the NIH SBIR phased award structure (Phase I and Phase II), and the notice states that clinical trials are not allowed, signaling that the intended scope is preclinical discovery and technology development rather than testing interventions in human participants. The funding instrument type is a grant, the opportunity category is discretionary, and it falls under the health-related activity area (CFDA 93.279). The agency is the National Institutes of Health, and eligibility is limited to small businesses; foreign (non-U.S.) organizations may not apply, and non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations are also not eligible to apply, although foreign components as defined by NIH policy may be permitted under certain circumstances. The original closing date listed is 2024-07-25, the opportunity was created on 2024-01-29, and the award ceiling shown is $400,000.Apply for RFA DA 25 053
- The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Harnessing Artificial Intelligence and Polypharmacology to Discover Pharmacotherapeutics for Substance Use Disorders (R41/R42 Clinical Trials Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.279.
- This funding opportunity was created on 2024-01-29.
- Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-07-25. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $400,000.00 in funding.
- Eligible applicants include: Small businesses.
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Applicants also applied for:
Applicants who have applied for this opportunity (RFA DA 25 053) also looked into and applied for these:
| Funding Opportunity |
|---|
| Mechanistic Studies on Social Behavior in Substance Use Disorder (R01 Clinical Trial Optional) Apply for RFA DA 25 032 Funding Number: RFA DA 25 032 Agency: National Institutes of Health Category: Education, Health Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Harnessing Artificial Intelligence and Polypharmacology to Discover Pharmacotherapeutics for Substance Use Disorders (R43/R44 Clinical Trials Not Allowed) Apply for RFA DA 25 054 Funding Number: RFA DA 25 054 Agency: National Institutes of Health Category: Education, Health Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Mechanistic Studies on Social Behavior in Substance Use Disorder (R01 Basic Experimental Studies with Humans (BESH) Required) Apply for RFA DA 25 033 Funding Number: RFA DA 25 033 Agency: National Institutes of Health Category: Education, Health Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Mechanistic Studies on Social Behavior in Substance Use Disorder (R01 Clinical Trials Not Allowed) Apply for RFA DA 25 034 Funding Number: RFA DA 25 034 Agency: National Institutes of Health Category: Education, Health Funding Amount: $425,000 |
| Advancing Learning Health Care Research in Outpatient Mental Health Treatment Settings (R34 Clinical Trial Optional) Apply for PAR 24 118 Funding Number: PAR 24 118 Agency: National Institutes of Health Category: Education, Health Funding Amount: $450,000 |
| The NCI Transition Career Development Award (K22 Independent Clinical Trial Optional) Apply for PAR 24 117 Funding Number: PAR 24 117 Agency: National Institutes of Health Category: Education, Health Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Transformative Research on the Basic Mechanisms of Polysubstance use in Addiction (R01 - Clinical Trials Optional) Apply for RFA DA 25 043 Funding Number: RFA DA 25 043 Agency: National Institutes of Health Category: Education, Health Funding Amount: $350,000 |
| Long-Term Effects of Disasters on Healthcare Systems in Populations with Health Disparities (R01- Clinical Trial Optional) Apply for PAR 24 109 Funding Number: PAR 24 109 Agency: National Institutes of Health Category: Education, Health Funding Amount: $500,000 |
| Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) (K12 Clinical Trial Optional) Apply for RFA OD 24 013 Funding Number: RFA OD 24 013 Agency: National Institutes of Health Category: Education, Health Funding Amount: $840,000 |
| Developing Digital Therapeutics for Substance Use Disorders (UG3/UH3 Clinical Trial optional) Apply for PAR 24 064 Funding Number: PAR 24 064 Agency: National Institutes of Health Category: Education, Health Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Strategies to Improve Health Outcomes and Advance Health Equity in Rural Populations (R01 Clinical Trial Optional) Apply for RFA NR 24 005 Funding Number: RFA NR 24 005 Agency: National Institutes of Health Category: Education, Health Funding Amount: $500,000 |
| Model Continuums of Care Initiative (MCCI) to Advance Health Equity and End Health Disparities Among Women and Girls in Racial/Ethnic Minority and Other Underserved Communities (U34 Clinical Trials Required) Apply for RFA AA 24 006 Funding Number: RFA AA 24 006 Agency: National Institutes of Health Category: Education, Health Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Technologies for Improving Minority Health and Eliminating Health Disparities (R41/R42- Clinical Trial Optional) Apply for RFA MD 24 007 Funding Number: RFA MD 24 007 Agency: National Institutes of Health Category: Education, Health Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Research on the Neuro-Immune Axis in the Context of HIV and Substance Use (R21 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) Apply for RFA DA 25 005 Funding Number: RFA DA 25 005 Agency: National Institutes of Health Category: Education, Health Funding Amount: $275,000 |
| Research on the Neuro-Immune Axis in the context of HIV and Substance Use (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) Apply for RFA DA 25 004 Funding Number: RFA DA 25 004 Agency: National Institutes of Health Category: Education, Health Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPOREs) in Cancer Health Disparities and Minority Health (CHD-MH) (U54 Clinical Trial Optional) Apply for RFA CA 24 020 Funding Number: RFA CA 24 020 Agency: National Institutes of Health Category: Education, Health Funding Amount: $1,600,000 |
| Education Activities for Responsible Analyses of Complex, Large-Scale Data (R25- Clinical Trial Not Allowed) Apply for RFA DA 25 039 Funding Number: RFA DA 25 039 Agency: National Institutes of Health Category: Education, Health Funding Amount: $300,000 |
| Using Neuromodulation to Characterize the Continuum of Pathophysiology Between Substance Use and Mental Health Disorders (R01 Clinical Trial Required) Apply for RFA DA 25 035 Funding Number: RFA DA 25 035 Agency: National Institutes of Health Category: Education, Health Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Interventions to Reduce Sleep Health Disparities (R01 - Clinical Trials Optional) Apply for PAR 24 110 Funding Number: PAR 24 110 Agency: National Institutes of Health Category: Education, Health Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| The NCI Worta McCaskill-Stevens Career Development Award for Community Oncology and Prevention Research (K12 Clinical Trial Optional) Apply for PAR 24 153 Funding Number: PAR 24 153 Agency: National Institutes of Health Category: Education, Health Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
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